Honda Civic review

Broadly speaking, the Honda Civic is priced in line with the Mazda 3, and between cheaper models in the class, like the Seat Leon and Skoda Octavia, and the pricier cars, such as the Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Golf. It won't hold onto its value quite as well as many of those rivals, though, with heavier depreciation after three years than the Mazda 3, Leon and Corolla. Check out our New Car Buying pages to find out the latest finance deals.

The petrol engines, including our favourite 1.0 VTEC Turbo, are slightly less efficient than the equivalent Leon or Octavia, so you're likely to pay a touch more on company car tax and fuel. Rivals like the Focus, with its mild-hybrid engines, and the Corolla, which is a full hybrid, offer considerably lower CO2 emissions, but because they tend to cost more and have a higher P11D value, they aren't necessarily cheaper company cars. The Civic diesel isn't RDE2 emissions compliant, which means you'll have to pay a 4% diesel surcharge to run one through a company car scheme.

The Civic is generally one of the more expensive cars in the class to service, but only by a few hundred pounds next to the cheapest cars, which would include the Mazda 3. 

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Entry-level S trim is pretty basic with 16in steel wheels, but you do get air-con, auto lights and electric windows. SE trim adds a few more extras, such as 16in alloy wheels, single-zone climate control and electric door mirrors. SR trim is our pick, though, which adds the better infotainment package and parking aids we've mentioned previously, as well as 17in alloys, dual-zone climate control, auto wipers, power-folding door mirrors and privacy glass. It's still competitively priced, too. 

EX trim throws in luxuries such as keyless entry, leather seats (heated front and rear), an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and a sunroof, which are nice additions but the price starts creeping up to a level that we don't think makes sense – unless you can find a great deal, that is. EX Sport Line is really just styling additions, and the Sport trim is based on the SR trim, but also adds some of those styling upgrades, such as red seat stitching, a rear spoiler and black alloy wheels.

Honda performed well as a manufacturer in the 2020 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing 8th out of 31 manufacturers. That was just behind Hyundai, Kia and Toyota, but way above Ford, Seat and Volkswagen. The Civic itself fared less well in the family car category but still did okay – it was in the mid-pack, below the Focus and Corolla but above the Peugeot 308 and Vauxhall Astra. 

The Civic comes with a three-year/ 90,000-mile warranty as standard. You get a 60,000-mile limit with a Skoda or Volkswagen, but in terms of time, a Hyundai warranty lasts for five years and a Kia stretches that to seven.

Honda has included an extremely competitive list of safety equipment as standard across the Civic range. Beyond its six airbags, every car gets automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, traffic sign recognition and intelligent speed assist. EX models add blind spot monitoring. 

In its Euro NCAP safety tests, the Civic scored five stars overall. When you investigate its individual category scores, though, and compare them with the best in the class, which includes the Mercedes A-Class and Toyota Corolla, you'll discover that adults in the front and kids in the rear of the Civic are more exposed to chest and neck injuries in a crash.

On the security side, an immobiliser is standard on all Civics, while an alarm is standard from SR trim and upwards.

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