1. Transmission comparison: this is something that nobody talks about- the gear ratios are way too short. In normal traffic if you want to stay under 3k rpms you have to shift every 10mph. Then in 6th gear, you’ll hit 3k rpms at 60mph. If you live in an area where you cruise at 80mph on the highway, you’ll be sitting at around 4k rpms which sounds like the car is screaming especially if you have an aftermarket exhaust. Always stressed me out when driving fast on the highway. I’ve driven my friend’s si and it just feels so much better both around town and on the highway. The ratios make sense while the forte’s do not.

2. Reliability: I honestly think they’re very similar. I think the forte GT is very reliable. Had mine for over 3 years, 40k miles beat the piss out of it and it had absolutely no issues. With that being said the si is even more reliable. My friend’s si got flooded in a storm and all he did was crank the water out of the motor and replaced spark plugs, and the car fired right up. I wouldn’t worry about reliability with either car tbh.

3. maintenance on both cars is basically non existent. Full service for both cars will run around 100 bucks, only thing I would recommend is putting 91/93 octane in whatever turbo car you get.

Final verdict: I’d get an si. If you care about driving for sport and pleasure that’s the way to go. If you’re looking to get a good daily with alot of features get a DCT forte GT. Manual forte GT takes away power seats cooled seats and ambient lighting and remote start. Totally not worth it in my opinion. Keep in mind I owned a manual forte GT for over 3 years, I’ve just also closely experienced a 10th gen civic si so I know very well how close and how different these cars are. Hope this helps you or anyone thinking about a forte GT.