Overview & Reviews

Since its launch in 1973, the Honda Civic has been one of the most popular compact cars sold in America. Its success can be attributed in large part to its consistently high level of quality inside and out and its long-standing reputation for reliability and low running costs. Impressive fuel economy and engaging performance have also played a role in making the Civic a top choice for many Americans.

The competition has largely caught up with Honda, though, and there are now many excellent small cars vying for your attention. Still, we continue to recommend the Civic due to its ergonomic interior layout, wide range of models and high resale value. For small-car shoppers in search of a solid used vehicle, the Honda Civic is certainly a smart choice, as its long production run and many variants make it easy to find what you want.

User Reviews:

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  Great Car - 2006 Honda Civic
  By Thorpe - November 21 - 3:56 pm

  What a great car. Plenty of pickup - super gas mileage. I have 1700 miles and have averaged 49.5 so far. I am really happy with my choice. I have had a lot of cars including mercedes, jaguar, porsche, volvo, bmw etc. I feel really good about driving this as it is the best car for our environment. Feels great to do good!

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  Awesome Gas Mileage - 2009 Honda Civic
  By Rick - November 20 - 2:30 pm

  I have 9000 miles on my Honda Civic. This is the 5th Honda Ive owned and one of the best. I average 44 MPG after 9000 miles and yes I keep track after each fill-up. Its fun to drive and I really enjoy the split dash design. It has adequate low end pickup but highway passing wont set you back in the seat. The car excels in its mission of mixed highway and town driving. The ride is sport-like but some may call it harsh. It has a tight firm ride which I enjoy. The fit and finish of the interior is excellent. I would recommend more outlets in the front interior area, but this is a rather picky criticism.

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  2006 Honda Civic - 2006 Honda Civic
  By flyer68 - November 19 - 8:13 pm

  In addition to the above rating, SAFETY should have been included. This is one of the reasons I bought the car. With all the air bags and four wheel ABS brakes, the Civic is a very safe vehicle. It also has an excellent ride for a small car.

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  Listen 6.9 ratings!!!!! - 1996 Honda Civic
  By JoAnna - November 19 - 2:00 am

  Well I am disappointed at the others that rated this car low. I am a female and I have never had any problems with this car. Its been wonderful to me and vice-versa. If you take care of your car and research one before you buy it there should not be any problems.Period. So I give Honda a 9.999 rating and the rest of you can kiss my cars butt!!! Everything is wonderful, Thank you Honda!

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  Lucky to find one - 2006 Honda Civic
  By B. Randall - November 18 - 4:16 pm

  This car is very impressive. The engine is nothing short of amazing. The salesman kept my name from a question about the Si back in Oct. 05. In test driving the first thing that impressed me the the exhaust note during acceleration (very impressive) I dont understand the low torque rating because car seems much faster than 6.7 and is pulling hard.

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  Civic Hybrid review - 2004 Honda Civic
  By RNovick - November 18 - 10:00 am

  This is a fun car to drive. It sacrifices little in performance for a dramatic 500 miles before refueling. It can cruise at 80+ mph with power to accelerate. Engine is very quiet.

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  2004 Civic Hybrid a winner!!! - 2004 Honda Civic
  By SierraMadre Hybrid - November 18 - 10:00 am

  The civic hybrid looks and runs like a normal civic. Pros and Cons are that other drivers dont know youre driving a hybrid. The performance and the dollars savings on fuel is worth a serious look at this environmentally friendly real vehicle.

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  Seriously Indulging - 2008 Honda Civic
  By Si Senor - November 15 - 9:43 pm

  Bought this car a little over a year ago. Still just as pleased as I was then as I am now. Car drives very well for the function that it serves, can be driven as a fuel efficient commuter or racy sports car. I, on avg, get about 24-27 MIXED mpg and when driving more conservatively I can get this up to 31-32 mpg, believe it or not. As almost everyone else says, this car is fun to drive and master. The engine note at 6000 RPMS is really cool to hear, really feels as if youre driving a more exotic sports car. In this price point some of these features are hard to beat. I drove this car to its limits after the break in period and still enjoy doing so, though not as often, fuel efficiency. :)

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  Absolutely love my car - 2008 Honda Civic
  By Garth - November 15 - 6:06 pm

  This is the first Honda i have ever bought. I was looking for something that was practical and sporty. It offers both very well. I compared to WRX, GTi, Lancer...etc, and overall i believe that this car offers the most bang for your buck. Very reliable car and reasonable gas mileage for a car that outputs 200 hp and revs to 8k rpm.

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  If Lexus made a compact sedan that was fun... - 2016 Honda Civic
  By Lee - November 15 - 6:39 am

  ...the 2016 Civic with the Turbo would be it! Ive driven/owned higher-end Toyota and Nissan products for many years but never actually owned a Honda. This time I was looking for a specific set of attributes requiring over 40mpg highway using regular unleaded in a fun-to-drive package. I researched every manufacturer from Kia to Mercedes. It basically came down to this Civic or the Volvo S60. The mundane task of commuting is almost pleasant when I exclusively get 45-50mpg on mixed roads. Overtaking cars is a breeze (and fun) with snappy 45-60mph acceleration. Emergency braking is strong and predictable, and the brake hold feature is kind of like cruise control for the brake pedal. I avoided the Honda Sensing since it is not well refined according to every review and it actually causes insurance costs to be higher. My joy with the Civic really came out on our first road trip with the kids to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I loaded the trunk with enough baby and preschooler gear to last a week. This along with a medium cooler and adult luggage crammed every cubic foot of boot. Fully laden the car handled the most challenging, restricted, county mountain roads better than our previous Infiniti G35. Once it was just the 4 of us, the car could cut a right-hand downhill twist at 30mph with *no* body lean or tire squeal. Accelerating uphill out of hairpins was just a notch below the response of the early-2000s era BMW 3-series. The climate control is as refined as the premium brands. While the audio system definitely is not, it is still an excellent system by its segment standards. Bluetooth only needs manual connection after my iPhone is restarted. Thats a little annoying, but it never drops during a call or music playback. CarPlay is neat but beware that your lightning cable quality must be top-notch. I used a cable that was showing wear near the plug and it would intermittently disconnect. A fresh cable fixed the connectivity and it has been perfect ever since with iOS 9.3 on an iPhone 6. The SiriusXM skips a bit more than I would like, but I cant say whether this is the cars fault or the satellite provider. The audio controls are fine once you get used to the system - pretty much the same learning curve of any other new car. The passenger side LaneWatch camera is an awesome tool. Now that Im used to it I prefer it over the Blind Spot Light system (although I wish a BLS was on the drivers side - the wide angle mirror is just short of adequate). I use LaneWatch while parallel parking and liked having it on the narrow sheer drop roads in the mountains to see how close to the roads edge I could safely drive. The seats are very supportive of my 511" 185lb frame and on-par with premium branded small sport sedans. I was surprised that even without power adjustments I could find an excellent seating position so easily. I went with cloth surfaces for the first time in several years. I am still partially second-guessing that choice. I like having the heated seats available even with cloth - that will be very comfortable come winter. The cloth is similar to neoprene - very durable and easy to clean, although not terribly pleasing to the touch. The only plastic gripe I have is with the instrument cluster cowl - it is very chintzy compared to the rest of the superb dashboard material. I wish there was more customization available for the instrument screen (e.g., an analog speedometer option or alternate tachometer layout instead of just tach on/off), but for a $20k car one cannot be too picky I guess. I also wish some of the blank button squares could be functional and programmable buttons instead of the cheap looking dead-ends. In the end I chose the Civic over the Volvo for the exceptional value. You get a vehicle that is very much on-par with the S60 (in some ways better - such as aggressive handling, and in some ways not - such as Audio and interior materials) for less than 2/3 the cost.