Honda Civic 2022

The 2022 Honda Civic is one of the bestselling and best-known compact cars on the planet. Emerging now in sedan and hatchback body styles, it’s offered as a Civic LX, Sport, EX, or Civic Touring. It gains Si and high-performance Type R versions in the near future, but no coupe will return. Other compacts that come as a sedan or hatchback include the Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, and Subaru Impreza. 

What’s New

The redesigned 2022 Honda Civic arrives with sleeker and less wildly detailed styling, paired with a new higher-quality interior.

The sedan now dips lower in the front and is more boxed off in the rear. The windshield and A-pillars have been pushed back by about two inches, leaving a long hood that makes the Civic look more stretched than it actually is. It has only grown by 1.4 inches in length, but looks like a mid-size car from a distance.  

Inside, a 7.0-inch touchscreen is standard, but a 9.0-inch touchscreen fits in Touring models, which also get a 10.2-inch digital gauge display. Materials on the lower trim levels are impressive, with metal accents on many of the switches and a fingerprint-resistant material on the center console. A clean unbroken mesh panel concealing the vents separates the upper and lower parts. It’s pretty and distinctive.

Engine Options

The engine options carry over from the 2021 models, with a 158-hp 2.0-liter inline-4 on LX and Sport trims and a 180-hp 1.5-liter turbo-4 in EX and Touring trims. A CVT sends power to the front wheels. Turbos have good urgency, but the CVT saps some of the fun. The Civic’s ride and handling have a sophisticated vibe, and even Sport and Touring cars with 18-inch wheels soak up the streets. Gas mileage is a strong point, too, at up to 36 mpg combined.

Interior

Interior space provides room for four large passengers, with a fifth possible in the back seat. The Civic’s front seats could use more lumbar padding, but otherwise feel plush, above its price range—and the view out is expansive. Trunk space and rear-seat room peg the usefulness meter, too.

Every 2022 Civic comes with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, and active lane control. Blind-spot monitors and parking sensors come with the more expensive models.

Cost

The Civic LX carries a $22,695 sticker price; it has power features, 16-inch wheels, a 7.0-inch touchscreen, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The $25,695 Civic EX hits the sweet spot with its 17-inch wheels, heated front seats, and blind-spot monitors—but the $29,295 Civic Touring gets a serious look with its 9.0-inch touchscreen, Bose 12-speaker audio, leather upholstery, and wireless smartphone charging.

Made In

Sedans come from Alliston, Ontario, Canada; Honda will build the hatchback Civic in Greensburg, Indiana.

Look

Less adventurous on the outside, the 2022 Civic has a fresh, engaging interior that plays up simplicity. We give it a point for the exterior and two for the interior, for an 8 here.

The most common complaint about the last-generation Civic came from the almost bewildering collection of cutlines on its body: we gave it kudos for its sleek proportions, while we razzed it for the slits and gills and creases and flaps that rendered the body slightly chaotic. 

The Civic’s interior sings. As a prelude to coming electric cars, Honda’s laid out a simple cabin with a thin strip of honeycomb trim that hides the air vents, which adjust with joystick ease. Glossy black trim’s relegated to surfaces not normally touched, and the dials and window switched have metal tips and connect with satisfying clicks. All versions come with a touchscreen at least 7.0 inches on the diagonal, but Touring’s get a 9.0-inch screen that’s one of the few obvious departures from base trim, that and leather. It’s a democratic approach that plays well with the Civic’s economy-car duty.

Performance

The new Civic carries over its powertrains from the previous version, with the spicy Type R yet to reappear. With either of its engines, the Civic’s acceleration takes a back seat to its well-tuned ride and handling. It’s a 6 here.

Comfort

The Civic continues to grow as it matures, and it’s nearly big enough for five adults. It’s a 6 for comfort and utility, with an extra point for its front seats—and it nearly earns one more for its large trunk.

Riding on a 107.7-inch wheelbase, and sitting 183.3 inches overall, the 2022 Civic has eclipsed older Accords in size, so we hesitate to call it a compact anymore. With lots of glass and a low dash, it offers an expansive view of the road to the front passengers, who ride on manually-adjustable cloth seats in the LX model. The EX version gets heated front seats, while the Touring has power front seats and leather upholstery; in our drives, the Touring’s seats had lots of bolstering and good support in all ways except lumbar. The Civic’s front seats mount low; it’s one of the few cars in which we have to raise the seat for the best view.

Safety

Since it’s new, the 2022 Civic hasn’t been crash-tested yet by the IIHS or the NHTSA. We’ll leave it scoreless until we see some data, but there’s every reason to hope it will match last year’s excellent results.

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