| Pros | Cons | ||
| ✓ Right around 50 mpg | ☓ Relatively high starting price tag | ||
| ✓ Solid driving dynamics | ☓ The rest of the interior is pretty much the same as before | ||
| ✓ Way more power than its rivals | ☓ The sedan is the only Civic Hybrid on sale until later this summer | ||
| ✓ Updated infotainment system |
The Civic Hybrid is back, baby!
As thrilling as it is to drive a bona fide sports car right at the ragged edge, we all have to be honest with ourselves — most of us don’t get the opportunity to go pedal-to-the-metal on a daily basis, nor can most of us actually afford your flashy, canyon-carving sports car or even something like a Civic Type R. The meat of the car buying market will instead turn to cars just like this: the updated 2025 Honda Civic. Not only is Honda’s compact pack a decades-long heritage with millions of examples on the road, but it’s cemented a reputation for being of the best all-around options for folks shopping in the more affordable $25,000-ish to low-$30,000 range. Now, there’s a new Civic Hybrid to offer even more choice, as well as a surprising turn of performance.
Honda invited me and Tommy (presenting the video below) to Montreal, not terribly far from where Honda builds the eleventh-gen Civic sedan, to try out this version for ourselves.
With the Civic Hybrid’s arrival, it is important to note one omission from the 2025 Honda Civic lineup: the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine. Honda posits that this version, powered by a 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle gas engine tied into two electric motors, is a suitable replacement, even though you lose the sort of rev-happy demeanor that engine brought to the table, as well as any prospect of a six-speed manual transmission, like you could get in the old hatchback. That said, to the 1.5 turbo’s 180 horsepower, you get 200 horsepower here, as well as 232 lb-ft of torque. When we actually drove the Civic Hybrid, I came away with an unexpected revelation: I didn’t miss the turbo much.
What the 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid also promises beyond performance (as the most powerful non-Type R model) is fuel economy. This car, per Honda’s estimates, manages 50 mpg in the city, as well as 47 mpg on the highway and 49 mpg combined. It’s not quite as efficient as the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Blue, which gets a remarkable 54 mpg combined, or the 50 mpg combined Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE. For as much as 62 extra horsepower, though, that’s probably a sacrifice keener drivers are willing to make.
If you’re in the market, the 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid starts at $29,845 for the Sport trim. If you’re looking for a fully loaded experience, the Sport Touring Hybrid bumps the starting MSRP up to $32,845.
Living with and driving the new Honda Civic Hybrid
Stepping inside the 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid, it’s so-far, so-familiar — with a few exceptions. The 9.0-inch infotainment display available on the upper-end Sport Touring model adds Google built-in, baking Maps and the Play Store into the native system, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support. Honda hasn’t had the flashiest system in the past few years, but it’s been fairly intuitive to navigate, and this latest version (which first arrives to the Civic lineup with this model) carries on in a similar vein. If anything, it’s a bit snappier this time around, and the 9-inch screen is definitely an improvement over the standard 7-inch system, which is rocking the older OS, at least for now.
Like we remarked when the eleventh-gen Civic first launched, the interior is well executed in terms of its materials and its ergonomics, and Honda isn’t changing up the formula much here. You still get the honeycomb mesh across the dashboard hiding the HVAC vents, while the Sport Touring Hybrid gets a usefully configurable 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster. The only real hiccup is that you need to dip into the infotainment system to switch the display units from US/Imperial units like mph and mpg to metric km/h and L/100km, though that obviously isn’t a huge issue unless you’re consistently bouncing between Canada and the US, for example.
On the tech front, the entire Honda Civic lineup gets improvements to the Honda Sensing system, including smoother acceleration and braking with the adaptive cruise control system and better detection for motorcycles and bicycles, which has been a sticking point in recent independent tests that show these systems still have some ground to cover.
This hybrid is surprisingly quick
Against its competition, the 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid is the clear winner among affordable compact options, hands down. Not only is that 200 horsepower, 232 lb-ft torque figure pretty impressive on paper, but it handily beats the Corolla Hybrid’s 138 hp and Hyundai Elantra Hybrid’s 139 hp figures. It’s so torquey, in fact, that we had no issue breaking the front wheels loose when we put our foot down, even in the Econ driving mode. Above that, Honda does have the Normal and Sport driving modes, as well as an Individual mode that lets you cater the throttle, engine noise, steering and gauge cluster to your liking.
The new Civic Hybrid is functionally similar to the Accord Hybrid and CR-V Hybrid we already know. It packs the same 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle engine, but that gas powerplant doesn’t send power directly to the wheels, at least most of the time. That’s not to say it can’t, but the way it goes about delivering its power isn’t the same as your typical hybrid system. Instead of a CVT in the mix, it uses twin electric motors: One as more of a starter-generator to kick the engine on under heavier load, and a second motor to actually drive the front wheels. There’s a lock-up clutch that engages the drive motor to the generator motor under mid- and high-speed driving, and in that case torque from the engine makes its way to the drive wheels, rather than just charging the battery, then sending that electricity to the drive motor.
Whether or not you understand all that — Tommy interviews chief engineer Yoshiaki Akimoto, who also played a key role in the S2000 and Acura Integra Type S programs, in the video below — the takeaway is that it all just works. Honda’s twin-motor hybrid system is snappy whether you’re in slow-moving traffic or on the highway, and while it doesn’t give you the same surge as the old turbo model (and certainly not the 315-horsepower Type R), it’s a more of a sleeper than you might think at first glance.
Like some other hybrids and many full EVs, the Civic Hybrid has paddles on the steering wheel that give you some control over the regenerative braking system. It offers up four increasingly aggressive levels, though there’s a greater linearity between each step so it doesn’t send you through the windshield when you move through them. It’s not there to facilitate one-pedal driving, either: You’ll still need to have your foot on the brake to bring the car to a full stop, but it’s nice to get a bit more feedback when you’re in slower driving conditions.
In addition to the torquier drivetrain, the 2025 Honda Civic lineup (hybrid or otherwise) bakes in a few dynamic tweaks to improve the car’s handling chops as well. Honda says it’s beefed up the front upper suspension mounts, retuned the springs and shocks, and the Hybrid models get a specifically-developed tire package to reduce rolling resistance. Even so, the Sport Touring we tested proved a solid handling package in our short blast around Montreal, which mainly consisted of highways and curved offramps once we made our way out of the city center.
So, should you get the 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid over the standard models?
While we were only there to drive the hybrid sedan, there’s obviously much more in store for the 2025 Civic lineup. The base LX and Sport trims are still available, packing the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine without any electric motor assistance. Those models put out 150 horsepower and 133 lb-ft of torque. That’s actually slightly down from 2024’s 158 hp and 138 lb-ft, but you get the power a bit earlier in the rev band and Honda promises a fuel economy improvement of 1-2 mpg, depending on the model (topping out at about 41 mpg on the highway).
The 1.5-liter turbo engine is not entirely disappearing either, as it will return with the revamped Si model, as will the 6-speed manual. For the standard Civic models, though, the turbo engine will no longer be an option.
With that $29,845 starting price, it’s also worth noting the Civic Hybrid is several thousand dollars above the base Corolla or Elantra in price. It’s actually a bit closer to the new Toyota Prius, which nearly matches the Civic for power and is pretty agreeable to drive, on top of looking much cooler than the old models. But is that price worth it?
I’d argue it is, and I’d go one further: Get the Sport Touring Hybrid. It’s pricey by Civic standards, but it’s still well worth the money considering the balance of performance, features and fuel economy against the 1.5-liter turbo models. Whether you’ll want the sedan is a key part of the discussion, as well. If you’d prefer the hatchback instead, it is coming later this summer (the LX/Sport models are out now, while the Hybrid sedans arrive next week).
Check out our full review video and interview with Akimoto–san below:
