It is hard not to be full of cheer behind the wheel of the 2022 Honda Civic Si for the following reasons:
1. It’s cute, but with a slightly angry vibe. My tester was a “Blazing Orange Pearl.”
2. Its mileage is a not-horrible 31 MPG city-highway combined – but you’ll get less because you’ll go fast. You have to.
3. Its standard shift invites you to enjoy old-school grunt and subsequent speed and control and delight. It’s also not available in an automatic. Good.
4. It’s got a solid-looking, stylish cockpit that beats most or all of what I’ve seen this year in whatever price range. It’s got for-real knobs, noirish lights, honeycomb trim and everything is obvious, thank you – not a second spent on “Where is it? or “How do you work it?”
5. It’s relatively cheap at $27,300, $28,710 with everything. If you can find one. They are rare at the moment.
6. The press car I had before I got into the Si was a 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost and it made no difference – I loved the Si upon sight and drive, despite the vehicle costing about $427,000 less than the Ghost.
Some facts first, followed by driving impressions:
You’ll feel the 11% more power and 9% more torque the Si offers above standard issue Civic sedans. The Si’s throttle/shift combo took no time to get used to, and worked equally well in town and on highways. I also didn’t stall, not even once. There was zero lugging no matter the gear – you can give it the gun in 4th without a complaint, even uphill.
But you’ll want to downshift to get those satisfying mini-explosive accelerations. There is a decent amount of “blort” from the dual exhaust pipes, too.
My test was comprised of trips near and far, in traffic and on winding mountain roads, solo the whole time, and always in a hurry while being safe about it. Roads were dry the entire time I had the vehicle; I’d like to see what the car can do in snow and ice.
The shift demands you connect with the car, and that was more exciting with each trip as I pushed the car a bit and switched from NORMAL drive mode to SPORT. I did not max out the RPMs or the speedometer; there was nowhere safe to do it, nor did I play with the INDIVIDUAL mode. Instead I just smashed the accelerator where available, here and there. The front tires were particularly and pleasingly responsive, delivering information expertly from wheels to fingers, and a little drift over a snow-covered patch of open road was an exercise in precision – car obeying driver, and very satisfying indeed.
Rivals you’ll want to check out when shopping in this range include Hyundai’s Elantra N, the Golf GTI and the Mazda3 Turbo.
What I didn’t like:
No available leather seats, nor heated power front bucket seats, and no wireless phone charger. It’s nice to have options.
That said, the car’s cloth-covered sport front bucket seats come with built-in head restraints, a bolster for one’s thighs, lower torso and shoulders. It’s a very comfortable car for its size and price range. A two-tone design is pleasing with red accents along with contrasting stitching on the leather-wrapped steering wheel, doors, center armrest, shifter boot, and knob.
A 7-inch color instrument display with a digital tachometer, analog speedometer, and center information display is clear, attractive and, as mentioned above, easy to use.
Reinforced front MacPherson strut mounts help you withstand higher cornering forces, and stiffer suspension bushings and rear suspension arms borrowed from the Civic Type R aid stability.
There’s more, much more, but suffice it to say, there is much right and almost nothing wrong in the 2022 Honda Civic Si.