In the not-too-distant past, cramming two forms of powertrain into a single car meant heavy, cumbersome, running shoe–shaped vehicles with inelegant driving dynamics. Hybrids have improved by leaps and bounds since the days of the first Toyota Prius — now we have hybrid luxury vehicles, pickups, supercars in addition to eco-conscious daily drivers. Honda has been without a hybrid compact sedan since the Insight hung up its spurs two years ago, but just in time for hybrids to recycle back into hot commodities, Honda is back in the compact hybrid sedan (and hatchback!) game with the new Civic Hybrid.
Full disclosure: Honda invited me to drive the new Civic Hybrid in Montreal ahead of attending the Canadian GP as the company’s guest. They put me up in a hotel, fed me seafood and hooked me up with a pass to Red Bull Racings’ suites in order to watch the race in style.
Let’s start with the deets. Honda mated its 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle inline-4 engine with an electric motor to deliver 200 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque. Of those 200 ponies, the gas engine is responsible for 150 of them. That’s the same amount of power as the Civic Si sedan but the Hybrid provides 40 more lb-ft, though the Si is still the best option for folks who like to row their own gears as the Hybrid only comes with a CVT. But, the Civic Hybrid also comes in a hatchback, while the Si is sedan-only. You can have a manual, or five doors, but you can’t have both.
Pricing is on par for the segment. A base Civic Hybrid Sport starts at $28,750 while the Sport Touring starts at $31,750, a little more expensive than fellow subcompact hybrids like the Toyota Corolla Hybrid ($23,500) and the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid ($25,550).
As for looks, the Civic got a little refresh for hybrid and non-hybrid models alike, with a more “aggressive” front end and a sporty new grille. The Hybrid specifically gets multiple new tiny design touches such as a black B-pillar, black window trim and a body-colored front spoiler.
On drive day, first struggle, as with any vehicle, was hooking up my phone to the infotainment system. Several Honda reps were on standby to help, but honestly it was a breeze to get my Pixel 6 (don’t judge me) up and running. It makes sense, as the whole system has Google built into it now. Finally, a vehicle for the much maligned Pixel users. We shall overcome! When my American phone had a tough time getting directions in Montreal, switching to the onboard Google Maps app got me going again in no time. It quickly found the hotel with a basic search, even if I was at one point directed to a strange dirt lot by the Honoré Mercier Bridge. It’s all controlled on a responsive and crisp 9-inch center touchscreen — just the right size, as far as I’m concerned.
Easy is the name of the game for this vehicle. Easy to live with, easy to drive and easy to love. Honda continues its recent trend of quieting the heck out of its cabins — whether on the cobblestones of the old town, the grated bridge surface or regular city street, the inside of the car was whisper quiet thanks to Active Noise Control and wheel resonators. Even with a moonroof, this Civic was a sanctuary in the middle of a busy city gripped by an influx of thousands of race fans and exotic cars.
Of course, driving in Eco mode with the electric engine as your main source of propulsion certainly helps quiet down the cabin. Switching to Sport gives the Civic Hybrid that extra dino-juice kick that you might need on curvy roads or, as for our testing purposes, city freeways. Picking the gas-forward Sport mode actually increases the powertrain’s noise, but in a good way.
After about 45 miles of mixed city and highway driving, with only a short time spent in Sport thanks to the intense Canadian GP traffic, my EV range was down by half thanks to liberal use of regenerative braking. Honda offers four levels of regen, with the top offering more than enough pull for comfortable and natural one-pedal driving. The 20 minutes or so I spent in Sport only diminished my fuel reserves by a few ticks. Honda says the Civic Hybrid scores a 50 mpg average between city and highway driving, which is more than enough for most people to keep it in the green.
Active-safety features have also been enhanced to feel more natural. Lane-keeping assist felt less like the steering was possessed by a demon having a tantrum and more like it was being haunted by a friendly side-seat driving ghost. Hitting traffic was no problem with the adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist. I’m a queasy gal, and normally such systems make my head spin after just two or three braking events, but the Civic Hybrid helped both car and driver sail through the stop-and-go traffic.
Honestly, most new cars are great to the point where I have to work pretty hard to find something to complain about. I usually do — I’m paid to complain about the free cars I’m provided — but this time, Honda has shut me up. As subcompact sedans go, this one is quick, user-friendly and full of the tech you want and none of the bells and whistles crap you don’t. There are screens, but the entire car didn’t feel dominated by spaceship-ready tech. There are physical controls for everything you might need, even a redundancy maybe, but with such a short time in the car, it was a plus. The Civic isn’t a car you have to get to know. It’s intuitive. It’s a car I jumped into, connected my phone without the need of a PR person, pulled off in without much fussing, drove without problem or hesitation and jumped back out again. You could lend it to your grandma and trust she isn’t going to call you every five minutes asking things like “how do you turn up the heat?” or “where is my gas gauge?” Will Grandma understand regenerative braking or one-pedal driving? Probably not. But the point is, this is a car first, designed to work as a car needs to work. The technological marvels come in second.
Americans have been scooping up Civics for decades, to the tune of 12 million since 1973. Plenty more will go for this Civic in the hot-again hybrid drivetrain. For those wishing to ease into electrification with a stylish, comfortable and idiot-proof vehicle, you can’t really ask for more. And you won’t have to wait long at all — the 2025 Civic Hybrid sedan goes on sale June 12, with the hatch rolling up later this summer.