2025 Honda Civic Si Review and Test Drive

Honda has updated and upgraded its sport compact car, making it much better.

Connor Hoffman | 

Oct 10, 2024 | 6 min read

Connor Hoffman

I have good news if you're a driving enthusiast who prefers to shift your own gears: Honda has your back. The updated and upgraded 2025 Honda Civic Si still has a manual transmission, and it's still the only available transmission on the sporty sedan. The do-it-yourself gearbox might limit the Si's appeal, but it also lends the car enormous credibility.

Honda offers the 2025 Civic Si one way, and that's well equipped with a base price of $31,045. That price includes the $1,095 destination charge to ship the car from the Alliston, Ontario, Canada, factory that builds it to your local dealership.

For this Civic Si review, I evaluated the car in Tennessee, driving from downtown Nashville to the Natchez Trace Scenic Byway. My test car featured the sharp new extra-cost Urban Gray exterior paint and optional summer tires, bringing the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $31,800, including the destination charge. Honda provided the vehicle for this Civic Si review and paid for airfare, lodging, and meals during the evaluation period.

Connor Hoffman

Is the 2025 Honda Civic Si a Good Car?

If you're a driving enthusiast on a budget and need a practical and affordable vehicle that's a blast to drive, the 2025 Honda Civic Si might be the perfect car. You'll need to know how to drive a stick, but otherwise, this stealthy sport compact delivers big grins, a back seat and trunk roomy enough for family and friends, and an impressive safety rating all in one fun-to-drive package. And if you can't operate a clutch pedal, consider alternatives such as the Hyundai Elantra N, Subaru WRX, and Volkswagen Jetta GLI.

Connor Hoffman

What's New for the 2025 Honda Civic Si?

Like the rest of the 2025 Civic family, the Si gets a few cosmetic tweaks to make it stand out, including a restyled front end with a new grille and bumper. In addition, the car sits on redesigned matte-black 18-inch wheels. In the back, it receives darker taillights. My test car's Urban Gray Pearl paint is a new color choice for 2025.

Inside, Honda equips the Civic Si with newly standard heated front seats. The 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system now features Google built-in, and it comes with a complimentary three-year subscription to Google Maps, Google Assistant, and Google Play Store.

Connor Hoffman

To the left of the infotainment screen, the 10.2-inch digital instrumentation panel now features shift lights inspired by those in Formula 1 race cars. They're helpful, and the Si's manual transmission gets enhanced rev matching this year, now including the downshift from second gear to first.

Honda also says it stiffened the Civic Si's chassis in certain areas and retuned the suspension to improve handling, but I didn't notice much difference on my drive in central Tennessee. The Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 summer tires seen on my test car are also new for 2025.

The Civic's Honda Sensing collection of advanced driver-assistance systems improved this year, with Honda claiming better sensing capabilities and more refined operation. In addition, the 2025 Civic Sedan now earns a Top Safety Pick+ crash-test rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Connor Hoffman

The Civic Si is a Blast to Drive

Honda carries over the Civic Si's turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, which supplies 200 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque. The car includes Active Sound Control, which pipes a digitized version of the engine sound into the cabin through the stereo speakers as a means of enhancing the visceral experience. You can turn that off within the settings menu.

I would argue that Honda makes one of the best manual transmissions in the game. The six-speed stick has short throws and engages with precision, and the clutch pedal is light and grabs with the right amount of bite. Unfortunately, despite the rev-matching update, I experienced a few downshifts that didn't work. Still, the gearbox is tremendously satisfying overall.

Power flows to the front wheels, but a standard limited-slip front differential helps counteract one shortcoming of some front-wheel-drive sports cars: torque steer. This lets it put down power without excessive wheel spin, giving the Si an impressive ability to rocket around and out of corners.

Connor Hoffman

Honda says it improved the Civic Si's chassis rigidity for the new model year. The company stiffened the upper and lower suspension mounts, subframe mounts, and other small parts of the Si's body to improve handling. Those changes required some reworked suspension tuning, and the new summer tire option further enhances the car's handling for 2025.

Pop-up thunderstorms interrupted most of my drive, but when the rain ceased, I didn't hesitate to put the new Si through its paces on the Natchez Trace Scenic Byway. The Civic Si already handled like it was on rails, and now it's even better — especially with the grippier summer tires.

While I think the Civic Si could benefit from more power, few cars at this price point make you feel like you're Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, and those race-inspired shift indicator lights can really boost your imagination. It's quite a blast to drive.

Connor Hoffman

The Civic Si's Cabin Is Nice, Too

Honda doesn't skimp on the Si's interior, either. Like the other models in the Civic lineup, the Si features impressive interior materials for the price, including aluminum trim with a honeycomb pattern across the dashboard and air vents. While some plastics look and feel inexpensive, the cabin exudes an overall aura of quality.

The front sport seats provide plenty of support, especially when ripping down twisty roads, and the red and black cloth upholstery helps to keep you anchored in place. The rear seat is roomy enough to accommodate adults. If you have kids, there is more than enough room in the back.

The new shift indicator lights display above a crisp-looking 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster uses graphics between the gauges to display the status of the Honda Sensing driver-assist tech. Also, though the new Google built-in infotainment system works well, most drivers will likely connect with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, even after the free trial subscription ends.

Connor Hoffman

For now, the 2025 Civic Si reflects Honda's commitment to the manual transmission and the enthusiast crowd. If you don't know how to drive a stick, you'll need to look at alternatives, but then you'd be missing out on one of the best sport compact cars money can buy.

Connor Hoffman

Connor Hoffman is a writer and editor based in Kansas City. Prior to becoming a freelance writer, he was an editor at a national car magazine and worked in communications at a major automaker. He loves off-roading and camping in his 4Runner, golfing (poorly), and shredding on his mountain bike.