Honda Civic Buyer's Guide: Which Compact Is Right for You?

• Picking the right Civic means choosing between gas and hybrid powertrains.
• On top of that, you'll have to choose the right body style and trim, too.
• We love the Civic hybrid, but is it worth the added cost?

How do they drive?

The base Civic LX and Civic Sport are powered by gas alone; the Sport Hybrid and Sport Touring Hybrid get an electrified powertrain.

The LX and Sport have a 2.0-liter inline-four that makes 150 horsepower and 133 lb-ft of torque. It took 9.9 seconds to get the Civic Sport sedan from 0 to 60 mph in our testing, which is super slow by modern standards. Weirdly, though, the Civic doesn't feel mega slow in day-to-day driving, but getting on the highway or passing slower traffic will take a healthy dose of throttle.

Hop into the Sport Touring and the experience is completely different. The hybrid system pairs the 2.0-liter engine with two electric motors, and total system output is a healthy 200 hp and 232 lb-ft of torque. The difference is noticeable: The Civic Sport Touring hybrid ran from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds — that's even quicker than the sporty Civic Si, which did the same deed in 7.2 seconds in our testing.

Regardless of engine, both Civics have above-average handling characteristics, with crisp steering and a nice ride quality. Honda really knows how to tune a suspension, and the Civic manages to feel solid but comfortable.

How's the interior?

The Sport has cloth seats, but the Sport Touring has leather upholstery with heated front chairs. Both versions have a leather-wrapped shift knob and steering wheel, as well as satisfying metal knurling on the climate control and volume knobs. Kudos to Honda for making its lower trim levels feel as well built as the more expensive models. 

The back seats are roomier than what you'd expect for this class. A 6-foot-tall passenger can easily sit behind a 6-foot-tall driver, and whether you choose the sedan or hatchback, passenger space remains the same. Unfortunately, that means both also suffer from a relatively raked roofline, so you'll have to duck when getting in and out of the rear seats. 

Unfortunately, the rear seats lack amenities. Neither model has charging ports or even rear air vents. The back of the center console is Ken doll smooth.

How's the technology?

It might look like both Civics have the same screen, but that's only because the housing is the same. The Sport uses a 7-inch display while the Sport Touring has a 9-inch screen, and the latter runs more advanced infotainment software as well. Honda's standard multimedia setup is fine — serviceable at best — but the Sport Touring is the only Civic to get the Google built-in suite of apps, with things like Google Maps, a voice assistant and the Play store, so you can download other goodies.

The Sport Touring also has a wireless charging pad and wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In the Sport, you're stuck using a wired connection through one of two front USB ports.

At least the Sport offers a good number of driver aids: Adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance, automatic high beams and blind-spot warning all come standard. And they work quite well, though the adaptive cruise control does take a beat longer to speed up than you might expect. The Sport Touring has the same safety equipment, and both models have terribly low-resolution rearview cameras, so no difference there.

How's the cargo space?

As you might expect, the Civic Hatchback has a serious cargo advantage over its sedan sibling. The sedan offers 14.8 cubic feet of space and the hatchback has 24.5 cubes — an increase of 65%.

In practice, though, the gap is relatively small. The sedan could fit five of our assorted luggage pieces (two checked bags, three carry-ons) and the hatchback could fit six (two checked, four carry-on). The sedan is helped by the width of its trunk, while the hatchback's cargo area is taller and skinnier, albeit with a wider opening.

What about value?

Here are the prices for each of the Civic's trim levels, including the destination charges:

• Civic LX sedan: $25,400
• Civic Sport sedan: $27,400
• Civic Sport Hybrid sedan: $30,100 (cheapest hybrid)
• Civic Sport Touring Hybrid sedan: $33,100

At a bare minimum, we recommend upgrading to the Civic Sport over the Civic LX. It offers a lot of extra equipment for that $2,000, all of which make living with the car significantly better. The Sport gives you blind-spot warning, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, remote start, an eight-speaker audio system (up from four), split fold-down rear seats (up from single-piece), keyless entry and a Sport drive mode.

Between the two powertrains, the hybrid is clearly the one to pick, and it's also significantly more efficient, offering an estimated 48-49 mpg combined, compared to 34-36 mpg combined in the gas-only models. Even with that gap, it'll take a good amount of time to make up the cost difference between the two in fuel savings alone. But when you factor in the better driving experience, it very much seems worth it to us. The hatchback body style costs $1,200 more than the sedan across the board, but it fits more stuff and looks better as well.

If you can swing it, the Sport Touring hybrid — either the sedan or hatchback — is the one to get. It's got all the things you'd want: the most powerful and most efficient engine, better technology, leather upholstery, and an experience that feels like it exceeds the car's mid-$30,000 price tag. The Civic Hybrid is our Edmunds Top Rated Car and Best of the Best for a reason, after all.

There isn't a dud among 'em

While our overall recommendation might be the top-of-the-line Sport Touring hybrid hatch, the good news is that, no matter which Civic you choose, you're guaranteed to end up with a car that feels solidly built and delivers some genuine driving enjoyment. Those are two things you definitely can't take for granted with compact cars and a big reason why we recommend the Honda Civic with such gusto.