For almost 20 years now, the Honda Civic has held the honour of being Canada’s best-selling passenger car. The Canadian market is so important to Honda that its manufacturing plant in Allison, Ontario was deemed by the company as the “lead plant” for all future Civic Production globally.
Over the years, Honda’s Civic lineup in North America was relegated to either a two-door coupe or a four-door sedan. The company had previously offered their popular compact with a hatchback body style but quietly dropped the option in 2000. Now, 17 years later, the hatch is back.
As part of a new series reviewing autos, Global News put the all new Honda Civic Hatchback to the test by taking it on a snowy road trip to Muskoka.
What’s new and different?
The first major difference with the Hatchback over the standard Civic isn’t a good one – the price. You’ll have to shell out an extra $5,000 more than the sedan. For a car that’s meant to focus on affordability, that’s seemingly a big hit already. But you do get a lot for that extra cost: a responsive touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto ready to go, heated front seats, a multi-angle rear-view camera and a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine all come standard. For just over $2,000 more, you can add a slew of safety features including adaptive cruise control, forward collision mitigation and lane keeping technology.
The second major change is of course the body style. Hatchbacks are a great way to boost the practicality of a compact car. They have a more spacious trunk than its sedan or coupe counterparts without making a significant impact on the physical size of the vehicle. As well, hatchback rear seats fold down, boosting that luggage space further. With the rear seats folded down, you’ll get up to 1308 litres of cargo space, which rivals the luggage space offered in minivans and SUV’s. The Civic Hatchback’s trunk comes with a lightweight retractable cargo cover for privacy.
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What’s it like to live with?
Affordability and reliability aside, there’s a very good reason the Honda Civic is Canada’s top-selling car. It will more than satisfy the needs of the average Canadian driver. It’s safe, it’s economical and depending on how much you pay, it can even be luxurious.
There’s a Civic for almost everyone. The Hatchback takes that precedent and improves on it. It’ll do everything a standard Civic can do and then some. You’ll no longer need to beg your friend with the pickup truck to tag along the next time you visit your favourite Swedish furniture outlet.
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You’ll also find yourself making much fewer gas stops. Getting by on regular 87 octane fuel, the Civic’s fuel economy is rated at up to 6.2 Litres per 100 kilometres (37.9 miles per gallon). The Sport and Sport Touring models of the Hatchback will require premium 91 octane gasoline, but yields the same fuel economy.
On the inside, the Civic Hatchback is actually a very nice place to be. The cabin is (mostly) laid out in a smart and intuitive manner fit for the modern driver.
Instead of the typical gauges for speed, RPM, fuel and engine temperature, Honda took an all-digital approach, replacing the gauge cluster with an LCD screen. This screen can be customized to display fuel economy, trip information and navigation directions. A nook behind the centre console reveals a standard power input, a dedicated smartphone USB input. The centre armrest features a typical dual cup holder that can slide backwards to reveal a deep storage area underneath, as well as an additional USB port.
Centre console controls like air conditioning, heat and media are all relegated to the touchscreen interface. Our test car’s touchscreen felt almost like a smartphone during operation. That is to say, it was smooth, responsive and intuitive. There were two occasions where the interface completely froze up, requiring the car be shut off and restarted.
Honda’s touchscreen comes ready to go with Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto technology. This software lets iPhones and Androids integrate seamlessly into the touchscreen. You’ll get a familiar visual interface similar to that of your smartphone, allowing you to make calls, audibly hear text messages, play music and even get navigation directions from Apple Maps or Google Maps, depending on your phone.
What’s it like to drive?
For a car that is almost the automotive equivalent of “one size fits all,” the Civic Hatchback is remarkably fun to drive and does instill a feeling of safety and confidence. Especially on a long stretch of unplowed highway after a snowfall in Muskoka.
Our tester – the base model Civic Hatchback – comes standard with a 6-speed manual transmission. The smooth shifting gearbox is light and effortless, making even the slowest of drives (like getting caught behind the snowplow on a highway) painless, and quicker sprints through winding back roads a blast.
Manual drivers will also have a built-in brake assist that prevents the car from rolling back when on an incline. For drivers who would prefer to let the car do the work, an automatic CVT transmission is available at a cost of $1,300.
The Civic Hatchback comes standard with a 1.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. On the Civic Sedan and Coupe, this engine is optional and requires an almost $4,000 markup from the base price in some cases. Don’t expect to be blown away by the power of this engine. But you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll reach highway speeds with it. If you need more power, the Sport and Sport Touring trim levels on the Hatchback give a boost from 174 horsepower to 180. But with that, you’ll also have to switch to premium gasoline.
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Is there anything you don’t actually like?
In order to have the best-selling car in Canada, you need to know your market – and Honda knows their market very well. The Civic Hatchback is a very good car. But that’s not to say it isn’t without fault.
The touchscreen interface we see in the Civic is no doubt the foreseeable future for practically all cars – and it’s understandable why. They provide a premium look at a low cost to the automaker, especially when software like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto end up taking over from the usually clunky and poorly designed software automakers tend to install on them.
But sometimes, smart engineering is sticking with what works.
For instance, adjusting the volume of your music. Usually that’s done by turning a volume knob left or right, or just pushing it down to mute. On the Civic, you need to repeatedly tap a touch sensitive slider.
As well, the climate control can be an issue. Virtually every aspect of heating and air conditioning can be adjusted via an array of physical buttons, but if you wanted to switch between upper and lower vents, you’ll need to go through the touchscreen’s menu, forcing drivers to take these extra steps means they’re going to be tempted to take their eyes off the road.
What’s the bottom line here?
Despite the lingering bitterness some North Americans felt towards Japan post-World War II, when Honda introduced the Civic to Canada and the United States in the early ’70s, it took the market by storm. Its combination of smart engineering, reliability, practicality and (in the midst of a fuel crisis) economy was something American automakers just couldn’t achieve.
Now, nearly 50 years later, Honda’s little compact continues its massive hold on our market by following the same mantra. Despite its premium over the Sedan or Coupe, the array of standard features and the added practicality make the Civic Hatchback a very good choice for car buyers and offers some serious competition for the likes of the Ford Focus, Mazda 3 and Volkswagen Golf.
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