![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/11\/11\/PDTN\/d04049be-bb42-477e-8126-8eba96bb0220-civic_wilson-payne.JPG?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>The 2020 Honda Civic Si lacks the high-revving, screaming i-VTEC engine of previous generation Sis \u2014 but its taut chassis makes it the best handling Si ever.\u00a0(Photo: Wes Allison, Honda)<\/span><\/p>\n They say the transportation future is autonomous. That\u2019s hard to believe as long as there are cars like the 2020 Honda Civic Si.<\/p>\n At just $25,000 the athletic, tech-tastic Si is a gateway drug for young auto enthusiasts.<\/p>\n One fling through Hell, Michigan\u2019s twisty roads and you\u2019ll be intrigued. A day at a parking lot autocross and you\u2019ll be in love. A race-circuit track day and you\u2019ll become a soapbox evangelist for the joys of the stick shift.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been in the bag for the Civic Si since I bought a 2006 coupe with an i-VTEC engine that revved to 8,250 rpms. The four-banger let out a full-throated wail over 5,600 rpms that would wake the dead. My two 20-something sons learned to drive on a track in that car and they,\u00a0too, are hopeless auto addicts.<\/p>\n The glorious\u00a02.0-liter, 197-horse VTEC is no more,\u00a0a victim of the nanny state and its emissions agenda. But the 2020 Civic Si is a worthy successor to my 2006 hellion.<\/p>\n Only Honda engineers know what an evolution of my screaming i-VTEC would be capable of today (210 horses? 220?) But the smaller 1.5-liter turbo hamster wheel that debuted two years ago\u00a0is a remarkable machine that puts out 205 horsepower.<\/p>\n Henry Payne tests the 2020 Honda Civic Si at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.\u00a0Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Where the VTEC had to be rowed hard above 6-grand to find its torque band, the turbo has grunt aplenty at 3,000 rpms. Turbo lag is minimal off corners,\u00a0and by the time the hamsters get to 6,000 they are out of breath. Gone is the glorious music of that 8,000-rpm i-VTEC \u2014 but, hey, U2\u2019s days of writing epic Irish anthems like \u201cSunday Bloody Sunday\u201d are behind it as well.<\/p>\n Yet they\u2019re still writing hits. So is the Civic Si.<\/p>\n The joy of this car is the N\u00fcrburgring-tested chassis, a remarkable tool in a $25,000 car. I marvel at the sophistication of mainstream vehicles compared to their luxury betters \u2014 the $35,000 Ford Mustang HiPo that imitates a BMW 3-series, the $40,000 Kia Telluride that looks like a $70,000 Audi Q7. So, too, the\u00a0Civic Si.<\/p>\n Underneath the racy\u00a0boy-toy styling of the Si \u2014 I swear the initial design drawings were rendered in crayon \u2014 is a remarkably mature front-wheel drive package with limited-slip differential, magnetic shocks, electronic steering and the best manual shifter this side of a Porsche.<\/p>\n I flung the Si through the writhing esses of Circuit of the Americas race track in Texas, expecting the front-drive car to push like an offensive tackle on a corner sweep. But my red athlete rotated with remarkable ease and encouraged\u00a0more throttle. Though not nearly as athletic as the asphalt-sucking\u00a0$90,000\u00a0Mustang GT500 I tested two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Si was no less fun to drive through the twisties. Its chassis stayed glued to apexes, brakes biting hard lap after lap.<\/p>\n Brakes have been the bane of my existence in my $57,000, rear-wheel-drive Tesla Model 3. They overheat after just two hard laps on track, smoking and smelling like a bonfire. Yet, with only a performance pad upgrade (same as my Tesla), the brakes on my $25,000\u00a0Civic never flinched around the demanding\u00a03.5-mile COTA course.<\/p>\n