2025 Honda Civic Si
By: Brandon Randall
The 2025 Honda Civic Si is fantastic. Hard Stop. Not for any immediately identifiable reasons. For example, it won’t win any horsepower contest, because well… it never has. It’s never really tried to, and in-spite of this, it’s still one of my all time favorite sport sedans. Ever since its debut, three decades ago, nothing screamed fun and affordable quite like the two letters ‘Si.’ From the chopped CRX hatch, to the sexy Prelude, and yes, the popular Civic. Sprayed in that immediately recognizable blue, no doubt with a big aftermarket exhaust pipe and Volk Racing wheels that cost a quarter of the cars overall retail value. The Si was the pinnacle of performance from the little Civic, only eclipsed by the Type R, which we were never lucky enough to see on U.S. shores.
Fast forward to today, and blessed as we may be to now have access to the Type R, the Si continues to find a relevant place in the Honda line-up. With 200 horses under the hood and a slick-shifting six-speed manual (the only option, because Honda knows what the people want), it’s still built more for fun than straight-line speed. Sure, it’s not as powerful as the Volkswagen Golf GTI or Hyundai Elantra N, but it’s also much easier on your wallet. Plus, you’re still getting a solid list of goodies: heated sport seats, a digital gauge cluster, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Not to mention a great sounding 12-speaker Bose audio system. And when you’re not chasing backroad bends, the Si slips right back into its Civic roots, comfy, practical, and easy to live with every single day. Representing the best of both worlds.
Pop the hood on the Civic Si and you’ll find a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder putting out 200 horsepower and 192 lb-ft of torque. Power goes straight to the front wheels through a quick shifting, six-speed manual. It also comes with a standard limited-slip differential to put that power down cleanly and help mitigate the large amounts of understeer that plagued the earlier generation Civic Si.
Behind the wheel, the 2025 Si feels just like we remember, and nothing could be a bigger compliment. The engine can sound wonderfully gritty when you’re really wringing it out, making the most power high-up on the rpm range where the variable valve timing kicks in. Turbo lag is basically a non-issue as well, and the shifter is still one of the best around with its short, snappy throws. New for this year is a rev-match feature that makes downshifting smoother, perfect if you haven’t quite mastered heel-and-toe (and easy to turn off if you have).
Compared to your everyday Civic, the Si gets bigger brake rotors and a stiffer suspension that makes it feel sharper in the corners without beating you up on rough roads. Sure, adaptive dampers are gone, but the standard setup is balanced, planted, and totally livable for daily driving. It feels tight and communicates every little bump road nuance happening under the four tires without sacrificing too much comfort.
Inside the Civic Si, Honda cranks up the sporty vibes with a set of exclusive sport seats that feature extra bolstering to keep you in place. There’s built-in heaters, and Si logos stitched right into the headrests. Capturing the performance flair of Recaro or Spoon Sport seats, but infinitely more comfortable and practical. Red contrast stitching adds flair all over, from the seats to the doors, steering wheel, and more, so there’s no mistaking this for your average Civic. Even the fancy metal mesh across the dashboard, which hides the air vents, gets a special red accent just for the Si. Everything combines to make the interior space feel special. Like an aftermarket job filled with Japanese Domestic bits and pieces. All that’s missing is to move the steering wheel over to the right side.
In front of the driver sits a digital gauge cluster with a classic analog speedo and a tachometer to keep things old-school cool. A little detail that delighted me to no end. Because it shares the same footprint as the regular Civic sedan, you still get a roomy back seat and a trunk big enough to swallow six carry-on bags. So yeah, it’s sporty, but still totally practical. Yes, the 2025 Honda Civic Si, on paper, may appear underpowered. With a 1.5L engine, I wouldn’t blame anyone who doesn’t know any better, to look elsewhere for their automotive kicks. However, for those who know, the ‘Si’ badge has been proving for decades that there’s much more to the performance equation than just raw displacement. The latest Civic to wear the iconic ‘Si’ badge, pushes the message even further. Making it nearly irrefutable.
Price as tested: $31,800.00
