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For decades, Honda has tried to find an answer for the ultra successful Toyota Prius. First Honda tried with a Civic Hybrid, then there were a few tries with the Insight, and most recently, the slightly larger Clarity. But none of them caught on with consumers the way the Toyota Prius has.
Now Honda is ready to take on Toyota's halo hybrid once more, with an all-new Civic Hatchback Hybrid. On paper, this looks like the best challenger the brand has had yet. How does it work in reality though? Only way to find out, a head-to-head comparison!
We gathered the all-new Honda Civic Hybrid and put it against the Toyota Prius over a week’s worth of driving. The results ended up being a bit of a surprise.
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0:00
Mike, I'm so glad we're doing this. This is, no word of a lie, one of my most anticipated
0:09
head-to-heads of 2025, the Prius and the new Civic Hybrid Hatchback. You do know these are two hybrid little commuter cars, right
0:17
I do, and that's because as much as marketing might tell us otherwise, I think this is plenty of car for most people's needs
0:24
even in a snowstorm, which should be terrifying without all-wheel drive. Well I do have all-wheel drive in the Prius but it's all-wheel drive more on
0:32
that later. So I mean I guess it's sort of Honda's going after Toyota yet again
0:38
trying to topple the Prius. We had the Civic tried it once before and didn't
0:42
really work. The Insight twice yeah twice didn't really work. The Clarity
0:48
a little bigger but I guess this on paper though looks like it might be the
0:53
most competitive one yet but I guess we'll have to drive them to find out
0:57
I guess we do. The Prius has been out for a year or two now
1:12
but you know what? I'm still impressed by its looks and I still get comments a lot of places I go
1:18
The Toyota Prius has always been styled unusually. Like in the past, it was almost as if it had to be different
1:25
because it was different as a hybrid. like telling the world, look at me, I'm a Prius
1:29
But for this generation, it's done a 180. It's like Toyota has realized it has confidence
1:34
and it's a solid name in its own and they've made the Prius really stylish and cool
1:39
It's like the Prius went from being that awkward, shy kid in high school to a successful, charismatic millionaire
1:46
The nose and windshield are at such a steep rake and slant
1:51
Looking out from behind the wheel, especially dashboard up, but has a very sports car feel to it
1:57
In fact, one of my family members zoomed in on a picture of this vehicle
2:02
kind of cutting out the roof line and the front bumper. So just looking at the windshield wheel and fender and said
2:09
this could totally be mistaken for Lamborghini. And at that exact angle, I fully agree
2:15
Now, the rest of the car doesn't look like a Lamborghini, but it also doesn't look bad
2:19
The rest of the body flows in a sort of swoopy curved way down the back
2:24
and unlike some previous Priuses that had a very cut-off rear hatch, this one's angled down a bit
2:29
more, which allows a traditional rear window to be in place. Now, the sight lines out it aren't
2:34
spectacular, but even in some of the old Prius with the split windows and whatnot, they weren't
2:39
great either, and I can fully see anything behind me. If a car is at least five, six car lengths
2:44
behind, I see the entire thing, so it's not like some of those rear windows where you barely see
2:49
another car's windshield or headlight out the rear. Having a cool body shape is one thing
2:53
but Toyota's got all the other details right as well. Starting with the taillights, it's pretty simple
2:59
just a line across with a little curve here and there and the Prius written in the middle
3:03
but it just really fits the back of the vehicle and looks cool
3:07
And up front you have those heavily angled headlights that are really thin, and there's almost like a built-in
3:12
wing in the middle of them, and again, just looks cool. Inside, that style theme continues
3:18
and Toyota kind of makes the most of what the Prius has
3:22
to keep costs down and maybe even weight. The materials aren't the best
3:25
There is some hard plastic on the dash here and there, but the styling and design kind of makes up for it
3:31
that you don't really notice and where your hands do touch like the door sills
3:34
and the wheel and the armrests, they're all nice and padded. I really like the gauge cluster
3:41
that's fully digital and customizable and it's set way deep in the dash
3:46
and it doesn't move with the steering wheel like some do, but it's so far up there and so high
3:53
I can adjust this wheel any way I want and not block my view. It's kind of a halfway point between a head-up display
3:59
and a traditional gauge cluster and lets you keep your eyes on the road a lot better than a regular setup
4:06
So back to the style, there's ambient lighting running across the dash in a fully loaded
4:09
all-wheel drive Prius here. And there's some little details like the fake carbon look in the dash
4:15
It's decent in here. I'd say the interior is good enough. It's not fantastic, but it's not terrible either
4:28
Honda got a whole lot of compliments when this generation of Civic came out
4:32
because it really brought the cabin design up market. It's classy, it's restrained, it's high quality
4:39
and that still is the case now although it does feel a little plain after the Prius The Prius is more expressive which is not something I ever really thought I say but here we are The Civic has better
4:56
material quality throughout the cabin, and it is just so much more spacious in here. You have
5:02
the low seating position, which I personally love. I can understand how that might be a problem if
5:07
you're older because getting in and out is a bit of a drop or a climb depending on which way you're
5:12
going but Honda just has a knack for carving out every available inch in this cabin. I have good
5:21
headroom whereas the Prius I just feel like I'm sitting a little higher and I'm closer to the
5:27
headliner. This does only have a regular old sunroof though whereas the Prius does get that fancy
5:34
big one. The Civic still has very nice touch points. It's super easy to use. It has a regular
5:40
shifter. It has these wonderful clicky dials that will always get attention from us in a positive
5:47
way. It has a small drive mode selector, not as small as the Prius's, but I mean size doesn't
5:53
matter. Speaking of size though, it's the back seat of the Civic where I'd rather spend time
6:00
if I was in the back. The Prius makes concessions for second row passengers to keep that stylish
6:08
shape. You don't have a whole lot of headroom or legroom, and it's just a little claustrophobic
6:15
back there with how high up that window line is. The extra space also applies to the trunk. The
6:22
Civics is enormous. You can fit, I don't even know how many golf bags because I don't measure things
6:29
in that nonetheless much bigger in the civic and because both of these are lift backs it's really
6:36
easy to access stuff back there and you can just easily fold down the seats if you need more room
6:41
point against the civic though you don't get a power liftgate here
6:50
so on a technology front it's just not all in the drivetrain there's a lot of options included in
6:56
in this higher end Prius. As I mentioned earlier, heated and ventilated front seats
7:01
heated rear seats, fully digital driver information center, the big infotainment screen, there's the usual drive modes
7:08
And I see this power, there's a heated steering wheel, a heated windshield
7:12
There's no rear wiper, which when you're driving at speed doesn't really matter, but in slower traffic
7:18
that window can fill up with snow and rain pretty quick. Like every Toyota, this comes standard
7:23
with Toyota's Safety Sense technology, which means you get all the usual active safety systems
7:28
This has a few extra, like the 360 or round view camera
7:32
and the parking assist. It doesn't have any crazy exotic features, but it has everything I need
7:39
And it even has a power lift gate, which is kind of cool, because this isn't a crossover
7:43
It's a little hatchback. Thankfully, Toyota hasn't put climate control functions into the screen
7:48
There's dedicated hard buttons below it. There's also buttons here for heated seats
7:52
ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, All the things that you want to just access quickly, which I hope more manufacturers go back to
7:59
I know it felt modern or it was trendy to put everything in a touchscreen and more realistically, it was cheaper
8:06
And that's why a lot of manufacturers went with it. But it just does not create a good user experience
8:12
I mean, I honestly think I'm a tuning knob away from this being a great setup
8:16
where the Civic does lose out on the Prius is its tech suite I'm not saying that the Civic is
8:28
lacking in tech but it is missing some of those niceties that you'll find in the Prius that
8:34
makes the Prius a flagship model for Toyota so I have a nine inch touchscreen which is
8:40
totally fine and functional it's pretty easy to use there's the little bit of color coding
8:46
for Honda that I really enjoy. Wireless CarPlay is super simple to set up
8:51
works very well, and you have some physical controls on the side
8:56
because Honda learned its lesson years ago. I have a fully digital instrument cluster
9:00
which is pretty adaptable when you need it to be. I really enjoy the view for the adaptive cruise control
9:07
but I'm still lacking some stuff that you will just find in the Toyota
9:11
I don't have the option of a 360 degree camera, for example
9:16
If you're in the back row, you're not going to be able to charge any of your devices. I'm sorry
9:20
I just have the two USB-C ports up front. I have the wireless charger which is pretty good but it not as good as that little slot one that the Toyota has A little unexpectedly it the Civic that has power adjustable seats for both up front
9:39
whereas the Toyota only has it for the driver's side, but it also gets memory seating, which this does not have
9:50
It's crazy to think a vehicle like the Prius that had such a dramatic and radical redesign
9:56
and that makes it look so much better, that might not be the best part about the new vehicle
10:01
Pretty much since the Prius was introduced, it was never all that quick
10:05
It could keep up with traffic and drove well enough, but its forte was fuel efficiency
10:10
and it kind of just dealt with a buzzy engine that was kind of strained at times to get up to highway speed
10:17
With this new Prius, Toyota threw everything the brand knows about hybrid technology at it
10:22
and increase power dramatically while not really sacrificing any efficiency. It's almost like wizardry
10:29
So up front I have 110 horsepower electric motor and 150 horsepower gas engine
10:35
Now they don't both work at max power all the time, but in a front-wheel drive Prius
10:39
they combine to make 194 horsepower. The last one was nowhere near that
10:44
And then if you get an all-wheel drive model like I have, there's now a 40 horsepower electric motor in the back
10:49
and combined total output only goes up two to 196, but that's not really the point
10:56
This isn't a traditional all-wheel drive vehicle. There's no drivetrain connecting the front and rear wheels
11:01
That little 40 horsepower motor in the back is meant for adding traction at low speeds
11:06
At a certain speed, it will turn off. If you're in winter weather like I am
11:10
whether it's snow or slush or ice or whatever, from a stop, the rear motor will engage
11:16
and power the rear wheels a bit to give a little extra push to the front wheels
11:21
while you're trying to leave on these slippery conditions. Now it does have an ECVT as Toyota calls it
11:27
so a continuously variable transmission. And when you're in Eco or Normal mode
11:31
when you first hit the accelerator, there's a little delay before the CVT opens up
11:36
and gives you full power. If I put it in Sport mode and I do the same thing
11:40
so once again around 60 and I punch the accelerator, there's still a little delay
11:44
but it gives you the feeling of sort of kicking down to engage as opposed to rolling down. So although I don't think it's accelerating any faster
11:51
it does give a little bit more of an engaging feel for the driver. Although everything's powerful
11:57
when really under hard acceleration, this engine is still buzzy. It's not as bad as Prius's from
12:04
the past. You're getting all that great acceleration, but it comes at the price of engine
12:09
drone that isn't unnoticeable. So like I said, efficiency didn't really get hurt despite a
12:15
roughly 60 horsepower increase. The most efficient Prius will still do 57 miles per gallon combined
12:22
and the least efficient Prius, the one I'm in, the fully loaded limited with the all-wheel drive
12:27
it's still doing 49 miles per gallon combined. Now as we covered earlier before, Honda has done this a few times now. It's attacked the Prius and
12:42
this is probably the closest on paper that it has gotten. Both of these cars have two-liter
12:48
inline four-cylinder engines that make up the ICE portion of their hybrid powertrains
12:54
The Civic has an electric motor and then a very complicated system that basically means it doesn't
13:00
have a gearbox. It's very fascinating from an engineering perspective, but I'm not going to
13:05
dive into it. The important figures are 200 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque, which is
13:12
serious for a small car. As Honda points out, this is more power than anything except a Type R
13:21
Yes, the Civic Si has the same horsepower, but not nearly the same torque. That also makes this
13:27
the more powerful of these two, just barely, and it does feel that way. The Civic just feels a
13:33
little more eager and ready to go. It also sounds pretty decent. Both of them are fairly noisy when
13:41
the engine kicks on when they're sitting at a standstill, as we found out while filming today
13:47
But on the road, when both of these cars are moving, yeah, the Civic is very well-mannered
13:52
You barely notice the ICE kicking in or turning off, for that matter. Fuel economy is remarkably
13:59
close between these two, but surprise, surprise, the Prius still has an advantage even with all-wheel
14:05
drive. An unexpected part of the Civic Hybrid experience is that you actually have some level
14:12
of regenerative braking selection Now it not much but if I pull the left paddle here I can knock it down from one of four different levels
14:26
They're all a variation on slight, but nonetheless, it's an interesting perspective
14:32
that you won't find in many other hybrids. Another thing the Prius has never really been known for is handling and with this new car
14:44
that kind of changes again. Now this isn't going to go chase down a GR86 or GR Corolla and a
14:50
set of mountain switchbacks. A lot of that has to do with the very unusual 195-50R19 tires
14:57
but there's so much more driver engagement and steering feel in the new Prius compared to previous
15:04
models. This small radius steering wheel is nicely weighted and the vehicle responds to my inputs
15:10
pretty quickly. The best comparison I can make is I guess the Mazda 3 hatchback. It has a very
15:15
similar sort of small wheel steering feel. It's not just the steering feel and response that Toyota
15:20
paid attention to. The chassis is set up quite well. It's that great sort of combo of remaining
15:26
somewhat flat when cornering. I mean it's not a sports car but it's not also producing excessive
15:32
body roll and cornering hard, yet ride comfort is perfectly acceptable. Now, credit where credit is due, the new Prius is actually pretty fun to drive. The Civic just
15:49
does it better. I mean, I can't really blame it either. This is the basis for the Type R after all
15:58
Honda has really good bones under this economy car. Oh, I said it. Now Mike is going to tell you
16:06
all about how the Prius is the better choice to have in weather like this. And sort of. I mean
16:14
it has more grip from a standing start than this because it does have that additional power to the
16:20
rear axle. But once it's moving, I actually prefer how the Civic is even in the snow because it has
16:28
more grip and its traction control system, if you're leaving those on, isn't quite so punitive
16:34
as the one in the Prius. Prius kills power really quickly and that just makes it harder to predict
16:40
what the car is going to do. It's the ride that's so nice in the Civic though. I think BMW could
16:46
learn a thing or two about small sedan rides. I'm being serious here. It has nice direct and
16:53
responsive steering. There's good weight for what it is, but it's so well damped and so calm and
17:01
collected that it does feel like a cliche to say this, but it really does feel like it's from the
17:06
class up. The Civic is so much more than just a compact car these days. Something I never really
17:14
thought I'd say about this generation of Civic is that this is the value play. It's true, the Civic
17:20
is typically one of the more expensive compact cars, but against the Prius, at least in limited trim
17:26
this is the cheaper choice. In the US, you're looking at $34,300
17:31
including destination, which is not bad at all for this much car
17:35
and one that is this good on gas. For the Prius, it's more like $37,900
17:45
Now, that's a lot more, and that is including all-wheel drive, which knocks the price up a little bit. In Canada
17:53
the price gap is even bigger, where the Civic is a little under $41,000 all in, while the Prius is
18:01
just a bit over $46,000. But either way, you can still get a lower trim Prius, which would have
18:09
a lot of the same features that this does, and be closer in price. So Kyle, we've been driving
18:15
these cars for a week and I gotta ask, has Honda finally beat Toyota at their own game
18:20
Mike, I think they have. I mean, at least with these two specific trims that we have here
18:25
I love the current Prius because it's stylish and fuel efficient and kind of fun, but the Civic
18:30
does all of that better. It feels more mature, it's more spacious, and well, at least currently
18:37
it is the better deal. Yeah, I can't disagree with that. It is the better value, but me personally
18:42
if I'm going to buy one of these and I think I might it's the Prius and I would have never said
18:47
that in my life before but I could totally see myself driving this Prius just down a trim or two
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