Yeah, it costs more, but it has a lot of goods packed into it.
Honda
Everything costs a little more these days, and the 2022 Honda Civic Si isn’t an outlier. In fact, we’re a little surprised at the price bump attached to the latest sports car. On Tuesday, Honda announced prices for the sedan-only Si, and it starts at $28,315 after a $1,015 destination charge. Long story short, the car’s $2,385 more expensive than the last time a new Si sat at Honda dealers, that being the 2020 model year.
Part of the increase comes from a slightly spendier destination charge, but take the fee out of the equation and the car still checks in $2,300 more expensive. We’ve always adored how affordable the Civic Si was, and with the price bump, it’s going to make the new model a $30,000 car easily after tax and other fees. And that’s before other options, too. The times, they are changing.
What you do get with the price bump is a very solid package on paper. Our editors have nothing but nice things to say about the 11th-generation Civic, so the latest Si at least has a good starting point. We’ll have to drive it to see how it all comes together. The latest car gets an updated 1.5-liter turbo-four with 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. Power is actually slightly down this time around, but Honda promises a much better torque curve between 1,800 rpm and 5,000 rpm. The ponies also come on a little higher at the top end of things at 6,000 rpm.
A lighter flywheel could be this car’s ace up its sleeve to provide more on-demand throttle response. The last car, well, it was something. A six-speed manual is the only transmission available, and Honda added the Civic Type R’s slick rev-matching system to complement shorter throws than before. Finally, engineers took a look at the suspension to deliver a better feel. The new car boasts a total retune with stiffer springs, dampers, bushings and anti-roll bars.
As for all the other amenities that come standard with the Si, Honda baked in lots of red accents, sport pedals and seats, and giant 18-inch wheels are standard in a matte black finish. As for tech, buyers will find a 9-inch infotainment display and a 7-inch digital gauge cluster, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 12-speaker Bose audio system all standard. At least there’s a lot of good stuff here baked into that couple-thousand-dollar price bump. If you’re looking for optional packages, there’s one: a set of summer performance tires for $200.
We’ll see the first cars arrive at dealers by the end of this year, unless the chip shortage has something to say about that. Now, it’s all eyes on the next two hot Hondas to come: the Civic Type R and a new Acura Integra.