Inside the car, Honda's stated theme has shifted to "Emotional & Rational". You'll find that the interior design is a little more aggressive than the vanilla exterior, but thankfully enough restraint has been exercised so the look remains comfortably on this side of gimmicky or garish.

The most prominent feature of the interior is the funky rallycar-inspired 5-speed shifter, which protrudes from the dash at such an angle as to suggest a certain-to-be-awkward shift action. The leather wrapped shift knob is stitched in red to add emphasis to the sporty theme. The 3-spoke steering wheel is much like the S2000's, also wrapped in leather (with red stitching) and also in possession of nicely articulated grip areas in the proper 10 and 2 o'clock positions. Another feature the Si shares with the S2000 is the wiper stalk. Instead of the typical twisting action that most Hondas have employed during my lifetime, the wipers in the Civic Si car are actuated by bumping the stalk through several detents. For normal street driving, my preferences generally lean towards the traditional twist action, as my (admittedly large) hands tend to bump the wiper stalk and actuate the wipers unintentionally during some spirited driving situations (especially in opposite lock oversteer situations when I'm sawing the wheel frantically in my S2000). But as I was hustling the Si around a very wet Seattle International Raceway, I came to appreciate this bump 'n go design because I could nudge the stalk with a finger without having to fully remove my hands from the steering wheel. At that point, I decided it was much better to have both hands firmly on the wheel when entering a set of esses at 90mph downhill, under full braking. Also, while screaming down the puddled front straight at 110mph and entering the spray wake of another car 20 feet ahead of you, a firm two handed grip on the wheel seems prudent. Perhaps the best compromise would be a simple dash mounted disable switch for those days when it's dry out and you don't want to have to worry about mistakenly engaging the dry wipers and dragging them across your dirty windscreen.

The gauge cluster features a typical-for-Honda set of four gauges (speedo, rev counter, fuel level, and water temp), each with a white face, black numerals, and red needles. The numerals and needles are backlit in red. As in the last Civic Si, an Si logo punctuates the cluster, directly below the LCD odometer. My personal bias has always been against white-faced (or for that matter, anything other than black) gauges. I find that for all-around legibility (particularly at dusk and dawn), simple black-faced gauges with white numerals work the best. Otherwise, the gauges are strictly business and very effective at conveying the necessary information.

Much like the RSX, the dash itself is covered in textured plastics which lend to the overall quality feel. Fit and finish is excellent throughout the interior. The silver-colored center stack is arranged with the standard 120W AM/FM CD stereo (6 speakers, 4 channels of amplification) mounted high and within easy reach of both the driver and front-seat passenger. The HVAC controls are arranged in an "L" configuration to the left of the stereo, and are completely electronic (as opposed to the cheap feeling cable-actuated designs). Another nice touch not usually found in entry-level models is the infinitely variable fan speed. Overall, the center stack is arranged neatly, with the same attention to ergonomics, simplicity, and style that has typified Honda interior designs for years. Below the center stack, in the center console you'll find a versatile covered storage area with a pair of cupholders and room for 5 CDs, or if you slide the cupholders out of view, the CD storage capacity doubles. The center floor console contains a few more storage areas and a lone cupholder for rear seat passengers. A cupholder to the left of the steering wheel brings the total count at four.

The front seats border on perfection. They are extremely supportive, very comfortable, and hold you in place like few other OEM seats. Finding the proper seating position is a cinch with the manual adjustments. The leather-wrapped steering wheel feels satisfying to grip, and the pedals are spaced just right for heel-and-toe shifting. My primary complaint (from the driver's seating position) would have to be registered with the dead pedal. More specifically, its rather close proximity to the clutch pedal. Coupled with my wide feet, this proximity resulted in a few crunched shifts as the dead pedal interfered with the full engagement of the clutch on occasion (if you're wondering what I'm talking about, the side of my foot would accidentally catch on the dead pedal and thinking I had the clutch pedal to the floor, I'd proceed to shift, only to feel and hear protest from the gearbox). Of all the manual transmission-equipped cars I've ever driven, this is the first time I've had this problem. In fact, I tried duplicating the problem on 2 of my own MT-equipped cars, but in both cases the dead pedal was sufficiently distant from the pedal to prevent me from repeating the mistake. The seats are partially covered by an attractive charcoal grey suede-like material with red stitching. The seat cushions and seatback inserts are upholstered in a grippy meshlike fabric. The overall effect works pretty well, but it was difficult to gauge how well the mesh fabric would wear. The rear seat is covered with the same mesh fabric, and the two-tone color scheme is continued, but with typical cloth upholstery substituting the suede-like stuff.

Adjustable head restraints are included for the outboard rear passengers. With two average sized passengers up front, the rear seat is fairly accommodating, and the flat floor provides a sense of additional roominess for your lower extremities. Taller passengers running the front seats back will likely encroach upon the rear seat legroom, but for a sporty coupe the back seat still seems quite roomy. It's plenty comfy for two adult passengers, including ample headroom and shoulder room.

The 60/40 split rear seats fold nearly flat to expand the cargo carrying capacity, providing for impressive utility in such a sporting package. For most cargo needs, however, there is plenty of room in the area behind the seats. This area includes a rigid cover that lifts up with the hatch to provide easier loading access to the cargo hold. Liftover height might be a little high for some, and the C-pillars are raked forward a bit more than the exterior shape suggests, so the amount of useable volume above the high beltline diminishes rapidly.

An upside to this extreme cab-forward design is a claimed bonus of 2.8 ft³ additional cargo capacity (though my calculations show the difference to be only 2.3 ft³ vs. the previous hatch model - perhaps Honda are using the current coupe body style as a point of comparison - the difference there is 2.8 ft³. To add to the confusion, the difference is 3.8 ft³ compared to the previous Coupe Si). Unfortunately, overall interior volume (compared to the previous hatchback model) has been reduced by 1.4 ft³.