The 2025 Honda Civic range has been minimised, with the hybrid engine now being the only powertrain option available, with two grades to select from. The Honda Civic provides car buyers a practical hatchback alternative to the many high riding SUVs now on Australian roads.
Being a smaller vehicle means less fuel use and the hybrid Civic has an official combined fuel consumption of 4.2L/100km and for my week in the top spec Civic e:HEV LX I used 5.9L/100km. The 2.0 litre inline 4-cylinder 2-Motor hybrid system is a quiet powertrain with no discernment felt between when the internal combustion engine takes over from the battery-only power and vice versa.
The engine produces a maximum of 135kW between 5,000-6,000 rpm and 315Nm of torque from 0-2,000 rpm, which is good for snappy getaways off the line. There are four drives available, Individual, Sport, Normal and Econ mode and I spent my week in Normal mode and found it was comfortable. Under Individual mode can you can customise the powertrain, steering, engine sound, and gauges between either Normal or Sporty settings. The engine is paired with an Electric Continuously Variable Transmission with Shift-by-Wire technology and push button gear selection.
It may be obvious, but the Civic is quite a low car and you have to step up to get out of it and this is something I have become less accustomed to doing when driving so many SUVs and utes. This may be a factor that you need to consider if you older individuals in your family who may struggle with this.
The 2025 Honda Civic range comes with plenty of tech as standard including keyless entry on both front doors and keyless start. The 9″ touchscreen infotainment system now features Google built-in with Google Assistant, Google Maps and more on Google Play with Google built-in automatic app updates. Wireless Apple CarPlay with Siri Eyes Free mode and Wireless Android Auto with Google Assistant connect your phone to the vehicle, with the latter working well for me most of the time, but it did have a couple of glitches during the week. Media sources available include AM/FM radio, DAB+, and USB with a 12 speaker Bose premium sound system with subwoofer and dynamic speed compensation to enjoy your tunes or podcasts on.
Honda Connect is available with all new Civics with a 3-year subscription included. This allows you to do such things as activate the climate control remotely, remote lock/unlock, remote lights/horn, get automatic collision detection, location search, trip log/recent trip history, geofencing alert, push/recall notifications, speed alert, car status, emergency call button, and car diagnostics. For ongoing subscription costs for Honda Connect you will need to contact a Honda Centre.
This Civic e:HEV LX adds more comfort and convenience to the base Civic spec with an auto-dimming rear view mirror, wireless charger for compatible devices, panoramic sunroof that allows you to open the front half for some fresh air in the cabin, black leather-appointed seats, and black leather-appointed front and rear door inlays.
At front of the centre console, which is made from a pleasant looking textured plastic, above the wireless charger there are two USB-C ports and one 12V socket. I’m less fond of the gloss black plastic used on the dash and door trims and I think the honeycomb dash is now looking a bit dated. The Civic does have good sized drink bottle storage in front door cubbies though and two cup holders with grippy sides, but no removable base for easy cleaning.
Both front seats in the LX have powered adjustment for recline and forward/back movement with two-way lumber support, with the driver getting additional seat height/tilt adjustment front and rear, but no memory positions. The front seats are also heated as is the steering wheel and speaking of heat the Civic still has one significant issue in that regard.
The dual zone climate control only blows cold air when it is set on temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius and hot air above this with no ‘just right’ temperature available at all. In addition, the air speed control is more a noise level control, particularly when the mode is set for feet only. It then makes a very loud noise from the upper vents even though no air is blowing out of them and one more slight bugbear of mine is you can’t actually close of the central air vents, only the side air vents can be closed.
In the rear seats, I found the head room was a bit tight and the leg room was adequate, but taller individuals may find it tight, and I would have liked a little more under thigh support from the seats. For younger passengers there are two ISOFIX/three rear tether child seat restraint points, but due the vehicle’s width only two car seats would fit. If you do use the centre restraint point it is worth noting that the tethering point is at the base of the seat in the boot.
If not in use the centre seat can be folded down as an arm rest with two rigid drink holders in the front of it, one larger than the other. These drink holders are a bit shallow so taller bottles may fall over and, in this case, they would be better off stored in the drink bottle cubby in the rear doors, which are a good size. Rear passengers get two central air vents with individual direction control and a central manual on/off control and below the vents there are two USB-C ports.
The boot lid has a power assisted manual opening operated only from the boot, with no option to open from the key fob or in the cabin, and manual close. The boot space is a reasonable size and low so it’s easy to reach into the back of it. The boot fits a weekly shop and could take a pram with a small shop or you can lift up the boot floor to create a partition that could keep items separated. If more space is required the rear seats have a 60:40 split fold mechanism that is manually released via a latch on the seat shoulder. To secure items in the boot there are four substantial tie down points, one hook, plus a 12V outlet and a light. There is no spare tyre, only a tyre repair kit that is neatly packaged into the side of the boot.
The Honda Civic e:HEV has a 5-star ANCAP (2022) safety rating and this applies only to the e:HEV (hybrid) variant with previously available petrol variants of this Civic current range being unrated. Both the Adult and Child Occupant Protection score are 89%, with the installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showing GOOD results, with the Honda Civic hybrid scoring full points for this in the ANCAP assessment.
Dual frontal, side chest-protecting, and side head-protecting airbags are standard, as well as a driver and passenger knee airbag. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is also standard. For convenience you also get auto lights and auto high beam, auto wipers, and a standard rear-view camera with front and rear parking sensors.
The Honda Civic hybrid is fitted with an autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system capable of functioning at highway speeds, a lane support system with lane keep assist and emergency lane keeping functionality, and blind spot monitoring. ANCAP tests of the AEB (Car-to-Car) system showed GOOD performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in all test scenarios, including AEB Junction Assist where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle. ANCAP tests of lane support system functionality showed some GOOD performance, including in some of the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios and overall the Safety Assist score for the Honda Civic e:HEV is 83%.
All new Honda’s sold in Australia come with the Honda Road Ahead Guarantee that includes a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty, five years Premium Roadside Assist, five years map updates for the satellite navigation system, and a 5-year Honda Connect subscription. For the Honda Civic the service schedule is every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first with the first five services capped at $199 each.
Purchasing your new Honda is made easy with the Honda One Price Promise. This means your new Honda has the same price no matter which Honda Centre you visit in your State or Territory, haggle free! There is currently limited stock available for the Honda Civic e:HEV LX finished in this Seabed Blue (Pearlescent) colour, which is priced from $55,900 drive away in NSW. As tested with the carpet mat set ($200) this Civic e:HEV LX was $56,100 drive away in NSW. You can visit your preferred Honda Centre for more information or Build and Price your new Honda Civic online for a drive away price in your State or Territory.
| Pros | Cons |
| Improved tech features included as standard | The operation of the climate control system |
| Smooth and efficient powertrain | No open/close of boot lid from key fob or in cabin |
| Honda One Price Promise | It’s a low car that you have to step up and out of |
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.