2022 Honda Civic Hatchback Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Hatchback popularity fades in and out. Currently, with consumers flocking to small crossover SUVs, hatchbacks are on yet another downward trajectory. As a result, several automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Hyundai Motor Group, and Nissan, have dropped them from their North American lineups. Even the standard Volkswagen Golf, sold in North America almost continuously since 1975 (sometimes with Rabbit nomenclature), exits the continent for 2022.

Honda sees this as an opportunity. The redesigned 2022 Civic hatchback not only is poised to capture a big chunk of the remaining market share for the body style, but also rolls out of an Indiana factory, making it one of a handful of compact cars still produced in North America. (The Honda Civic sedan is another one, built in Canada at Honda Canada Mfg. in Alliston, Ontario.) The new car is also likely to serve as the foundation of the revived 2023 Acura Integra, which could spark a hatchback renaissance as consumers eager to own the resurrected nameplate are reminded just how practical hatchbacks are—and how much more enjoyable they are to drive than a typical crossover.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, the new 2022 Civic hatchback needs to prove itself, and based on a week spent driving the car, it certainly is more appealing than most of its remaining rivals. But, as is true of any car, it could benefit from a handful of improvements.

In Canada, Honda offers the Civic hatch in LX, Sport, and Sport Touring trim levels, and MSRPs range from $28,000 to $35,000 (plus a $1,700 destination charge). For this review, we drove two different test cars, but each one had Sport Touring trim. The Rallye Red car seen in the photos had a continuously variable transmission (CVT), while a Sonic Gray Pearl example featured a six-speed manual transmission. There is no price premium for transmission choice, so both ring up at $35,300 before fees due to a paint colour charge.

The new hatchback looks like the new Honda Civic sedan (the coupe is no more) from the front doors forward, except for a different grille pattern and unique wheel designs. However, from the front doors to the rear, it’s a different vehicle. Viewed from a rear-quarter vantage point, it appears Honda has solved the tendency for small hatchbacks to carry all of their visual weight over the front wheels. But as you walk around to view the car in profile or from a front corner, you'll realize no, the Civic hatch still suffers from stubby butt syndrome.

Open the driver’s door to drop into the car, and the Civic hatch looks just like the Civic sedan. Sport Touring trim adds more sophisticated digital instrumentation and infotainment displays, giving it a more modern appearance than lower trims have. But they all include handsome metal honeycomb dashboard detailing that hides the air vents, as well as expertly rendered controls that look and feel high-quality. Only the slightly janky CVT shifter operation detracts from the overall sense of sophistication.

If 2022 Civic hatchback sales volume expectations match those for the sedan, most people will buy the LX or Sport trim levels. The latter gets a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine making 158 horsepower and 138 pound-feet of torque, specs which are adequate but unexciting. In Canada, all trims offer a choice between the CVT and a 6-speed manual transmission.

Upgrade to Sport or Sport Touring trim, and the Civic hatch features an energetic turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine producing 180 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. Better yet, the peak torque is available from 1,700 rpm to 4,500 rpm, making it readily accessible most of the time.

Every 2022 Honda Civic hatchback is front-wheel drive. An all-wheel drive (AWD) drivetrain is unavailable. Except with LX trim, drivers grip a heated and leather-wrapped steering wheel connected to the standard variable-ratio electric steering system. When they push the brake pedal, 28-centimetre ventilated front and 26-cm solid rear disc brakes go to work. The suspension uses MacPherson struts in front and a multi-link independent design in back, and both the Sport and Sport Touring versions ride on 18-inch aluminum wheels wrapped in 235/40 Continental all-season tires. The LX trim has tiny little 16-inch alloy wheels.

Since most Civic hatchback buyers have no idea what to do with a clutch pedal, we have good news to report: the CVT works well with the turbocharged engine. It drones infrequently and is hushed enough that you barely notice its operation. Paddle shifters on the Sport and Sport Touring models are actually useful, thanks to programmed ratios that make the CVT sound and feel more like a traditional dual-clutch or automatic transmission. But “shifts” are somewhat slushy.

Driving enthusiasts will want the Sport Touring with the six-speed manual transmission, which will likely be almost impossible to find in dealer stock after initial demand quiets down. It’s a real sweetheart of a manual gearbox, featuring short throws, fluid gear engagement, and excellent clutch modulation.

With the 1.5-litre turbo engine, the Civic hatchback whooshes to speed quickly and effortlessly enough to make you smile but not quickly enough to get you into serious trouble. Likewise, suspension tuning feels firm and satisfying around town but soft enough to take the sting out of poorly maintained pavement. No matter your velocity, the steering feels good in your hands, and the brakes feel good underfoot.

However, if you’re the type of sporty driver who loves a good weekend romp on winding back roads, you’re probably going to want to wait for the upcoming Civic Si or Civic Type R performance models.

First, the all-season Continentals get a little squishy when you start tossing the Civic Sport Touring around. Second, undulating pavement through twists and turns reveals the car’s mission to serve as a compliant daily driver and not a stiffly sprung canyon carver. Third, the brakes simply are not up to repeated hard use. When you first feel them fading, back off, especially if there is a T-intersection at the bottom of the mountain road.

Nevertheless, despite the Sport Touring’s emphasis on Touring rather than Sport, this is a thoroughly enjoyable car to drive. It also does well on fuel efficiency, with our real-world testing nearly matching the official Natural Resources Canada estimates for both transmissions. With the CVT, the Sport Touring should get 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres in combined driving, and we saw 7.3 L/100 km. The manual transmission is rated at 7.5 L/100 km combined, and we averaged 7.8 L/100 km despite our enthusiastic rowing of the gears.

Hatchbacks are all about function, and the new Civic hatch delivers. The trunk measures a generous 693 litres, and Honda supplies an innovative two-piece cargo shade that you never need to remove to cram everything into the car.

The back seat is a 60/40-split folding design. Honda doesn’t provide an official maximum cargo volume measurement, but doubling what the trunk offers would make for a good guess. The load floor is not flat, though, as Honda preferred to maximize space behind the back seat without creating a dual-level load floor with hidden storage underneath.

All seating positions are comfortable and offer sufficient legroom, but we did receive a couple of complaints from passengers. For example, the Sport Touring’s front passenger’s seat offers a four-way power adjustment but lacks a seat-height adjuster. We’d trade the power operation for a manual lever to lift that chair higher off the floor. Also, Honda doesn’t provide any rear air conditioning vents, which was brought to our attention by a cranky teenager on a hot fall day. She liked the rear smartphone charging ports, though.

The driver has the best seat in the car, thanks to the Sport Touring’s eight-way power adjustment. Heated front seats are standard in Canada while Sport Touring has heated outboard rear seats. Honda shapes the centre console and door panels so that they’re reasonably comfortable leg rests. The car has black fabric seats with LX, combination cloth and synthetic leather seats in Sport trim, while Sport Touring features black leather upholstery. Automatic climate control is standard, with a dual-zone system in Sport and Sport Touring versions of the car.

Every 2022 Honda Civic hatchback has a new infotainment system. With LX and Sport, you get a 7-inch touchscreen display, physical power/volume and tuning knobs, Bluetooth, and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Sport Touring trim adds the top-shelf infotainment offering. It features a 9-inch touchscreen display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SiriusXM satellite radio, wireless smartphone charging, navigation, and an excellent 12-speaker Bose Centerpoint 2 surround-sound audio system. This system also has a power/volume knob, with tuning buttons located underneath it.

The inclusion of physical knobs for sound system controls addresses a long-standing criticism of recent Honda infotainment user interfaces. With the Civic, Honda also wisely adds a small shelf at the bottom of the display screen. Its purpose is to give you a place to steady your hand when operating the touchscreen as you’re driving.

Regardless of which of the new infotainment systems you’re using, they’re superior to what Honda offered in the previous-generation Civic. The voice recognition system works beautifully, too, quickly and accurately responding to our standard test commands. Based on our experience driving a Civic Sport sedan, though, we bet that Honda Civic Sport hatchback buyers are going to visit a car stereo shop to replace the mediocre speakers. Honda really ought to offer the Bose components as an upgrade for the Sport variant.

Digital instrumentation is standard in all Civic hatchbacks. The standard arrangement includes a 7-inch screen and a traditional analog speedometer, but the Sport Touring includes a more comprehensive 10.2-inch display panel. In the middle, a pictogram shows when the car’s headlights are on, when the turn signals and hazard flashers are active, and when the brake lights are on. It also shows the status of the Civic’s driving assistance systems when the driver is using them.

Honda equips the 2022 Civic Hatchback with its Honda Sensing collection of safety features. This is an improved next-generation system that offers more accurate and refined operation while adding new features.

Contents include adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and lane-departure warning. Additionally, Honda Sensing includes Road Departure Mitigation, which is the company’s name for lane-keeping assist, and Lane Keeping Assist, which is what Honda calls lane-centring assistance. Yes, that is confusing.

New standard features include a low-speed following capability and a Traffic Jam Assist system that combines adaptive cruise control with lane-centring assistance to help reduce driver stress during the daily commute. Note, however, that both functions are available only with the CVT. Versions with the manual gearbox do not offer it.

In Canada, a blind-spot warning system is standard, though if you want a rear cross-traffic warning system, which you might need given the iffy rear visibility in this car, you’ll need to step up to the Sport Touring. This should be equipped on what is likely going to be the most popular Sport model.

Sport Touring models with a CVT also get Low-Speed Braking Control, which can automatically brake the Civic hatchback to prevent bumping into obstacles or reversing into the path of approaching traffic.

All Civics include standard automatic high-beam headlights. They also feature new frontal-impact airbags specifically designed to reduce head and brain injuries in offset impact collisions. Additionally, the car’s underlying engineering employs next-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) to better absorb and deflect crash energy in a collision.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the upgraded structure and other attention to the safety details work. As a result, the Civic hatchback earns a “Top Safety Pick+” rating, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

Circling back to Honda Sensing, the driver aids work better than what Honda has previously offered, but their operation isn’t totally transparent to the driver. For example, sometimes the car brakes a little too hard when other motorists cut into the gap ahead, as though the software governing it is more concerned about maintaining a proper following distance than it is about ensuring smooth driving. Also, the lane-keeping technologies are sometimes a little too obvious about their work.

Because Honda reserves all of the best stuff for the top Sport Touring trim level, the Civic hatchback’s value equation suffers. If Honda expects the more affordable LX and Sport to comprise the bulk of sales, why isn’t rear cross-traffic alert available for those trims? And if Honda expects the Honda Civic Hatchback Sport trim to appeal to younger buyers, why not make the best stereo speakers available to them?

Perhaps Honda feels it doesn’t need to worry about this, considering that few competitors remain in the space. Those competitors include the aging Subaru Impreza, which offers standard AWD, and the Toyota Corolla, which has more standard power. Despite these traits, neither the Subaru nor the Toyota is superior to the Honda.

The car Honda does need to worry about is the excellent Mazda 3, and this occurred to us as we sat at a traffic light and one passed by on the other side of the road, gleaming in its Polymetal Gray paint. The Mazda is undeniably stylish, inside and out. Plus, you get more standard and available turbocharged power in the Mazda3. You can also get AWD in Hiroshima’s hatch, and it matches the Honda for safety according to the IIHS.

Nevertheless, the redesigned 2022 Honda Civic hatchback is an appealing choice among its rivals. Undoubtedly, it will get even more desirable once the sport-tuned Si and performance-oriented Type R models arrive.

Note: Images show a US model.