While the latest and greatest compact performance cars are spectacular, they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, there’s enough of a market to justify sport compact cars that aren’t fully mental, and the Honda Civic Si has always been the Japanese leader in this segment, providing a modicum of extra thrills without lairy torque steer or uncouth turbo lag. Throughout most of its history, the Si has been a mid-range Honda Civic with a hot engine, a close-ratio manual transaxle, a limited-slip differential, and sports suspension. At least, that’s what it has been and is in America.
Over the border in Canada, the Civic Si is based on the top-shelf Touring trim, so it gets all the toys you could realistically want in a sporty compact sedan. I’m talking about heated front and rear seats, a heated steering wheel, a big digital gauge cluster with separate shift lights, a Bose stereo, fog lights, GPS navigation, dual-zone automatic climate control, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with HomeLink, parking sensors, a wireless phone charger, the works. All of these extra luxuries add up to a price tag of $37,460 Canadian including freight, or $27,672 in greenbacks at current exchange rates. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s $2,523 cheaper than the $30,195 the American Civic Si currently stickers for. Bargain.
So, we actually have two questions we need to answer here. The first: How good is the current Honda Civic Si at providing thrills without significant compromise? The second: Is America getting the wrong version? Let’s put tires to pavement and find out.
[Full disclosure: Honda Canada let me borrow this Civic Si for a week so long as I returned it with a full tank of premium fuel and reviewed it.]
The Basics
As-Tested Price: $30,195 including freight ($37,460 Canadian)
Engine: 1.5-liter turbocharged twin-cam four-cylinder engine with direct injection and variable valve timing.
Transmission: Six-speed manual transaxle with helical limited-slip differential.
Drive: Front-wheel-drive.
Output: 200 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 192 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,800 rpm to 5,000 rpm.
Curb Weight: 2,998 pounds.
Fuel Economy: 27 mpg city, 37 highway, 31 combined (8.4 L/100km city, 6.4 highway, 7.7 combined).
Minimum Fuel Grade: 87 octane minimum, 91 octane recommended.
Body Style: Four-door compact sedan.
Why Does It Exist?
Back in 1984, the hot hatch revolution was kicking off. The Volkswagen Golf GTI was the benchmark player, a class-transcending subtle performance car that everyone wanted. Peugeot had just launched its 205 GTi pocket rocket, while in America, Dodge was about to launch the turbocharged Omni GLH. Not content with sitting this one out, Honda stuffed a fuel-injected twin-cam engine into the Japanese Domestic Market Civic, giving it the trim name Si, short for Sport injected. By 1986, a single-cam variant had crossed the waters to America, and a legend was born.
While not as extreme as the Civic Type R, the Civic Si would continue to provide thrills for sensible money, and there’s enough of a market and enough heritage that Honda’s seen fit to keep producing the trim through to the current day. Sure, it may now be turbocharged instead of rocking a screaming naturally-aspirated four-banger with a stratospheric redline, but it’s still meant to be the Civic to buy should you want more fun for only a little more money.
How Does It Look?
In a word, subtle. Aside from a honeycomb upper grille, a black spoiler, and a pair of Si badges, you simply wouldn’t be able to distinguish the Si from a normal Sport at first glance. If you don’t want to attract much attention, there’s huge appeal in that.
Admittedly, the beluga-like brow on the front end is something I’m a bit cold on, but I love the seamless transition from the roof to the cant rails that’s made possible by laser welding, and the crisp swage line running down the side of the car is a fantastic unifying element that emphasizes visual length. The end result is an exceptionally mature sport compact car, one that blends in at just about any company parking lot imaginable.
How About The Inside?
While sport compact cars traditionally consist of thousands of dollars of go-fast parts crammed into a cheap car, the Civic Si defies convention by starting with a nice car. From the abundant soft-touch plastic to the satisfyingly clicky buttons to the gorgeous mesh HVAC vents with hidden air directors, the Civic Si feels like it has an expensive cabin.
While the cloth-upholstered high-back bucket seats may look a bit juvenile, they are unusually comfortable for this segment, and I adore the use of cloth instead of leatherette. It’s warm in the winter, cool in the summer, grips you in turns, and heated cloth seats on a winter day are absolutely divine. Sadly, U.S.-spec cars don’t appear to offer heated seats, a definite miss south of the Canadian border.
How Does It Drive?
Under the hood of the 2024 Honda Civic Si sits a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine that, shall we say, doesn’t have the best reliability track record, particularly when tasked with frequent short trips. Still, when the turbocharger comes on song, it makes 200 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 192 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,800 to 5,000 rpm, and a noise like pretty much every other economy car. Is the Civic Si fast? It would be reasonably quick if we were still living in 2007, but even though the Civic Si pulls pretty hard through first and second thanks to short gearing, it starts to feel curiously inert the closer you get to freeway speeds. In Car And Driver instrumented testing, this model managed zero-to-60 mph in 6.7 seconds and a five-to-60 mph rolling start time (to take the abusive clutch-dump launch out of the equation) of 7.2 seconds, and that’s just fine. It’s certainly not as quick as a Hyundai Elantra N, but short gearing goes a long way, and the world needs more cars you can theoretically kiss the top of third gear in while heading down an on-ramp without being threatened with a misdemeanor.
Honda’s quite proud of the Civic Si’s 9.2-pound lightweight flywheel, but once you get behind the wheel, you’ll notice that the revs climb quicker than they drop, meaning you have to wait a beat or two on most shifts. I suspect some emissions optimization is going on here because when you slam a throttle body shut, you create a lean spike which is bad for NOx emissions. You know, the pollutant that Dieselgate centered around. By delaying closure of an electronic throttle body, that spike is smoothed out at the expense of engine deceleration response. That’s some wordy stuff, but if you’ve ever heard about rev hang, chances are that’s what’s happening. Oh, and the clutch pedal isn’t exactly set up for feedback. While its pinky-toe-light weighting makes the Civic Si easy to drive in traffic, a more feelsome bite point would be nice, as that would eliminate simply guessing clutch engagement based on the angle of your ankle.
However, you largely forget about the rev hang, partly thanks to a gloriously notchy shifter and partly thanks to impressive chassis tuning. Even saddled with winter tires, the suspension setup on this compact sedan is admirably tenacious. At reasonably sane speeds on dry tarmac, you can hurl it into bends without so much as a brush of the brake pedal, and it will simply adopt your preferred line and stick to it. Credit to the firm but never crashy spring rates, anti-roll bar rates, and damping on that one. Of course, reduce the coefficient of friction and you may find some understeer, but if you’re really looking to autocross, you’ll run into another little annoyance — the stability control is rather difficult to turn off. Thankfully, tutorials for the nanny-killing cheat code exist online, and once you punch it in, you’ll find a willingness to rotate under trail braking shared with some of the best sport compact cars in automotive history. Sure, the steering might not have as much feedback as in the previous Civic Si, but with incredible heft and a reasonably quick ratio, dialing in just the right amount of lock is almost easier than blinking. Oh, and once you’re past the apex, there are no one-tire fires here — if one front tire loses grip, the helical limited-slip differential biases torque to the wheel that’s not slipping so you can claw your way out of corners. Fabulous.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
That depends hugely on whether you’re Canadian or American. If you’re Canadian, you get the Bose stereo, the heated front and rear seats, the shift lights, and all that jazz. If you’re American, you’ll be missing out on luxury touches like a heated steering wheel and premium sound.
The touchscreen infotainment system supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and that’s what you’ll use 99 percent of the time because the native software really isn’t great. Even Apple CarPlay is slightly glitchy on the car side, with very occasional audio stuttering that I haven’t experienced in Toyota, Mazda, or even Jaguar Land Rover products. Really, the tech interfaces take the sheen off of what is an otherwise excellent interior.
Three Things To Know About The 2024 Honda Civic Si
- Canada’s model gets more equipment.
- It won’t win many drag races.
- It feels eager in everyday driving.
Does It Fulfill Its Purpose?
For the most part, yes. Quantifying fun sounds dystopian, so why do we do it with metrics like zero-to-60 mph times? Sure, the rev hang in the Honda Civic Si is a bit annoying, the engine doesn’t make a spectacular noise, and the steering doesn’t offer much feedback. However, with gloriously short gearing, a great chassis, a perfectly notchy shifter, and a limited-slip differential, it’s still a ton of fun at perfectly legal speeds, a quality most cars of today are sorely short on.
Plus, the Civic Si still does everything you’d want from an economy car. It gets great gas mileage, it’s quiet at speed, it’s made of nice stuff, the seats are comfortable, and there’s genuine room onboard for four adults. Other than the firm ride quality, it sacrifices nothing over a regular Civic while adding a healthy dose of fun, and although it’s nowhere near as performance-oriented as a Hyundai Elantra N, the niceness factor is better. Based on that, I reckon America ought to get the same top trim-based Si that Canadians get, because if Honda’s willing to sacrifice outright performance for livability, a few more creature comforts go a long way.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2024 Honda Civic Si?
The Honda Civic Si is a Miata for people with responsibilities who can only have one car.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal, Honda)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
Here’s Why The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Circuit Edition Is A Four-Season Valedictorian
-
The 276 Horsepower 2022 Hyundai Elantra N Is A Blue Collar Sports Sedan Revelation
-
Ranking Honda’s Weird Band-Themed Civic Compacts From Cringe To Awesome
-
The 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid Is A Small Electrified Car You Should Actually Be Able To Get
-
Why Driving Short Distances Can Kill A Newer Honda CR-V
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
Maybe a conversation for another place, but rev hang totally kills the enjoyment of driving a manual. The computer simply takes the position of the gas pedal as a suggestion relative to the actual position of the throttle. I had a 2012 Mustang GT (I know, I know) that had this affliction which thankfully was cured with an aftermarket tune.
2019 Si owner here, late to the party. It’s a great car, but doesn’t spark joy the way other cars have. It’s excellent as a daily driver, efficient and reliable, but fun as hell when you want it to be. The sport button is like a Jeckle/Hyde switch.
Someone else asked who this car was for, and I’m the answer. A cheap bastard who loves to drive but has to pay attention to the price of gas and maintenance. A dad who takes his kid to school, but crushes it around the traffic circles.
It’s a great car, I wish it sparkled joy.
I miss my 2022 Civic Si, but I had the unfortunate luck of picking the lemon of the bunch. I needed a dad car, and it seemed like the perfect compliment to my NA Miata. The chassis really shines with some sticky tires. I won my local SCCA regional class champoinship with mine and old used tires. Plus I was averaging 35mpg doing WOT 1-3 pulls at every chance. Working nights and rural roads with the occasional stoplight made this happen often. As you said “The Honda Civic Si is a Miata for people with responsibilities,” but I still have my NA Miata
I’ll take the Canadian version! (As a gift) The Civic exterior now pretty much looks like the Accord, not that it’s a really bad thing since I’ve always liked the Accord better…just something I noticed. I’m still very sad/surprised that Honda went the way of “throw a tablet on the dash” That’s the main reason I wouldn’t get one. Also, screw the “electric” e-brake…give me a “break”(ha ha), give me a real brake. This does look like a fun car though and YAY! It has a stick!
I had a 2022 Si and I loved it very much. This seems to be about the same thing. Man that car was fun in the curves. It was no speed demon, but I never felt sluggish either, which is more important. Camrys were always trying to race me, which was equal parts amusing and annoying. It was always a Camry…
When a Mercedes hit me and totaled it, I replaced it with the Acura Integra, which is just a fancy Si, and it was a good idea because all the fun stuff is the same, but the other stuff is fancier, and it’s a hatchback. I try not to notice that the Integra is mostly just a Canadian Si.
The fun part of that is because the Si is more “desirable” for whatever reason, there was a huge markup on them when I had to replace the totaled one, so I got the Integra for roughly $500 more than another Si would have been. That’s worth it for the heated seats alone!
What the hell? Why don’t we get this one? I want luxury crap and fun at a reasonable price! I don’t usually like white cars much, but I think the new Civics with the black wheels look really good in white.
I love that the Civic Si is still around and it’s still basic and affordable. More for less money would always be nice (sneaky syrup lovers getting the good stuff!) but ultimately to reference the Kia K4 article on compacts continued growth…what I would really want is a Fit Si cause that’s how I see sport compacts and hot hatches, but that dream is very dead now. The Civic Si of today (and pretty much every other sport compact left in the US save maybe the Grolla) are more like sports versions of midsize cars from back in the day now. Thinking SVT Contour, Accord Type R, etc etc. Those were never super popular (specially in the US) but size and capability wise they are now right in line with many new “compact” cars, but the new sport compacts still sell because they have “pedigree” now.
I just can’t get over the way this generation of Civic swung the pendulum so far from the boy racer look of the last gen to “belongs in a car insurance commercial with no badge”. There has to be a happy medium, doesn’t there?
I remember when the Civic Si came out, it could keep up with the hot hatches and whatnot. Nowadays Honda has barely changed the attributes while the rest of the competition has gotten better in nearly every single way. I’d rather get a GTi instead
Mk8 GTIs have you dealing with haptic buttons for main controls – hard pass for me.
VW fixed this with the 8.5, but now it’s automatic only.
I agree that Honda should’ve given this 11th Gen Si the 2.0T from the Accord Sport (RIP) with 250ish HP, as they’ve been holding on to the 200HP Si since Gen 8 models. Give us more power!!
It took me all of about 3 days with my Mk8 S to get used to controlling anything. The complaints about the steering wheel buttons and touch screen are mostly copypastas from reviews of people with the car for an afternoon at a press event.
The REAL problem with the Mk8 is the terrible collision detection/driving assist cameras that are constantly throwing errors and beeping at me. Even had the auto-braking randomly turn on while i was doing 50 even though I was on the road alone.
Plus that radiator problem had my car with 3000 miles living at the dealership for 2 months while they waited for a part from Germany.
No, the Mk8 has many other issues, but the buttons aren’t really one of them.
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but when I got my ’23 Integra about a year ago, it was pretty much the base car from Acura, while the SI was a very limited-availability desirable car from Honda. Because of that, I got the Integra (A-spec w/tech, 6mt) for about $1k more than I would have paid for the SI after all the dealer markup and forced accessories they insisted on. It was an absolute no brainer. I got all the fancy Canadian amenities noted in the article, plus dual-zone climate controls, adjustable damping, power seats, and it’s a hatchback (you can’t even put a cooler into the civic’s trunk!)
It’s exactly the right car for me, driving kids around, going grocery shopping, having big fun on the on-ramps.
I have issue with this statement based on personal experience. I bought an Si specifically because I believed that to be true. While it’s a a fun car and a great car, it’s not a Miata. Doesn’t feel like one, doesn’t drive like one. I traded my Si for an actual Miata and I don’t regret it for a second.
I agree with your issue with the phrasing as I was responsible with a Miata. The issue is my responsibilities changed once I had a child and a single car family just can’t baby in a Miata.
I love a Miata, had them as daily drivers for a bunch of years and still think about replacing my BRZ with an NA every once in a while. It’s a piss poor choice as an only car for someone with kids/dogs/hobbies other than cars though.
I’m not disputing that a Miata is a rotten choice for someone with kids/responsibilities. I’m only disputing that the Si is a comparable replacement.
Your BRZ is a better Miata alternative. Drives and feels much closer.
For the record, the correct alternative if you need to carry more people/dogs is two Miatas. Especially if you can teach the dog to drive.
“when you slam a throttle body shut, you create a lean spike which is bad for NOx emissions.”
This was not my understanding at all. I thought that when you slam the throttle shut, the fuel system can’t reduce fuel quite as quickly as air is reduced, and so you get a RICH spike. And that’s why cars, especially ones with carbs or older cable throttle EFI, pop and crackle when letting off the throttle as unburned fuel hits the hot exhaust and ignites.
Have I just been misunderstanding rev hang and lift off crackles this whole time?
I found a nice Autoweek article with some VW powertrain engineers explaining the lean spike and resulting NOx emissions that this article mentions.
You’re not wrong though; if you don’t have direct injection, you can end up with a rich spike. Which means you’re still blowing excess HCs and PMs out the tailpipe, so the “rev hang = lower emissions” principle still applies.
Couldn’t a canadian spec Si technically be brought into the US? Canadian market cars comply with identical regulations as the US (AFAIK) and I have seen numerous cars brought over because the exchange rate is so favorable, its actually profitable to buy, import and ship Canadian market cars into the US. For a couple grand more than a USDM Si, but less than an Integra A-Spec manual, these could be an awesome sweet-spot
I’m thinking the same thing. A Canadian Si is the one to get especially in the northern states
I wonder if Honda might be an asshole about the warranty if you did that, though. Lots of manufacturers of various things only cover products within the country of original sale, in part (or entirely) to deter that kind of gray-market arbitrage. If you live somewhere like Buffalo I guess you could take it to a dealer north of the border, but they could deny because it’s registered in the US. And I doubt Magnuson-Moss would apply to a car originally sold in Canada.
I actually just commented today on another article that this would be my new car purchase of choice. Black wheels gotta go (man I am sick of black wheels), but aside from that it looks like a truly great daily. It’s simple, it’s cheap to run, it has a stick, it has an LSD, it’s good on gas, and the styling is devoid of stupid fake vents, gaping maws, stripes, massive wings and ridiculous badging, plus the interior looks great.
“We took a pretty nice car, gave it 200hp, a stick, and an LSD. Have fun.”
I understand where you’re coming from with black wheels, but they are extremely easy to keep clean. The stock pads in these are pretty dusty in my experience, so it was nice to not have to worry about cleaning the wheels all the time. The fact that they have a matte finish made it even easier.
Although if you curb a rim it stands out more too, which is that much more likely nowadays with low profile tires and flangeless wheels.
Skill issue.
I see many people complain about how tired they are of black wheels, but never offering an alternative of what they do want. If you don’t like black wheels, are you asking for silver wheels?
That’s because there are endless alternatives and they are all better than black. I’m not saying all wheels should be the same color, or that I always prefer one color. I’m saying that there is one color that my wheels shouldn’t be, one color that I have never preferred. Silver, white, bronze, grey, fuchsia, orange, flesh, blue…literally anything but the same color as the tire and the wheel well is better. There’s a reason the steelies behind your hubcaps are black, and it’s because it helps them blend in and disappear.
How would you feel about black wheels with whitewall tires? Just wondering, I agree that black paint often takes away from the wheel’s design, but maybe they’d look more interesting if the tire was another color. I can’t imagine a car that it would look good on, but I’ve only been thinking about it for the past 10 seconds.
It also seems the higher you go up in a trim hierarchy now, the higher the likelihood the vehicle has black-painted wheels. Which seems counterintuitive – they’ve gone through the trouble of designing a wheel, and a fancier wheel contributes to that trim carrying a premium. So why hide it?
And black painted pockets or accents are fine, but the whole thing?
I can understand that, but I also hate silver wheels and their heinous overuse over the last 40 years. Anything but silver, and that includes black.
I tend to like wheels with a simpler design and a more “flush” (more negative offset) face, and I think these lend themselves well to black. I can agree that thin spokey wheels look terrible in black, but I think those look terrible in other colors(especially silver) too.
I have to walk back my previous statement. If you offered me a choice between chrome and black, I would definitely take the black.
Touche’ Good job…Thanks.
Yes.
Why? You want your cool Civic Si to have silver wheels so that it can look like every 2008 Avalon and 2012 f150?
Lol, yes. The murdered out look is sooooooo dated. I’d rather look like whatever random year and model vehicle you pull out than that.
I guess you can like what you like. But silver wheels were dated and overdone 30 years before the black wheels trend existed. You can’t get more dated and overdone than silver.
There are varying shades that fit the silver color spectrum and all are better than black. Both the fact that most cars are black these days as well as people not shining their tire sides make them just fugly. Might as well just put black steelies on them all. It’s just not pretty at all
Silver wheels are “overdone” because they look good. Gold=tacky, copper is ridiculous, black looks cheap… and lazy. Go part black and part silver if you can find a tasteful design that you like.
Steel wheels painted the color of the car with trim rings and chrome hubcaps look great on vintage convertibles. Your taste may vary.
Opaque couché
Who is the intended market, and who is actually buying these? Maybe mom drives a CUV and this is dad’s fun car, that could haul the kids in a pinch? Is it a preemptive strike against the Elantra N? I just don’t know.
I feel like the Si is the car that the Elantra N was aimed at. I see it more as an answer to the GTI, just with a bit less flash for those who don’t want to pay $400/mo for insurance.
Folks who want a Miata/BRZ/whatever, but need 4 seats and 4 doors.
My boss bought the last Civic Si because she is a 65 year old Indonesian woman that has never owned an automatic and there were only 2 or 3 other manuals available at the time.
I had a ’23 Si I just traded in on an FL5, and I had close to 20k miles on it. I absolutely adored that car and would recommend it to anyone – but yes, you do need to keep in mind that the US car definitely got the short end of the stick when it comes to luxury items, I’m assuming in an effort to get people to opt for the Integra. If you want an extremely fun commuter car that can also hold its own on a track or back road, I don’t think it’s possible to do better than an Si.
I think the Si equipment level and lack of a hatchback is done to make the Integra A-Spec a more compelling purchase in the US. On the other hand, why doesn’t Honda in Canada have the same concern, at least with regard to the equipment level?
I like Hondas. But the never ending boy racer look with black wheels and Pep Boys spoilers is getting old.
Time to refresh the Si to what it once was.
A performance model without a bunch of non required stuff. RE: heated wheel, seats, stupid looking seats, etc.
Isn’t the article kind of specifically mentioning that the US Si doesn’t have heated seats or steering wheel, aka exactly what you’re asking for?
Should have been clearer. Not a fan of option packs. Here or there? JFC.
Let’s nit pick today, eh? Or maybe not?
Been considering a move to Ca. after the election. So the reference to Ca. models is valid…
Except those aren’t options on the US Si, so you’re still wrong
Thanks for your very wise observation. You are obviously one “special” person. Good for you.
So you say something wrong, get called on it, double down and insult, say something wrong again, get called on it, then insult again? Interesting strategy, but if it works for you, cool
So I reread the article for about the 5th time. Trying to figure out what your issue is. Guess what? You still don’t understand my point. As such you are welcome to explain once more, how am I wrong? Your smart assed comments make absolutely no sense to me.
Seriously. Because your comment makes no fucking sense. Still.
So you must be a half witted imbecile without the ability to comprehend what you are reading. At least you understand what “special” means. Maybe there’s hope for further brain development for you after all.
It must be sad to be you. I honestly feel badly for folks like you, but not now, will just ignore any crap you care to post here in the future. FO troll.
I’d try to help you here, but obviously you are brain deficient. Sad. Apparently reading comprehension is not your strongest skill. Not surprised.
Please reread and explain where I said anything about desire for the Canadian options. Seriously. This is another example of troll like behavior.
When you learn reading comprehension skills, then perhaps we can discuss this.
Really. WTF?
Reading is easy. Understanding what we read can be hard. Again, you apparently do not understand the point. I don’t want a damn thing, except for you to get that I don’t like option bloat. Here or there. Not asking for a thing here. Except for you to learn to comprehend better. Seriously.
Have a nice weekend.
If I understand the article correctly, the heated seats and steering wheels are not standard even in Canada.
What’s happened here is you(US resident) complained about OPTIONS offered in the Canadian market(but not the US market), without any context of wanting to move to Canada. When I pointed out that you don’t actually have to have those options, you responded 3 times(!) to the same comment, increasingly insultingly.
You’re in Autopian comments enough that I know that you’re not just dumb, or just a mean person. So I believe that you can keep this comments section a nice place without repeated insults against multiple people.
Great article! I think Honda is missing a chunk of buyers by not offering some sort of Si Touring here in the US.
Since this generation came out, I’ve wondered what it would cost to get a US Si to Canadian spec or would it be cheaper to cross the border and pay to get a Canadian Si certified here in the states?
It’s also the wrong body style.. Honda needs to offer the Si as a hatchback.
I’m guessing Honda is intentionally paywalling the hatchback option so people spring for an Integra instead. Which is a bummer.
They did that for the last generation when there wasn’t an Integra alternative. Granted, for that version the sedan was preferable because Honda’s attempt at making the hatch look sportier involved odd fender bulges that reminded me of mast cell tumors on a dog. (Happily, they’re easily treatable in canines!)
IIRC part of that in the prior gen was due to the Civic hatch not being built in the UK. Same reason all hatches in the last gen came with the 1.5T while now the lower trims get the NA 2.0, they just didn’t have those on offer before. But now there’s not really any reason for it since they’re all built here.
You can get a Sport Touring 6MT hatch with options and that’s arguably a better value than the Si if you don’t care about the ~20 hp and LSD. But they did show a 6MT Civic RS hatch concept in Tokyo, which suggests an Si hatch could be possible. I could definitely see Honda consolidating the offering of a manual Civic hatch to an Si at the facelift, instead of the Sport 2.0/6MT & Sport Touring 1.5T/6MT now. And then add some more content to the Integra to justify the price (38k and no rear vents which the global Civic does offer?).
I remember that – last-gen’s hatch was only produced in Swindon, which was shut down once that model went out of production.
I wouldn’t mind a Sport Touring 1.5T/6M, but where I live I generally make a lot of short trips, which apparently is y a good idea with that engine. Luckily I have no friends, so the small back seat in the Mazda 3 hatch is not a disadvantage.
I actually went down a rabbit hole of rediscovery of the current Mazda 3, in a “if I had to buy a new car tomorrow” exercise. I would like a little bit more space but otherwise in most other aspects I think it would do the trick for me; hard to believe it’s now ~5 years old in its current form though.
(also rereading my message I said the inverse of what I intended with the “hatch not being built in the UK”, thanks for understanding what I meant, lol)
I had a first-gen Mazda 3 hatch. Great car.
I agree with this. Honda is protecting the Integra.
Coupe. Bring back the coupe, dammit.
I have a 2020 English-built Sport Hatch with the 1.5T/6MT. The turbo is a step up in both power and fuel economy from the 2.0 NA engine in my 2016 sedan but that engine/trans combo is only available in the Sport Touring Hatch now. I wish it had an LSD, but not enough to consider an Integra A-Spec.