Should I trade my car for an SI ?

As my mum always used to say "if your friends told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" Why waste 1000s because your friends say so. I bet they all have worse cars than yours.

If you MUST trade it for another civic, get a type R, the only Civic worth having.

That is fully up to you, I would stay away from it myself, then I do not like Jap cars to start with!

Sorry, but a Civic is NOT a 'sports car'. And, anyone wanting to trade a car they've owned for only one year clearly has more money than brains.

Is your current car paid off ? Why not ? By trading, you only get wholesale value for the current car, but you WILL pay full retail for the next car.

Fascinating....I just bought a 2016 civic coupe lx....tonic green pearl, 17 inch gloss blacks, chrome delete, roof wrap, rear spoiler....CVT ......freaking love it...lol

...but yeah, the SI is awesome!!  Good luck!

UPDATE....thumbs down I see....ok.   I used to own a 2004 SI and I don’t miss the manual trans at all.  It was fun, I was younger....but the 10gen civic (non-si) with the L15 turbo beats it on power, torque, front and rear passenger volume, looks, wheelbase, fuel economy, while weighing 30 lbs less.

The 10gen si will give you the dual adaptive drive mode, heated seats, big stereo, and 205hp/192 tq, 18” alloys, rear spoiler, limited slip differential,  and a close ratio 6 speed manual.  

Ideally, you’d want to structure your deal without a trade in and a comfortably large down payment.  This eliminates the possibility of getting screwed on the trade in value, and one negotiates on the price of the SI not the trade in.  The bank will see the large down payment, maybe 40% (10k)of the 25k purchase price, as a car deal with instant positive equity.

Good luck.

"...my friends have always told me to get an SI..."

Why? So they could drive it? Keep your current car unless you want to lose money just to please your friends. 

"yes it’s a sports car". Actually, it's NOT a sports car.

A Corvette is a sports car, or Viper, or a Cobra etc.

Cars with two seats are sports cars, not Civics, and NO, you shouldn't trade cars simply because some other  kids think you should. 

Think about this: Your friends aren't paying a penny towards this car. You'll lose thousands on your trade, pay thousands more for the Si, and lose the year you've already paid, and you can't even drive a stick. Why? Because your friends want this car, and they think it's a great idea for YOU to buy it. 

Keep your car, and pay it off. If your friends want an Si, let them buy it. 

Pay off your car first.  You might like the idea of not making any car payments.  You can save some money to go backpacking in Vietnam.

You would lose $3000-4000 in value.  You should trade cars as infrequently as possible in your life.

Unless you are independently wealthy.

Get a Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro