Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla?
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0:00 Intro

BAD:

0:31 - missing items

Lumbar adjustments
Memory seats
A heated steering wheel
Ambient lighting
A power passenger seat
OR rear air vents

1:03 - no hybrid…yet

if you want max fuel economy you have to go to the Accord..at least for now as the Civic is getting a hybrid in 2024

The silver lining is that the Civic here gets 29/37 mpg even without a hybrid so that’s pretty good

1:41 - Expensive

The Honda Civic…and these are hatch prices..Starts just under 25k

This top trim Sport touring starts at just over 31k
Which is a problem because a corolla starts at 21,700 and the XLE hybrid starts at 26,850

That means the most expensive corolla you can buy starts within a grand of the second cheapest Civic…and the Toyota is a hybrid

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GOOD:

2:21 - The hatch

The cargo space is HUGE
You also get 60/40 folding rear seats for even more space
AND the most brilliant privacy cover ever

2:35 - Transmission choice

In the Civic you get a choice of two transmissions

You can get the CVT which will be a little faster and more fuel efficient
OR you can get the 6 speed manual which is more fun

3:02 - Design

This 11th gen Civic is a much more restrained and subtle design than it was last generation and I personally like it quite a bit

One thing that’s interesting is that the manual car here only comes in 3 colors while the CVT gets a lot more…weird

4:02 - Interior

Here in the Civic you have great leathers with contrasted stitching and piping
In this top Sport Touring trim you can get any color interior you want as long as it’s black
You get a sunroof
You have nice easy to use physical climate controls
I love the full dash honeycomb vent detail with the toggle knobs - weirdly satisfying
And you get nice tech features too like
A totally digital 10 inch cluster on Sport Touring
A 9 inch touchscreen infotainment system
With wireless ACP and AA for Sport Touring
A wireless charger on Sport Touring
You get a reverse camera with cross traffic alert and emergency braking
And you get a pretty nice BOSE audio system

5:14 - The Drive

Long story short, this and the Mazda 3 are the best driving cars in this segment - noticeably better than an Elantra or Corolla

Your LX and Sport trims get the base 2.0 engine
BUT the EX and Sport Touring trims get the same 1.5T engine from the Si
And here it makes 180 hp and 177 lbft
That power goes through an open diff to the front wheels and gets to 60 in 7ish sec with the CVT

Does it feel like a sportscar or hot hatch? No. - but it shouldnt
The Si and Type R still sit above this with more power and LSDs

The steering is good here
The damping strikes a nice balance between spunky and comfy
And it’s just easy to drive and fun

A couple interesting things to note on the manual cars
The clutch is really light as we’ve come to expect
But the shift action is really satisfying
And there are no drive modes on the manual cars, which isn’t a huge surprise

6:38 - rear seats

This is a small car but the rear seats are actually not too bad even for myself at 6’1”

They’re bigger than before
With this sloped hatch roofline it does eat into headroom a little, but without my hat I’m fine
The materials in back aren’t as nice as the front and you only get one pocket and you don’t have air vents
BUT
You get dual USBs, cupholders, and a comfy enough space

Is it perfect back here? No - but it’s perfectly fine for me

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7:13 - Conclusion