Over the next few weeks, we'll be getting to know the 2025 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid a little better. Here is the first chapter of our long-term test of the model.
If you talk cars with someone who cares as much about them as they do about parsnip cultivation, names like Venue, Grecale or RVR will probably mean nothing to them. On the other hand, say Civic and you'll get a reaction.
Everyone has heard of the Honda Civic at some point in their life. In fact chances are fairly good that anyone with a driver’s permit has driven a Civic at some point in their life, or at least someone in their immediate circle has.
For one thing, the compact car has existed since 1972, so for over half a century. Unless I'm mistaken, there are only three other vehicles that have been around for longer without interruption in North America: the Chevrolet Corvette (born 1953), the Ford Mustang (1964) and the Toyota Corolla (1966). The last of which is, of course, the Civic's perennial rival.
Revealing numbers
Between 1972 and 2024, Honda sold more than 28 million Civics worldwide.
Only four models surpass that staggering career total: the Ford F-150 (40 million), the VW Golf and the Chevrolet Silverado (each over 35 million), and – there it is again – the Toyota Corolla (50 million-plus units sold worldwide, making it the most popular model since the advent of the automobile).
What about the VW Beetle, you might be asking? The bug was certainly wildly successful over the decades, but it falls short of the Big Four, VW having sold “only” a little over 23 million units of it if you count both the original Beetle (1938 to 2003) and the New Beetle (1997 to 2019).
But we’re here to talk about the Honda Civic aren’t we. For 24 years, from 1998 to 2021, it was the best-selling car (so excluding trucks) in Canada. In 2022 and 2023, it was nipped to that title by – wait for it - the Corolla. One reason was undoubtedly the part supply problems Honda suffered through during those two pandemic years. But the supply problems and the pandemic are now in the past, and last year the Civic reclaimed its throne. According to Automotive News, Honda Canada sold 31,774 Civics in 2024, outpacing Toyota Canada with 25,988 Corollas sold.
All these dizzying statistics to say that it's impossible not to be familiar in one way or another with the Civic, a model that has enjoyed and continues to enjoy great success from one ocean to the other.
An expanded portfolio
When you’ve mastered a winning formula, here’s what you do: multiply the variations of your product to appeal to the widest possible range of consumers. (OK there was New Coke, but let’s call that the exception that proves the rule). And so it is that the 2025 Canadian Civic lineup includes up to nine models, four sedans and five hatchbacks, including the two pocket rockets, the Si and Type R models.
MSRPs range from $30,693 (including all fees except taxes) for a DX sedan to $55,953 for the blazing Type R.
The car I drove was a Sport Touring Hybrid sedan priced at $39,948. And yes, the Civic has reintroduced a hybrid configuration into its portfolio, which is a fairly big deal.
A giant leap
Honda was at the forefront of hybrid technology as early as 1999 with the Insight, and it had already included a hybrid version of the Civic clan, though it only lasted for three generations (7th through 9th). In part, that was because the technology of the time (called IMA for Integrated Motor Assist) had had its share of critics, who found the tech came up short compared to what Toyota was offering with the Prius.
In the eyes of many, journalists and consumers alike, Toyota generally managed to deliver better fuel economy and a more dynamic driving feel. Not to mention that the acquisition cost of the hybrid version of the Civic gave some buyers pause. For the 7th generation in 2003, for example, the price differences between equivalent versions ranged between $5,000 and $9,000.
Maxime Caron, National Manager of Retail Operations at Honda Canada, did remind me that manufacturing costs in Japan were higher at the time.
In any case, know that while the 10th-generation Civic paraded without a hybrid version in its lineup, Honda’s engineers were at work preparing a surprise for us. That was revealed when the current 11th generation appeared for 2021 with a brand-new hybrid system called e:HEV (Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive).
The new state-of-the-art hybrid technology from Honda uses not one but two electric motors! That system allows for all-electric driving on occasion, generally delivers much better fuel economy, and a driving experience that I could describe as sensational.
I’ll have the opportunity to return to the improvements the new system has brought. Suffice for the moment to say that Honda Canada has so much confidence in e:HEV that it has equipped four of the seven “regular” Civics with it (the Si and Type R being birds of an entirely different feather).
Honda was surely motivated one the one hand by the need to keep pace as electrification continues apace and to achieve its own stated goal of being a zero-carbon manufacturer by 2050. But there’s also the fact that the Corolla has had a hybrid powertrain in our market since 2019, and that it’s not alone – Korean automaker Hyundai has the Elantra Hybrid, offered since the 2021 model-year. In the car business, it’s keep up with the Joneses or else.
Next week, we dig into the Civic Sport Touring Hybrid!
