Something Old Becomes Something New

Before reading this article, google “Honda Civic Hatchback 1972” and then go to the images section…it’s okay I’ll wait for you…now change the 1972 to 2006…

That’s right, the Honda Civic Hatchback seems to have maintained this weird, two-door egg shaped…creature image for far too long. Granted, the Civic hatchback kind of just phased out of the American market at some point however some form of it stuck around for a long while throughout various parts of the world.

Now, fast forward to 2017 where the Civic hatchback has returned to the U.S. and has been reborn into something actually quite beautiful! Without further ado, I introduce to all of our readers the 2017 Civic Hatchback from Honda! This particular model happens to be the EX-L Navi, it is the current top of the line for the hatchback coming in with an MSRP of about $25,000. Packages do go down from there with the lowest package falling in at about $18-19,000.

At first glance the car already turns heads with its all black exterior, sharp lines and sporty looking facial structure. Once inside the car the oo’s and ah’s don’t necessarily stop as you don’t necessarily feel like you are sitting in a Honda Civic as frankly the Civic has been a little “meh” in recent years.

To be completely honest, I had a blast driving this car! It accelerated quickly, responded instantly and everything in the car felt like the proper time and attention were given accordingly. I will say that, as I’ve mentioned previously in past articles, I am a bit of a larger guy and so I was a little bit worried about being comfortable in the driver’s seat. My one complaint about the car is that even though I did have plenty of head and shoulder room, my knees were a bit smashed however not by the steering wheel. In an effort to maintain the sporty look and feel of the car, Honda turned it’s front seat into something more like a cockpit than a driver’s seat. The center console is large and (or so I felt at least) unusually high and so for someone who normally drives with a wider knee gap, the constant feel of hard plastic on my knee did get annoying.

However! The cockpit type feel is something that I could get over easily and be used to within a few days because everything else about the car was fantastic! Honda put quite a bit of thought into this car. Everything from the handling to the spacious backseat and cargo area and even to the innovative safety features such as the sideview camera that
eliminates the risk of someone sneaking up at your 3 o’clock! Simply put, I loved this car!

As I mentioned earlier my one major complaint was the knee space, on top of that I do have one little piece of “potential ownership worriedness.” I am worried about the engine, there are plenty of comparable cars to the Civic hatchback but in those comparable vehicles I can’t say that I have seen an engine compartment this cluttered. Granted, I do trust the team at Honda to only put the important stuff in there but by looking under the hood you can tell that this will be a car that if you plan on doing your own labor, you better be sure about your skills because this thing is packed tight!

The Civic does come with a 1.5L Turbo, 4-cylinder engine and this particular vehicle came with a CVT transmission however Honda does give you the option to buy it with a 6-speed manual for a reduced cost.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a fuel efficient vehicle (31 mpg city, 40 mpg hwy) with the cargo area of a small SUV then this car could be for you. It’s fun and sporty yet very practical and for a Civc Hatchback it’s actually quite appealing to the eyes!