Over the last few weeks, we've been getting to know the 2025 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid a little better. Here is the third chapter of our long-term test of the model.
See also: 2025 Honda Civic Touring Hybrid Long-Term Test, Part 1: A Best-Seller for Half a Century
See also: 2025 Honda Civic Touring Hybrid Long-Term Test, Part 2: The Metamorphosis
The 2025 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid has very good road manners. That much has been mad e very clear during my weeks behind the wheel so far.
To be frank, I wasn’t expecting such fluid quickness during acceleration; nor such confidence in corners; nor such precisely obedient steering; nor a suspension tuned halfway between sportiness and comfort.
In short, when on the road with “my” $40,000 car, I feel spoiled.
Why and how is that? Well it's worth spending two minutes on that. Especially since, unlike the Caramilk the secret of which is only revealed to those hardy types who agree to dance naked on the summit of Annapurna on a full moon night, this is no secret. Honda is happy to explain at length the reasons its hybrid Civic pleases drivers to anyone willing to wade through several technical texts.
Let's try to keep this short.
Changing the game
Ordinarily, a hybrid system involves an electric motor that supports the gasoline engine. The two work together to, for example, improve acceleration or hill climbing. Doing so reduces fuel consumption, because, logically enough, the more electricity you use, the less gas you use.
This principle is that of the Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) system that powers the Toyota Corolla Hybrid and the Prius, among others.
But when Honda modernized its own hybrid system, it put electricity first, meaning the motors primarily dictate the car's behavior and relegate the role of the gasoline engine to that of an electricity generator.
On the road, this means that you’re often on electric power when driving the Civic, with the 2.0L Atkinson cycle inline-4 mainly there to ensure that the lithium-ion battery under the rear seat never runs out of juice.
And this means that the EV indicator in the hybrid Civic's instrument cluster, which confirms you’re on electric power while driving, is very often lit up. You can also visualize the energy exchanges by displaying an animation that shows in real time what is happening in the compact car's innards.
Two instead of one
To be certain the e:HEV system could lean mainly on electric power, Honda slipped not one but two electric motors under the hood of the new hybrid Civic.
But! This does not mean it ends up with all-wheel drive. For that, the motors would have had to be placed on the axles. Honda didn't do that because the Civic is front-wheel drive and its platform would have had to be modified to accept AWD, which would have entailed serious costs, which would have been passed on to consumers, and which would have undermined the Civic's reputation for being an "affordable" car. Not to mention that an electric motor moved to the rear would have eaten into the cargo space of what is still a compact car.
Buyers who want an AWD Honda will thus have to head across the showroom floor to the HR-V and CR-V SUVs.
As it is, the first of the two electric motors in Honda’s system propels the wheels. The second transforms the energy from the combustion engine into electrical energy to power the first electric motor, or else to recharge the battery.
All this requires zero input or attention on the part of the driver, who has nothing to do; the car takes care of everything. The system decides when you drive in EV mode, in hybrid mode where the 4 cylinders help produce even more electricity, or in gasoline mode, say on the highway. In that case the torque of the gas engine is connected directly to the front wheels.
These three modes are intrinsic to the system, in fact they are the system. You the driver do have has a (small) additional say in matters, since you can select the drive mode from among Econ, Normal and Sport. The Sport Touring Hybrid model adds a fourth, the Ind (for Individual) mode which allows you to customize the settings for acceleration, steering and suspension.
Fuel economy
Personally, I selected Econ most of the time because I was obsessed with one goal and one goal only: achieving the lowest possible average fuel consumption per 100 km.
The manufacturer announces a city/highway average of 4.8L/100 km. For my part, I stagnated at 6.0L for a long time. Since Honda predicts 6.6L for its non-hybrid base LX model, needless to say I was disappointed. There is an explanation for it, mind you. The first days of my test drive took place surrounded by snowdrifts this high, with 18-inch winter tires and mainly on highways.
Now that winter nastiness is behind us and since I’ve swapped the winter treads for summer Continentals, my average has dropped to 5.7L. I will only be satisfied when I am below 5.0L, even if it means doing more urban driving without a reason. And as it happens, just yesterday I received a message from another driver of a 2025 hybrid Civic who was overjoyed to stick under my nose that he had just achieved the incredible rating of 3.3L. So there is hope.
Next week: the conclusion.