The 2022 Honda Civic sedan has been in stores for about a week, and it’s about to be joined by a hatchback model. The 5-door version has some unique styling cues and a stick shift option not available on the sedan.
Honda hasn’t announced prices yet. The 2022 Civic sedan ranges from $21,700 up to nearly $30,000 fully optioned out. Honda usually charges slightly more for hatchback models.
The Civic hatchback will be available later this year.
A Sportier Look
The 2022 Civic sedan looks more refined than we’re accustomed to from cars in its price range. The hatchback loses a bit of that upscale sense but exchanges it for a more athletic bearing.
The hatchback is 5 inches shorter than the sedan, with most of that length taken out of the trunk. Because the rear wheels sit closer to the car’s rear corners, this gives the hatchback a sportier stance. Honda has also differentiated it with its own grille. The new face has a concave curve and a black honeycomb pattern.
The hatchback roofline is a gentler slope than the Civic hatchbacks of old. Honda says it was “inspired by the coupe-like profile of European sportbacks,” and it shows. It makes compact hatch rivals like the VW Golf and Hyundai Veloster look boxy.
Same Uncluttered Cabin, More Cargo Space
Inside, the cabin is nearly identical to the sedan’s, at least from the driver’s seat. The same clean, flat dash gives excellent visibility. The same 7-inch infotainment screen (9 inches on the Sport Touring model) rises from the dash and looks as if it should lower back into it to hide (it doesn’t).
But you choose a hatchback for cargo space, and that is here. Honda says the hatchback has 24.5 cubic feet of room behind the seats. That’s a good deal more than the sedan’s 14.8 and just a bit under the 25.4 you’d get with the 2021 VW Golf. Honda hasn’t provided a measurement of cargo space with the seats lowered.
The Only Option for Stick Fans
Under the hood, the Civic hatchback offers a choice of two engines and two transmissions. The engines are the same two found on the sedan – a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder making 158 horsepower, and a turbocharged 1.5-liter 4-cylinder making 180. Our test driver found the latter particularly smooth.
Most Civic hatchbacks will ship with a continuously variable transmission. But the Sport and Sport Touring models can be fitted with a 6-speed manual. Until the Civic Si and Type R get here later this year, that makes the hatchback the only choice for those of us who still enjoy shifting for ourselves.
The Civic hatchback will be built in the U.S. for the first time at Honda’s Greensburg, Indiana, plant.
