The Honda Civic Si is one of the best performance bargains on the market today. With a base price of just $25,200, the Civic Si sedan and coupe are two of the few vehicles still on the market that comes exclusively with a manual gearbox. Bless you, Honda. The Civic Si sedan is also a perfectly acceptable family vehicle. Your crossover-driving friends don't know what they're missing.

And speaking of missing out, Civic Si national inventory levels indicate there are only a handful of 2020 models left. CarsDirect did a bit of digging and discovered there are roughly 500-600 units still for sale in the US. That translates to just 3 percent or so of approximately 22,000 Civics nationally.

Bear in mind there won't be a 2021 model year as the Civic Si will be taking a hiatus before its redesigned successor arrives in about a year's time, at the earliest. But is this really a good time to rush to a dealership and drop a down payment? Not necessarily.

Interestingly, since July Honda has been excluding the Civic Si from incentives such as promotional financing rates and attractive lease offers. One such offer made the Civic Si actually cheaper to lease than a Toyota Corolla. As Honda dealers are seriously low on Civic Si inventory, they're far less likely to cut you a good price because someone else could be willing to pay sticker.

Dealers love customer bidding wars. We're not talking about dealer markups, but rather an unwillingness to negotiate. It's just the way things work sometimes. But if you're willing to forget the Civic Si and jump to a competitor, then you're in luck.

The Hyundai Veloster Turbo, for example, is being offered at 0 percent APR for 48 months right now plus a 90-day first payment deferral. Still set on a fun-to-drive performance budget sedan? The Volkswagen Jetta GLI is also currently eligible for 0 percent interest, but for 72 months. Its base price is about $2,000 more than the Civic Si Sedan, but beggars can't be choosers.