Honda's Latest Civic Si Drops In Power But Keeps the Stick

• The 2022 Honda Civic Si makes 200 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque, which is down from 205 hp.

• The 2022 Honda Civic Si comes standard with a six-speed manual gearbox, a first for the 11th-generation Civic.

• The 2022 Honda Civic Si also sees the updated Civic interior but adds new seats, contrast stitching, and a new individual drive mode.

Honda’s highly anticipated 11th-generation Civic Si is finally here. The first performance version of the latest generation of Honda’s cultural icon sheds the coupe shell, sticking instead with just the sedan body. This hopped-up Honda sends 200 horsepower to the front wheels by way of a standard six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential. Alongside the powertrain, the latest Civic Si features upgrades that should make it more fun to drive than its standard sibling.

The 1.5-liter turbocharged I4 turns out the same peak 192 lb-ft of torque, and at a slightly lower 1800 rpm (vs. 2100), which means you’ll feel slightly more oomph lower in the rev range. And that peak torque figure hangs until 5000 rpm. But as Civic fans are probably aware, its output falls short of the previous Civic Si’s 205 hp.

The drop in power isn’t the entire story for the Civic Si’s powertrain. The team at Honda opted for a lighter flywheel, which should help the engine be more responsive. The new single-mass flywheel is 26 percent lighter than the previous car’s dual-mass flywheel, and combined with the lower engine torque peak, should help alleviate some of the grumbles of horsepower loss after these start to hit the street.