2019 Honda Civic Review and Buying Guide | A little something for everyone

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What's new for 2019?

The 2019 Honda Civic marks the third year for this generation, and changes are mostly restricted to some styling tweaks, and trim and feature additions. All Honda Civics, regardless of trim or body style, now have black grilles, replacing the flashy chrome version available on past models. The lower grilles of the sedan and coupe have been merged into one opening, and all trims on sedans and coupes get chrome accents in the lower fascia except the new Sport trim.

The Sport trim has been added to the coupe and sedan models, but unlike the hatchback's Sport trim that gets a turbocharged engine, these Civics stick with the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder. The Sport coupe and sedan do get Honda's touchscreen infotainment system with CarPlay and
Android Auto, unlike the Sport hatchback. This infotainment system now features physical shortcut buttons and a volume knob, but it retains the existing user interface. The gauges get red backlighting, the pedals are made of aluminum, the wheels are larger and it has a leather-wrapped steering wheel. A manual transmission is also now restricted to LX sedan, all Sport body styles, the Si and Type R. All other Civics get a CVT.

What's the interior and in-car technology like?

The Honda Civic has a spacious interior that feels even more so thanks to a low dashboard and thin pillars. The materials are high quality, and you should find a comfortable driving position whether you prefer to sit low or high. The seats in normal Civics are a bit on the flat side, but they do feature stylish upholstery and have a reasonable amount of cushion. Both the Civic Si and Type R have increasingly more aggressive front seat bolsters that hold you snugly, but aren't so firm that you feel pinched or poked.

All Civics get a digital display for the tachometer, speedometer and additional driving information, and the readouts are under deep cowls. Two types of infotainment systems are available. Low-trim models get a very basic system with a small screen and old-fashioned physical buttons and knobs for navigating through different functions. It does feature Bluetooth, a USB port and a media player interface, but is not compatible with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The second version comes with a 7-inch touchscreen that for 2019 features the welcome addition of physical buttons and volume knob. Unfortunately, that touchscreen's user interface is still ugly, sluggish and not particularly user friendly. The good news is that it does include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which are both much easier to use than the Honda software.

How big is it?

The Honda Civic is on the larger side of the segment, but it's within a few tenths of some other larger compacts. The only exterior trait significantly different from the competition is overall height, with the Civic sitting 1 to 2 inches lower than similar cars. The Civic is also one of the lighter cars in its class.

Inside, you'll find the Civic offers more passenger and cargo space than most. In fact, it challenges some midsize cars. Leg- and headroom up front are exceptional, while folks of all sizes should be able to fit comfortably in the back seat. Even the coupe is reasonably roomy back there. That would've been rare at one time, but as the sole surviving compact coupe, there's no longer anything to compare it to.

Small item storage is superb thanks to a clever center console that features a deep bin, a sliding cupholder unit and a large, grippy area for smartphones. For large items, both the sedan and hatchback provide best-in-class cargo room with the rear seats up. That said, the hatchback is atypical, as its cargo area is much deeper and trunk-like than a Volkswagen Golf, for instance, but it's not as tall restricting its usefulness for especially bulky items. We think it'll be an acceptable trade-off for most.