2009 Honda Civic Road Test

Table of Contents
2009 Honda Civic Review
2009 Honda Civic Prices
2009 Honda Civic Competition

Driving the Honda Civic
With a modest 140 horsepower, DX, LX and EX models aren’t rabbit-like off the line, but seldom feel like weaklings once underway. Sport versions of some other compact cars boast more muscle than the 197 horsepower mustered by the Si-based Civics, but few have a more satisfying engine. This Honda 2.0-liter thrives on high-rpm work so you’ll need to get friendly with that six-speed manual, but the reward is smooth thrust from a sophisticated four.

With either of these engines, the marriage between engine and transmission is a sweet one, with the automatic alert to throttle inputs and seldom in the wrong gear, the two manuals examples of well-oiled short-throw shifting.

Honda Civic Hybrid doesn’t have any deal-breaking flaws, but it will compel you to recalibrate your driving style. The Civic Hybrid is lazy away from a stop and requires determined use of the gas pedal to move along with any sense of urgency. As with other continuously variable transmissions, this one works best at midrange and highway speeds, where it transmits power without delay. Getting to those speeds, however, can have the engine revving ahead of actual acceleration, another common CVT trait. We haven’t yet tested the natural-gas-powered Honda Civic GX.

Every Honda Civic works with you to furnish confident control on straight stretches and in curves. Tires and suspension tuning, however, play a huge role in determining where each model lands along the continuum from confidence to athletic handling. DX and Hybrid versions suffer mediocre grip and nose plow in fast turns. LX and EX are nimble and balanced. Si-based models are resolute and inspiring. From the driver’s seat, sedans and coupes don’t feel appreciably different.

Riding in the Honda Civic
Body style does play a role in ride comfort, mostly because coupes ride a 2-inch shorter wheelbase than sedans. This difference in the distance between the front and rear axles makes coupes feel choppy and sedans feel absorbent on the same bumpy surfaces. Best overall are LX and EX models; their 16-inch tires are better at absorbing imperfections than the 15s the DX and Hybird, and their suspensions are don’t react as abruptly as the taut setups on the Si and Mugen models.

Civic’s seats are firm and supportive, with special credit to the front buckets in the Si and Mugen for their pronounced side bolsters. Front or back, Civic sedans provide four adults with good room and comfort. The lowish ceiling can compromise head clearance for those over 6-feet, however. Rear passengers get a flat floor, but there’s not much toe room under the front seats. Coupes give up nothing in front-seat space, but getting into or out of their rear seat, and getting comfortable once there, is a job for pre-teens. The coupe’s long doors don’t do you any favors in confined spaces.

The Si and Mugen generate enough tire noise to compromise what in other versions is a pleasingly quiet cabin for this class. As for the Si and Mugen exhaust note: if it’s too loud, you’re too old.

Civic passenger compartments have lots of bins and boxes for bric-a-brac. Trunk space is good for this size car and the opening is generous, though the lid hinges dip into the cargo area. DX and LX models have a one-piece folding rear seatback. EX, EX-L and Si-based versions have a split folding seatback. The seatback does not fold down in Hybrid and GX models

Honda Civic dashboard and controls
Civic’s windswept front-end styling with its severely raked front roof pillars puts a long, nearly minivan-like dashtop between the driver and the base of the windshield. It’s an odd sensation in such a small car, and things get more unorthodox from there.

Futuristic is one description of the Honda Civic instrument panel, which places gauges and controls at different levels and on various planes. A cove atop the dash houses a digital speedometer readout along with coolant temperature and fuel-level displays. Below that and closer to the driver is a binnacle containing the tachometer. Both are within the driver’s line of sight, but not every driver is likely to agree that different here means better.

Large knobs and buttons for the climate system are close-by. Models that duplicate audio functions on the steering wheel have an edge because it’s a slight stretch to the main sound-system controls on the dashboard. The gearshift and the parking-brake lever are at the base of the dashboard rather than on the floor between the seats, a location that isn’t necessarily better, just different.

Civic’s switchgear is inviting to touch, with slop-free movement worthy of the more-expensive models from Honda’s upscale Acura brand. Cabin materials feel solid and richly grained. Si and Mugen models get in tune with metal-finished pedal surfaces and alloy shift knobs.

Several compact cars offer navigation systems, but voice activation is still a novelty. Civic’s could use a bit more development to make it easier to program, to make the screen easier to read in changing light conditions, and to better segregate audio functions.

Honda Civic fuel economy
Honda’s weight-conscious engineering pays off in sterling fuel efficiency, even among Civic’s performance models. DX, LX, and EX versions are rated at 26 mpg city/34 highway with manual transmission and 25/36 with automatic. Si-based models rate 21/29, and these are the only Civics to require more-expensive premium-grade gas.

Like virtually every gas-electric hybrid, the Civic Hybrid isn’t likely to match its government-rated 40 mpg city/45 mpg highway estimates, but should easily average 38 mpg or so over the long haul. The natural-gas GX has EPA ratings of 24 city/36 highway.

Honda Civic safety
In government tests, Civic sedans and coupes rate the maximum five stars for driver and front passenger protection in frontal collisions. In side-impact protection, both body styles rate four of five stars for protection of the driver and five of five stars for protection of the rear passenger.

Honda Civic quality and reliability
There’s a disconnect between Honda dealers and Honda cars in terms of customer satisfaction. Honda buyers rate their sales experience only average, but give the brand above-average marks for overall quality, according to surveys by J.D. Power and Associates, the leading consumer-ratings firm.

Civics lead the compact-car class in customer satisfaction, scoring the highest possible grades in J.D. Power surveys that rate quality of design, engineering, features, and overall dependability.