What Makes the 2019 Honda Civic Si So Ex-Si-ting?

Easily the best-handling front-wheel-drive car on the market today, Honda's Civic Si coupe (and its mechanically identical four-door sedan sibling) is a performance bargain. It is quick, thanks to its turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and it is fun to drive, thanks to its six-speed manual transmission and well-sorted chassis. The Si model exists between the mainstream Civic lineup and the bonkers, 306-hp Civic Type R, and shares a 10Best Cars award from us with the latter. We've also run the Si at our annual Lightning Lap track test in 2017, where it was the only car that year to gain speed through Virginia International Raceway's treacherous high-speed uphill ess-curves. To see what sets it apart from the regular Civic, swipe on!

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Honda’s latest Civic Si lacks VTEC, otherwise known as variable valve timing and lift electronic control. In Civic Si cars dating back to the late 1990s, VTEC has famously registered as a character switchover at higher engine speeds, when a more aggressive cam profile took over and gave the four-cylinders a rowdy bawl and more power. In its place, the 2019 Civic Si’s 1.5-liter engine uses a turbocharger and direct fuel injection to kick out 205 horsepower—exactly the same amount as its VTEC-equipped, non-turbocharged, 2.0-liter predecessor.

As before, the Civic Si is available only with a six-speed manual transmission. For better or worse, the Civic no longer requires the driver to constantly indulge in the stick shift’s slick action, thanks to the torquier turbocharged engine that needn’t be kept on boil like the old VTEC engines. A helical limited-slip differential helps lay down the turbo engine’s power when exiting corners.

The new Civic Si has a Sport button on its center console, just behind the shifter. Pressing this button calls up spicier accelerator mapping and a firmer setup for the (standard) electronically adaptive dampers.

One of the Civic’s most endearing aspects, besides its sharp handling, is that it rides extremely well. The front springs and anti-roll bar are 7 percent stiffer than a regular Civic’s, while the rear springs and anti-roll bar are 32 percent and 26 percent firmer. Honda replaced every fluid-filled bushing in the Civic’s suspension with solid-rubber pieces for Si duty and fitted more rigid shock mounts. And yet, with its dampers set either to their baseline setting (the Sport mode is appreciably firmer, although still not unlivable), the Civic Si rides uncommonly well, and not just for a sport compact.

Honda ups the Si’s braking game over the pedestrian Civic’s by way of 1.2-inch-larger front brake rotors and 0.9-inch-larger rears. Pleasantly, the brake pedal operates with a nice action.

The Si’s 18-inch wheels can be wrapped in all-season tires or summer rubber in the same 235/40R-18 size. Obviously, we’d spring for the summer tires, which in the Civic’s case are sticky Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s. Wearing those shoes, the Civic Si was capable of 0.97 g of grip on our skidpad, which is an astounding performance for an affordable front-drive compact car.

For the Si, Honda adds even more zaniness to the 10th-generation Civic’s already over-the-top styling. The plastic prow that juts out over the grille, between the headlights, is totally blacked out, as are the gaping pseudo-intakes at each front corner.

For as wild as the Si’s styling is, its badging is remarkably discreet. There is only a small red-colored Si label in the grille and another on the trunklid.

No sport compact embodies the breed’s culture quite like the Civic Si. Aware of this, clearly, Honda slaps a prominent wing onto the Si coupe and a somewhat subtler version on the Si sedan.

If the rear wing situation didn’t give away the idea that Honda wasn’t particularly interested in subtlety when designing the Si, then check out the car’s center-exit exhaust. The huge finisher extends far beyond the dimensions of the actual exhaust outlet and juts prominently from the Si’s tail.

At first blush, the Si’s interior is exactly the same as the regular Civic’s. Okay, even during subsequent blushes, the two Civics’ cabins are pretty much identical. But that’s no bad thing when the basic Civic sports a handsome, understated cabin built from high-quality materials. Si models have more heavily bolstered front seats with contrasting red stitching, red-hued gauge fonts, and natty carbon-look trim.

When this generation Civic debuted, Honda took flack for its infotainment touchscreen, which relied on touch-sensitive slider controls to adjust volume instead of a good old-fashioned knob. It quickly set about trying to make things right, starting with going out of its way during the launch of the latest CR-V crossover to extoll that model’s new old-fangled knob, as if to say, “See?! There’s your damn knob!” That change has, as of 2019, finally hit the Civic lineup, including the Si. As before, steering-wheel volume controls are also standard, as is Apple CarPlay phone integration.

The best parts of the new Civic Si are its affordable price and long list of standard features. For $25,220, Honda will sell you an Si with two doors or four—your pick!—loaded with heated seats, dual-zone automatic climate control (pictured here!), Apple CarPlay, a sunroof, a 450-watt audio system, and a proximity key with push-button ignition.

Whether you pick the Honda Civic Si coupe or the Honda Civic Si sedan, you'll be getting an ultra-affordable performance car. Of course, the sedan is the more practical of the two, but only the coupe offers Honda's new-for-2019 "Tonic Yellow" paint. It resembles nuclear lemon juice.