Honda Civic Hatchback full 9 point review
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Performance
The 1.8-litre petrol engine is the pick of the range because it’s responsive and eager to rev, providing strong acceleration and good in-gear flexibility. However, even the entry-level 1.4 offers decent performance, as long as you’re prepared to work it hard. It’s just a pity there’s no diesel engine.
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Ride & Handling
The Civic is quite fun to drive, feeling light and agile, but the steering is a bit of a conundrum: initial turn-in to corners is a bit lethargic, then the car suddenly dives into the turn, taking a tighter line than you might ideally like. The ride is pretty jiggly around town, but it smoothes out with speed.
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Refinement
The Civic isn’t as quiet as the most refined small family cars, but it’s a decent cruiser, with little wind noise intruding at speed. There is some road noise over poor surfaces, however, and the suspension clunks over bumps and potholes around town. Both the engines are smooth and quiet.
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Buying & Owning
The Civic is competitively priced and, although discounts aren’t massive, it holds on to its value well. Fuel economy is also pretty good, whichever engine you choose, but company car drivers may well be put off by the fact there’s no longer a diesel option.
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Quality & Reliability
There's a wide range of plastics in the Civic's cabin; many are hard to the touch, but it all feels built to last. The mechanicals should prove equally durable, because Honda has a superb record in reliability and customer satisfaction surveys, and the Civic finished second in its class in the 2011 JD Power customer satisfaction survey.
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Safety & Security
Every Civic is equipped with twin front, side and curtain airbags, and active front head restraints that move to minimise whiplash in the event of a rear-end shunt. What’s more, there’s a stability control system to prevent skids. An engine immobiliser, deadlocks and an alarm are standard across the range to prevent theft.
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Behind The Wheel
As with the exterior, you'll either love or loathe the Civic's cabin. Its three-dimensional instruments look futuristic, but they reflect onto the windows at night. Smaller drivers have to lower the steering wheel as low as it'll go to see the speedo, while the switchgear is funky, but overly complicated. Rear vision is appalling because a spoiler slices across the screen and there's no rear wiper.
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Space & Practicality
The Civic provides vast legroom for those in the front or rear seats, but headroom is rather tight - especially in the back. At 485 litres the boot is massive and a split-level floor boosts versatility. The rear seats fold to leave a long, flat load area and they can also be flipped up like cinema seats to create a second load area in the rear footwell.
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Equipment
SE models come with alloy wheels, front and rear electric windows, climate control and an aux-in socket, while the Si trim adds sporty styling touches and larger alloys, and ES gives you dual-zone climate control and automatic lights and wipers. You can also buy T versions of these three trims, with Bluetooth and satellite-navigation. EX GT models get all that plus upgraded headlights. Three-door models are similarly equipped, but the trims are named Type S, Type S-T and Type S GT.
Civic used car reviews
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Honda Civic Hatchback 1.8 i-VTEC SE 5dr
This is our favourite Civic, thanks to the willing engine, sensible price and reasonable equipment. However, like the rest of the range, the over-firm ride and below-par practicality mark it down.
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