2020 Honda Civic Si Review | The everyman's sport sedan

With a slick-shifting 6-speed and a treasure under the hood, this isn't your basic Honda Civic. Available in either coupe or sedan form, the Civic Si rewards drivers with a thrilling powertrain. Minor design tweaks, more standard safety and convenience features, and more manual transmissions arrive as the standout changes for the Civic's 2020 model year. Last redesigned for the 2016 model year, the Civic keeps outperforming its small-car peers by offering the performance and quality of more expensive cars, while retaining the value and longevity expected of a Honda. The simple interior, with its narrow center stack and minimal instrumentation, is built with soft-touch rubbers and high-quality switchgear. The hard plastics on the lower sections of the dash and on the doors are acceptable and have a fine grain. More gloss-black trim on the steering wheel and dash, the feel of the metal shift knob, the pulsing red glow of the start button, and even the way the central air vents play off their symmetry are all pleasing to the eye. On the Si, the 1.5-liter engine is boosted to 205 hp and 192 lb-ft (in both the coupe and sedan). The Type R, with 306 hp and 295 lb-ft, is predictably insane. Both the Civic Si and Type R come exclusively with a stick-shift. While the Type R is a delight—and remarkably composed despite ultra-thin 20-inch tires and all that power routed to the front wheels—the Si is more the everyday delight. Adaptive dampers come standard and really remove the...