2008 Honda Civic Mugen Si Sedan

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What is it?
2008 Honda Civic Mugen Si Sedan

What's special about it?
The Honda Civic Si sedan is the first four-door to wear the "Si" badge, and now it will also become the first Honda in the U.S. to wear the Mugen name.

A well-known Japanese tuning company started by the son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda, Mugen has been associated with high-performance Hondas for more than three decades. In the case of the Honda Civic Si sedan, Mugen tightened up what is already the best-handling stock Civic we've ever driven. They started by lowering the car just over half an inch and increasing the front and rear damping rates. Then lightweight 18-inch forged aluminum wheels were swapped in to shave 6.2 pounds off at each corner, while the 215/40 tires offer a slightly smaller profile.

The rest of this Si's changes are mostly cosmetic, as it adds a full body kit and a relatively discrete badge on the grille. A sport exhaust system is said to reduce backpressure and is good for all of 2 or 3 horsepower. Given that the stock Si's 2.0-liter four-cylinder puts out 197 horsepower, go ahead and call it an even 200 in the Mugen. No other mechanical changes were made and the interior changes are equally miniscule. You get a round shift knob and a serial number plate in the instrument panel; that's it.

At this point we can only assume the Civic Mugen Si handles better than the standard Civic Si sedan. The press release said it was tuned at the twin-ring Motegi race circuit in Japan, but we've seen Chevrolet HHRs on the Nürburgring so calling anything track-tuned these days doesn't count for much. Honda also mentioned that the Mugen Si will go on sale next spring at a price "less than $30,000," as if that made it some kind of bargain. With only 500 offered per year it won't be hard for Honda to call it a sellout.

What's Edmunds' take?
We've never called the Si coupe anything less than one of the most fun to drive $20,000 cars we've ever driven. The Civic Mugen Si promises more of the same in a practical package, but if the cost is anything more than a couple thousand dollars it may pay to look elsewhere. — Ed Hellwig