Honda Civic

There are some cars where the 'USP' leaps straight out at you.

The Honda Civic e:HEV LX is not one of them.

But where more overt vehicles can result in that initial novelty dulling fairly quickly, a grower like this hybrid Civic rewards those who are in it for the longer haul.

Of course, Honda is no newbie when it comes to selling hybrids in Australia. It was first to market here back in 2001 with the original Insight – and it even brought us a hybrid supercar, the 2017 NSX NA2.

In between, it sold hybrid versions of the Civic, with the Integrated Motor Assist tech from 2003, before evolving in 2006 to an electrical system 50 per cent more powerful that could run the car in pure EV mode under light demand.

Twenty years of hybrid experience in the Civic has taught Honda a great deal about what customers actually want, and that answer appears to be invisibility.

People want the benefits of hybrid drive such as cleanliness, torque fill and quietness without making a big song and dance about the fact. In short, they want the mainstreaming of hybrid tech.

That's exactly what this 11th-generation Civic delivers. It's not immediately apparent that it's a hybrid at all. The subtle blue ring around the Honda logo on its bonnet and boot will be lost on most observers. Likewise, the hidden single tailpipe and the brake discs that are an inch bigger in diameter will only be apparent to the most ardent marque tragics.

So jump right in. For what looks like a straightforward car, there's a heck of a lot to cover.

JUMP AHEAD

• How much is it, and what do you get?
• How do rivals compare on value?
• Interior comfort, space and storage
• What is it like to drive?
• How is it on fuel?
• How safe is it?
• Warranty and running costs
• VERDICT
• Specifications

How much is it and what do you get?

The 'TL:DR' version? $55k, and a lot.

Firstly, that's a drive-away price which is, in case you're wondering, about seven grand more than the standard non-hybrid Civic VTi LX. But where that car's powered by a 1.5-litre engine good for 131kW and 240Nm, the hybrid gets a more relaxed 2.0-litre unit that generates 135kW and 315Nm. And it has a few tricks up its sleeve beyond the headline stats.

Jump inside and despite the two cars both wearing LX badges, the hybrid just gets more kit. It's subtle stuff, but cast your eye around the cabin and you'll notice a panoramic glass sunroof, heated steering wheel, two rear USB slots versus the petrol car's one, eight-way power adjustment for the front seats, black leather-appointed upholstery, extra coat hooks, white contrast stitching, mood lighting and a smart keycard.

Possibly the most intriguing feature is buried in the guts of the e:HEV's wiring. The Telematics Control Unit doesn't sound immediately thrilling, but this box of gadgetry allows the integration of the Honda Connect platform.

This enables Civic e:HEV owners to download an app to their phones which allows all kinds of Tesla-style remote functionality. Aside from the usual functionality like remote starting the vehicle, climate pre-conditioning and headlight flashing to show where your car is in an airport car park, Honda Connect is capable of a bunch of really advanced features.

Let's say you're lending the car to your kids when you're on holiday. You can geo-fence an area and the app will let you know if the car strays outside it. Or if it exceeds a selected speed for a selected amount of time.

You can track the car if it's been stolen. If it's been involved in an accident, it can automatically let the emergency services know how many people were in the car, and the severity and type of the incident.

The car can send a log file to your local Honda service centre if a warning light appears on the dash, so they'll know what's happening with the car before it even arrives with them, potentially saving you time and money. If you're heading out on a journey, you can check the vehicle's fuel level before you go and budget time for a trip to the servo accordingly.

Left the dome light on when you were in the car? It'll even alert you if the battery level is dropping to save you the hassle of a flat battery in the morning. There's a stack of other functionality like trip logging, driver behaviour reporting and so on.

The best part is that Honda offers a complimentary five-year subscription to the service. In other words, it's good for as long as your warranty and roadside assist packages.

Elsewhere, the Japanese-built Civic e:HEV LX gets a 10.2-inch driver information display to back up the 9.0-inch centre screen. The Apple CarPlay installation is wireless but the Android Auto installation requires some sort of umbilical connection. The screen is slick and relatively easy to use and marshals a punchy 12-speaker Bose audio system.

Just three paint colours are offered. Platinum White pearlescent is standard and there are two premium paint finishes: Crystal Red metallic and Crystal Blue metallic.

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How do rivals compare on value?

Before we answer that question, we have to get settled on quite what we're dealing with here.

Mentally position the car as a Honda Civic and all of your neural heuristics are cueing you into a smallish hatch that sits near the top of its mainstream bracket. Then you're told that it's $55K drive-away and you start talking about how cheap compact hatches were back in the day before segueing effortlessly into how policemen now look so young and how wonderful trains used to be.

Thing is, the Civic isn't that sort of car anymore. Its footprint on the road is bigger than an E39 BMW 5 Series. And the finish inside is as good or better than the opening models in BMW, Audi or Mercedes-Benz's range. And you can bet that the complexity of this car, the sheer amount of intellectual property hardwired into it, trumps any of those brands' entry-level offerings.

Direct rivals are few, but a 131kW/205Nm Lexus UX250h Luxury retails at $52K-odd plus on-road costs, so lineball with the price of the Civic for something smaller inside and less powerful.

The Lexus is an SUV though, and Honda already offers the $47K HRV e:HEV L if you want to sit a little higher.

Given the outgoing Toyota Prius i-Tech is nearly $46K before on-road costs and fronts up with just 90kW/142Nm and a cabin that offers nothing like the space and richness of finish, the Civic doesn't look bad value.

Probably the most intriguing rival is the somewhat sportier Cupra Leon VZe, a 180kW/400Nm plug-in hybrid with 51km of electric range that retails at just over $60K before on-road costs. There's certainly a strong argument to be made for the Spanish car, but Civic owners will choose the e:HEV exactly because you don't need to plug it in.

They don't want their involvement in energy management to be that intensive. In that regard, there's not a lot quite like it anywhere in the Aussie marketplace.

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Interior Comfort, Space and Storage

As you'd expect for a car of its size, the Civic's cabin feels generously cut.

The big glass sunroof robs a bit of headroom, so taller drivers may find themselves canted back a little further than expected in their seats, but it helps contribute to an airy feels inside, helped by the relatively low scuttle and lack of a shift lever or much in the way of dashboard clutter.

There are a couple of big cup holders on the centre console and a deep bin immediately aft, with slimmish door pockets and a big glove box available for oddments storage.

The central screen juts up from the dash top, leaving a slot of visibility below the rear-view mirror, which could be a bit of an issue for shorter drivers. Likewise, the control to engage reverse gear isn't a push button like drive or park. Instead, it's a sprung tab that you have to claw at with a fingertip, which may not prove ideal for ladies with immaculate manicures.

Mini match-up: Size and boot space

Moving round to the back, the higher floor houses the battery pack, so whereas the petrol Civic VTi LX features a 404-litre boot with 45 litres under the floor, the e:HEV LX makes do with 404 litres and a mere five litres underfloor.

That's still hardly catastrophic given a Golf delivers 374L of space and a Corolla hybrid a mere 333L. I'm not going to totally spoil the surprise here, but wait until you get to play with the clever parcel shelf and you'll wonder why nobody else hadn't hit upon Honda's novel solution earlier.

Overall finish is very good with decent soft-touch plastics plus an ornate hexagon pattern running across the dash which might be a bit of a nightmare to keep free of dust.

While it doesn't look as glitzy as a Mazda, functionality is excellent and the seats, both front and rear, are supportive and comfortable. Kids are catered for with three rear tethering points and two ISOFIX seat mounts on the outer positions.

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What's it like to drive?

The Civic e:HEV LX isn't an enthusiast's car. All it really needs to do is feel acceptably sprightly and reassuringly comfortable, and it'll have fulfilled virtually all of the dynamic benchmarks it needs.

Its hybrid drive system is pleasantly fire-and-forget. There are drive modes, which cycle through Eco, Normal, Sport and Individual, but no dedicated EV-only mode. The 2.0-litre petrol engine spends much of its time powering the electricity generator, but drives the wheels directly at freeway speeds, largely because that's the most efficient method.

That's key. The Civic e:HEV ruthlessly focuses on efficiency, eschewing Toyota's complex planetary gearbox architecture in favour of a fixed-gear electronically controlled CVT, yes those three magic letters that make most drivers' hearts sink to their boots.

While this continuously variable transmission is a better example of its ilk, there are still a few occasions when you're pressing on that the powertrain starts mooing like a Wookiee being euthanised but for the most part it's a cultured, refined and pragmatic set-up.

The 2.0-litre direct-injection Atkinson cycle engine is an inoffensive unit and partners with the lithium-ion battery seamlessly. Against the clock, it nets a 0-100km/h time of 8.1 seconds, making it a good deal brisker than the 1.5-litre petrol.

A set of wheel-mounted paddles sit unobtrusively like little plastic ears. Instead of being used to change gear, they're pressed into duty to adjust the amount of regenerative braking used to replenish the battery.

Unfortunately, the system doesn't seem to wholly trust its operator, as after a short while, the regen will quietly snick back to its middle setting. As far as I could establish, the only way to stop it from reverting was to keep it in Sport mode, which makes the steering and throttle mapping a bit too exuberant for the character of the car.

While this CVT is a better example of its ilk, there are still a few occasions when it starts mooing like a Wookiee being euthanised

Really get after the Civic down a challenging country road and you'll discover a fundamentally excellent chassis balance. Front-end grip is good, and Honda has sensibly fitted brake discs that are an inch bigger front and rear to cater for the additional 128kg of heft that the 1497kg e:HEV wields. Honda's fitment of extremely good 235/40 R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres is a very welcome surprise.

Body control in both pitch and roll is better than you'd expect, although there is a little bit of vertical heave. The ride quality is just the comfortable side of busy and only bigger ruts upset its composure.

The steering's not the most communicative, but it is accurate. Honda has worked at improving overall refinement in the cabin, but there's still a bit of bump and thump that enters the passenger cell from the rear suspension.

Really get after the Civic down a challenging country road and you'll discover a fundamentally excellent chassis balance

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Related video

2022 Honda Civic hatch petrol

How is it on fuel?

Honda wheeled out an original Insight for the launch of the Civic e:HEV and it was illuminating that this two-seat exotic lightweight was a mere litre per 100km more economical than the Civic – which, when parked next to the sylph-like 860kg Insight, looked like a behemoth.

The 2023 Civic hybrid's combined fuel economy figure is quoted at 4.2 litres per 100km, which feels about right based on our usage on mixed roads.

A petrol-engined VTi LX, by way of comparison, sups 6.3L/100km, which means that over a typical 15,000km year, the hybrid owner will consume 630 litres of fuel, whereby the petrol model will drink 945 litres.

Extend that over a five-year ownership period and, for the sake of argument, pitch petrol prices at $2 per litre and the hybrid nets a $3150 saving in fuel alone.

You then need to figure out whether the additional power, equipment and utility of Honda Connect functionality is then worth the residual $4K premium over the base car. For my money, it probably is.

The fuel tank is a compact 40 litres, but given the economy of the e:HEV, it still offers a very respectable touring range on each fill.

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How safe is it?

Because its safety gear is different to that of the Civic VTi hatch, the e:HEV can't just piggyback on that car's safety rating.

Discussions are ongoing with ANCAP at present to have the car rated, but rest assured, it's certainly not short on safety gear.

The hybrid even includes some kit not fitted to the entry-level car including a centre front airbag, rear airbags that pop up from the outboard seat cushion bolsters, traffic sign recognition, an intelligent speed limiter and an acoustic vehicle alerting system.

Here's a more exhaustive rundown of the safety kit provided.

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Warranty and running costs

Honda supplies the Civic e:HEV with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.

That also includes a five-year subscription to Honda Connect, five-year roadside assist cover and five years of what Honda calls Low Price Servicing. Sceptical?

This covers most routine service items for an asking price of $125, which doesn't seem bad. What's more, the deal is transferrable if you sell the car with any subsequent services up to 66 months or 55,000km passing on to a new owner.

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VERDICT

$55K seems a steep ask, but cast around for what else offers so much for this price and the results are pretty thin.

The Honda Civic e:HEV LX is a likeable and well-engineered family hatchback. The hybrid tech is unobtrusively integrated, it drives well, is comfortable, well-equipped and well-finished. Although $55K seems a steep ask, cast around for what else offers so much for this price and the results are pretty thin.

This isn't a Corolla hybrid rival. The Civic is a far bigger car and is fully 50 percent more powerful. Once you get comfortable with that, the rival set shrinks quite markedly.

Its biggest problem is grabbing the attention of buyers in a marketplace that's congested not with direct rivals but with vehicles that offer different but nonethless convincing claims on your attention.

That's why the sales targets for this car are modest and its buyers will be those who have taken the time to understand that here is a car with very few weak points and a certain cerebral appeal that isn't always immediate.

We have no doubt that the Civic e:HEV LX would be a delightful car to live with. It does virtually nothing that's annoying or gauche. There's a knowing restraint to its ingenuity and a polish to its engineering that's a trademark Honda flex, albeit a subtle one.

The family hatch market is currently on its knees and entrants are falling with depressing regularity. This 11th-generation Civic is a gem, but we'd love to see a twelfth.

However, that'll only happen if buyers recognise a product that works, and works well, without requiring a megaphone to advertise its qualities.

Perhaps it's time to recognise intrinsic merit once again.

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