Here’s a vehicle for the civic minded who also want a car that can move. The Honda Civic Si hatchback has been around since 1986, when it debuted as a roomier alternative to the two-seat Civic CRX Si. Designated by its initials as being both sporting and fuel-injected, this car supplements Honda’s lineup of outstanding sedans with an equally outstanding and racy – three door. This competes with VW’s Golf GTI and Ford Focus’s SVT subcompacts.

All Civics are front-wheel driven, four-cylinder cars known for their comfort, build-quality, and resale value. The Civic’s original mission is given away by its name, which places it the same category as other cars whose metropolitan sounding monikers invoke a stripped-down spirit of fuel and space efficiency. Honda (which also puts out an Asian-market car called the City) has long allowed the Civic to embark upon some mission creep towards more power and size. Despite its EPA-rated ability to get up to 31 miles a gallon, the 160-horsepower 2005 Si is a car that does its mission creeping at a zero-to-60 time of about eight seconds.

It should come as no surprise then that, among Civics, the Si hatchback sports its own body. This streamlined capsule – which begins in contoured headlamps and extends over a steeply raked windshield to end in a curt, roof-mounted spoiler – looks like an elongated version of the abstract form long identified with the city-car breed. Contained within this contemporary shape are features also unique to the Si among Civics, including a mandatory five-speed manual transmission, a standard power moon roof, 16-inch wheels, and a specially tuned sport suspension. The Si also shares its availability of standard antilock brakes with the Civic’s high trim EX model and the gas-electric Civic Hybrid.

The $19,000 test car emphasized whatever drama might be inherent in all this with its “nighthawk black” paint job. Inside, the five-speed’s shift knob protruded from a dip in the dashboard’s center portion – a feature that takes a bit of getting used to visually, but seems eminently logical in operation. The simple dash featured logical switchgear and easy-to-read gauges that faced a cloth-covered pair of “sport seats.” These were both comfortable and supportive, which is more than we can say for the far less accommodating rear – an area that passengers must access by genuflecting – presumably to the greatness of whoever it was who invented slightly elevated backseats with 60/40 fold-down splits.

While it was no Mini Cooper S (which costs about the same, but is considered a sport coupe in league with the Acura RSX), the Si addressed the art of road going with a responsiveness and verve that could be felt all along the powerband. Working with its fluid shifter, we were able to open up the sporty subcompact’s 2.0-liter motor while its MacPherson-strut front (and double-wishbone rear) suspension did the stiffly sprung buck and wing that sport-tuned suspensions usually dance over roadbeds. The car tracked solidly on the highway, its lack of high-speed float a counterpoint to the wind noise that seemed to come off its A-pillar. Lastly, the Si performed with aplomb along back roads, exhibiting controlled lean and steady braking.

Equipped with all the Civic virtues and a generous amount of dart and zoom, the Honda Civic Si hatch is likely to give you the best amount of go for the least amount of grief in its class.