Gotta hand it to Honda. In a matter of a few months, they've dropped not just a great new Civic on us, but a great lineup of Civics. First there was the Civic Sport and Civic Touring, which I reviewed in October, six weeks later, I was telling you about the Civic Hatchback Sport Touring, and now we have the Honda Civic Si.
The Si is the next-to-the-top rung of the Civic performance ladder, with the still-to-come Civic Type R the true hot Honda.
The Civic Sport has a 2.0-liter four making 158 horsepower and the Touring and Hatchback Sport Touring have a 1.5-liter turbo four with 180 horses. The Si takes the 1.5 and wrings another 20 horsepower out of it for a total of 200. There's a six-speed manual transmission (Honda's usual incredibly precise short-throw shifter makes changing gears part of the fun) and a limited-slip differential. There's very little penalty in terms of fuel economy for the extra oomph...the Si gets an estimated 27 miles per gallon city/37 highway---matching all the other Civics' highway figures and giving up 3 mpg in the city to the Sport and the Hatchback Sport Touring and 4 mpg to the Touring.
Our tester also came with high-performance tires---235/40 R18 summer tires, with tremendous grip that enhanced handling.
I've raved about the new Civic's interior design---especially the artfully hidden HVAC vents---in every single review, so let's just focus on what's unique to the Si that comes standard at its $27,500 base price: A three-mode drive system (normal, sport and individual), a leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather, wrapped shift knob, front sport seats, sport pedals, and a Bose Premium audio system with 12 speakers.
And, apart from $395 for the Blazing Orange Pearl paint, that's it. With $1,015 destination and handling, the as-tested price of the 2022 Honda Civic Si is $28,910.
For the money, it's hard to imagine a better all-around car, one that delivers practicality and performance in equal measure.
