With a tune the new Civic Si could be respectable being that it is light for its class and includes an LSD. Its acceleration is probably on par with the the Fiesta's. The previous gen had a very nannied/electronic feel to it. Which is fine, just not my thing. Feels neutral until you drive a FiST, and then your mind is blown. Not expecting the new gen to be anything different.
With the Si Civics I found it is the perfect car for people who want something quick, manual, cheap, normal, generic. They grew up with "V-TEC yo" and Japan = Quality. Which is fine. But it borders on bland. Honda only continues making it because it sells. It sells because it is the safe choice. It is the Camry of FWD performance cars. Which again, is fine. My biggest gripe is that the Si comes off as a focus-group engineered profit project, where as the STs, and especially Abarth are more "what the hell, lets do it" . It does not have character, with an Abarth being 9.75 "Italian", the FiST 9, FoRS 8, the FoST/GTI/WRX/Type R all a 7, the Si is a solid 4.5, "Needs Improvement". The character, same with the Camry, is found in its many origami folds.
The Civic Si, eh.... its fine. Of course most of this is based on the last gen. I'll update when I test drive a 17.
The only thing I really hate about it is how bloated it is when remembering 90s Honda and what could have been.