Civic Si Sedan

Make
Honda
Segment
Sedan

A brand new 2020 Honda Civic Si costs about $25,000 and yet last June someone paid double that for a two-decade-old model. Why is that? Because the sixth-generation Civic Si is one of the most treasured front-wheel-drive Japanese coupes sold in the US. Not only is it highly tunable but was already brilliant straight out of the box. Available only as a coupe, the sixth-gen Civic Si was sold for only two model years beginning in 1999.

From the outside, it looked mostly like any other Civic coupe, with the exceptions being badging and VTEC lettering on the sides. The interior was also not much different than non-Si models, though the Si logo was placed in the driver's gauge cluster.

It was under its hood where the magic happened. Honda's B16 1.6-liter VTEC inline-four engine produces 160 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 111 lb-ft of torque available at 7,000 rpm. That power goes to the front wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. Engineers also made some upgrades to the throttle body, intake manifold, and exhaust system.

The final result was a driving experience unlike nearly anything else available at the time for around $17,000. In other words, this little and unassuming car increased in value by $33,000 (nearly 52 percent) or so in 20 years. That's amazing for any vehicle, let alone an economy car.

And now there's yet another sixth-gen 1999 Civic Si up for grabs on Bring A Trailer. This accident-free example is painted in Electron Blue and has 12,000 miles on its odometer. A few features include an AM/FM CD stereo, four-wheel disc brakes, and 15-inch alloy wheels. The sale also includes the owner's manual and original purchase documentation.

As it turns out, this exact car was previously listed and sold on BAT back in April 2018 for $24,027, but at the time of this writing the highest bid was $36,500 - and that's with an additional 140 miles driven in the past year and a half. It's hardly anything but the car's value continues to increase at a rapid pace. The big question is whether or not it will surpass the $50k mark we saw not long ago for a 2000 model with just 5,600 miles on the clock. The auction is scheduled to end this Friday, December 4.