Across the line, the popular Honda Civic received a major glow-up for 2022. Thankfully, gone are the days when the many models were differentiated by pushing together two innocuous letters to get the DX, LX, EX and SI. Now, we have meaningful words like Sport, Sedan, Hatchback and Touring to help us navigate the different styles and offerings. Given the major overhaul across the whole line, here are two, on somewhat different ends of the spectrum, that we absolutely loved.
2022 Honda Civic Sport Hatchback:
- A fantastic looking, sleek, fastback design that’s totally fresh and new. With long, slim taillights, a widened track, and honeycomb grille that compliments the same honeycomb design that’s a prominent feature inside the cabin.
- Sporty and refined interior. Edited down and simplified. None of the Type R over-styling or abrasive color and pattern combinations. Just functional, sharp, clean and versatile. With a long, horizontal honeycomb strip stretching across the front dash. It even has the largest back seat ever found in a Civic Hatch.
- A short-throw 6-speed manual transmission is available in this exciting new Civic. A vitally important option that keeps the little Honda connected to its past, as it stretches to the future in many exciting new ways.
- Various engine options. Something the Hondas of the 80’s and 90’s never offered from the factory were turbos. No, for that, one would have to look to third-party developers like Greddy or Mugen. With complicated installs and the risk of destroying the cars mechanical reliability. Not to mention ruining its manufacturers warranty. These days, Honda will let you have your pick. A naturally aspirated 2.0L 4- cylinder, or fast spooling, 1.5L turbo. Both offer good acceleration, but the turbo delivers that extra measure of pep and liveliness, especially in Sport mode.
- Priced at $25,115.00
2022 Honda Civic Touring Sedan:
- A stretched-out, subtle and subdued design. Would be easy to mistake for an Accord, or perhaps something from Honda’s luxury branch, Acura. Not boring or plain, but lacking the same spark or excitement found in the Civic Hatchback.
- An upscale interior that features leather trimmings all around, a bright 9” color touchscreen, and premium Bose audio.
- The same CVT automatic transmission can be found in both Sport Hatch and Touring Sedan models, but that engaging 6-speed is nowhere in sight here.
- The same two engine options are also available, with my Touring coming equipped with the 1.5L turbo 4-cylinder. It boasted good acceleration and respectable handling dynamics, but didn’t have the same response and sharpness as the sporty hatchback. Betrayed by its extra weight and larger size, amongst other things.
- Even more room in the back.
- Price as tested $29,295.00
To directly compare these two Civic models wouldn’t be entirely fair, as they clearly set out to do different things. Appealing to different types of consumers. What they individually set out to do though, they do exceptionally well. Never better in fact. In large part, thanks to the many compelling changes of 2022. This is the 11th generation of the Civic for a reason. They’ve always delivered on quality and dependability. With a dynamic exterior and practical interior, packed with whatever modern technology was available at the time. At its core though, the Civic is meant to be fun first. Everything else second. Fun to its core, as has always been the case. And it’s for that reason that the Hatchback ultimately wins the day for this auto-writer.
