2023 Honda Civic e:HEV Review: F1 Technology On The Road
Alex Harrington reviews the 2023 Honda Civic e:HEV. With Honda's connection to F1, we thought it would be a good idea to explore the powertrains available to its road cars. Safe to say, our Senior Editor enjoyed it.
A knock on the door and I open it to a smiling man wearing a Honda badge asking me to sign some paper. He looks down, stooped slightly, threading his fingers between sheets of A4 and I look over his shoulder. Looking back at me is a bright, premium blue metallic-clad Civic e:HEV. It looks good.
Too many cars look like they're about to tear you limb-from-limb with their snarling grilles and sharp blades pretending to produce downforce. This car looks like it wants to come in for a cup of tea and a chat about the weather.
On closer inspection, there's nothing that noticeably stands out on the exterior of the Civic, bar maybe the shark nose-like tip to its bonnet and the diamond cut wheels. I certainly wouldn't buy this car in grey, but the blue does a good job of making it pop. What also pops is the fact that this car isn't an SUV. Everything seems to be moving that way recently, with even Volvo, famous for its boxy wagons and saloons, putting their faith in the sales of these skyscraper cars while removing everything else from their line-up. It's a damn shame.
Fortunately, Honda is more sensible than that.
You see plenty of Civics on the road these days. In fact, the model is one of the best selling cars in the world, starting production in 1972 and selling 27 million units since then.
You could even argue that the United States was built by people relying on their Civics, with the car being one of the 3 best-selling cars over the past five decades. Five! That's over a fifth of the total age of the country. But finally, change has come and there are more battery operated cars on the road than ever before.
With the looming all-electric world putting pressure on traditional automakers to take a sideways step towards an electric outlet, Honda has maintained its course, merely changing direction by a single degree. Or three.
The car still has an engine. In fact, it's a rather nice one at 2.0-litres and four-cylinders big. But while it is connected to the front wheels via an e-CVT gearbox for a bit of a prod when you need it, its main point of call is to charge a small battery beneath the back seats. This battery powers a motor which powers the front wheels. Because of this, there's no charger. 100% of the energy comes from another motor that acts purely as a generator. And what's amazing is this all happens seamlessly.
Honestly, I was expecting it to lurch beneath me like I was riding a gagging cat. But instead, pressing the pedal doesn't feel like you're opening a gate to let more fuel or electrons in. It feels as though you're willing the car to go faster, letting it do all the hard work of balancing traction, inputs, and energy, so you can think about what's important. Like how badly you want to watch the video of this review and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Foot flat to the floor and it moves adequately. It's not going to burn the tarmac, but its instantaneous torque will keep you more than happy anywhere between 0-30mph. Honda tells me the car goes 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds thanks to 181 horsepower and 232 lb-ft of torque. I actually managed to go a little quicker than that on a test run.
And while you'd expect the e-CVT gearbox to make this a drama of mooing sounds, its impressive powertrain simulates gearchanges and even the sound of the engine. It's like Honda doesn't want you to know, or care, about what's under the bonnet. And it's working. But it's its cornering abilities that surprised me most.
Throw it into a corner and you can feel the dampers brace beneath you. Throw it the other way, and it once again controls the movement. Now let's get this straight. It's in no way sporty, but there's a maturity to the chassis that gives me a sense of trust that you wouldn't usually have with a car for this market. Yet, drive it on one of the many damaged roads lining England's new housing estates, and it does a good job of flowing over them.
Most hybrid cars have a braking issue. Extending your foot through the movement of the brake pedal will reveal the pairing of motors and physical brakes, and because of this, you feel a disjointed system that's doing its best to create something usable. The Civic, however, once again excels in blending the new and the old, and the braking feel is, as expected, seamless.
The interior doesn't make the jaw drop. There are a few scratchy plastics and the infotainment system's user interface isn't overly inspiring. But apart from that, it's super high quality with soft-touch plastics and great tech. The safety features are really over-sensitive, however. The car feels anxious to beep at me sat in traffic, yet alone travelling at the national speed limit. In fact, this personifies the car a lot, so patting it on the steering wheel and turning these features off goes a long way.
The price. That's a sticking point for me. As tested, the Civic e:HEV came to £37,445.00. That's quite a lot of money. The base spec, £29,595, is more like it, and you still get that powertrain. And it's that that sets this car apart from almost everything on the road right now.
I can see the car being the transitional pivot of the car industry between ICE and EVs. There's no worry about infrastructure, no sleepless nights wondering if your road-parked car will still be plugged in in the morning. It's completely normal, while being one of the most intelligent and interesting cars being sold right now. No wonder the man from Honda was smiling.
4/5 stars
Specs
Engine & Performance
- Type: i-MMD (Intelligent Multi Mode Drive)
- Displacement: 1993 cc
- Bore x Stroke: 81x96.7 mm
- Compression Ratio: 13.9
- Valve Train: 4 Valves
- Emission Standard: EURO 6D
- Fuel: UNLEADED(95)
- Max Power: 105 kW (143 ps) @ 6000 rpm
- Max Torque: 186 NM @ 4500 rpm
- Electric Motor Power: 135 kW (184 ps)
- Electric Motor Torque: 315 Nm
- 0-62 mph: 8.1 seconds
- Max Speed: 112 mph
Battery & EV
- EV Battery Capacity: 1.05 kWh
- Number of Cells: 72
- Battery Weight: 36.4 kg
Transmission
- Type: e-CVT
Dimensions
- Length: 4551 mm
- Width: 1802 mm
- Height: 1408 mm (Unladen)
- Wheelbase: 2734 mm
Weight & Capacity
- Kerb Weight: 1533 kg
- Max. Permissible Weight: 1930 kg
- Payload: 397 kg
- Fuel Tank: 40 litres
- Seating: 5 people
- Boot (Rear Seat Up): 404 litres (409 incl. sub trunk)
- Boot (Rear Seat Down to Roof): 1187 litres
- Boot (Rear Seat Down to Window): 814 litres
Wheels & Tyres
- Tyres: 18" Two Tone Black Diamond Cut Alloys (235/40 ZR18 91W)
- Includes: Tyre Repair Kit
Fuel Economy & Emissions
- CO2 (Low): 101 g/km
- CO2 (Combined): 114 g/km
- MPG (Low): 62.8
- MPG (Combined): 56.5