2022 Honda Civic Sport: TEST DRIVE+FULL REVIEW

Hey guys, it's Will here from WTF Car Reviews and today we're going to be reviewing this all new 2022 Honda Civic. Alright guys, before we start, I want to give a huge thank you to Regal Honda here in beautiful Lakeland, Florida for making this review possible. These guys have a really kind staff and their inventory is really impressive. They have a ton of cars here, so if you're in the market for a new car in the Florida area, I would definitely check these guys out. So for those of you guys who don't know, Honda just released this 11th generation Honda Civic and this happens to be the sport trim with a 2.0L 4-cylinder naturally aspirated engine. So this car has been anticipated for quite a while now because the previous 10th generation Honda Civic was extremely highly regarded. It was one of the best vehicles in the segment and it sold incredibly well. So for this 11th generation, Honda did choose to update it in areas that needed updating. You can tell the wheelbase has been extended by 1.5 inches, so it does kind of sit and look more like an Accord. This is definitely one of the largest vehicles in the segment and it is styled relatively conservatively. It's not going to be the most flashy vehicle, so a lot of you guys may like that, but let's continue walking around the sport trim. As you can see, you do get blacked out mirrors and blacked out rims. These are 18-inch rims. We'll check those out in a minute, but you do not get a blacked out roof for the sport trim. It may have been nice if they offered you that. I know there are some vehicles in the segment that do offer it, such as the Nissan Sentra, but let's continue walking around this Honda Civic Sport. So this vehicle does also have smart access for the driver and the front passenger. That's a great feature for a relatively base-modeled Civic, but let's come out front where you're going to check out these fully LED headlights. So you got your LED low and high beam and you have an LED daytime running light. These are absolutely gorgeous lights when they are on and they do a great job lighting the road in front of you. So here's your turn signal as well. Coming down below, I'm not sure if this is a light. It kind of just feels like a little cover for where a light would be for the higher trims, but we'll check it out once we start the car. When we go inside, we'll see if there's a little area for the fog light, but let's continue along the side. So I also like how they kind of push the, what do you call it, the front end a little bit lower, so it overlaps your Honda badge. It's an interesting design. It definitely separates it from the previous generation Civic, but as a result of that, you're not going to have the most airflow over here. As you can tell, it is blocked off over here, but it does, it should be sufficient. You have pretty good openings over here and down here, you have plenty of airflow for your radiator. So it shouldn't be a big deal all around, but, so this vehicle does also have Honda sensing system. So I'm not sure where exactly that is housed, but it does come equipped with it. So let's continue alongside over here, of course, the same headlight over here. And I don't know if you guys can notice it, it's not the sunniest day right now, but this car also has a really beautiful white metallic paint and it looks really good with a contrast to the black rims and the black mirrors. So great overall styling for this 22 Civic Sport, but let's check out these rims and they are going to be a little bit dirty because this car was parked on the sand, but let's check out these tires. So these are Goodyear Eagle Sport tires. They're pretty aggressive all season tires and they are 235 40 R18. So for a 235 setup on a car with about 158 horsepower and 138 pound feet of torque, these tires should do an absolutely incredible job delivering good performance for this vehicle. So my previous vehicle was a 2018 Acura ILX. So it's basically what a ninth generation Civic SI was. So it had the 2.4 liter naturally aspirated engine with 201 horsepower and about 185 pound feet of torque, I believe. And that thing had 215 width tires. And I can promise you guys, it was always spinning. You had zero traction in that car. You could step in the gas a third of the way and you'll just be smoking the tires. I had to replace my tires two times in that car in three years. So these tires should be absolutely perfect match for this car. But let's continue alongside over here where you can check out this mirror. It does not come with blind spot monitoring on the sport trim and the mirror itself does take up most of the frame. So it is overall very large. You're going to see where you're going in this relatively smaller sedan. As I mentioned, you do get smart access in this vehicle. You just press it to lock and you have a touch sensor to unlock. No touch sensor, no smart access for the back passenger, but that's not expected for a vehicle in the segment. But Honda finally added push to open capability for your gas tank. You don't have to press the button on the inside anymore, which is nice. And you also have easy fill, capitalist fill up for your gas. So very good overall convenient feature. So let's continue over here where you're going to check out your fully LED taillight too. So you got your two LED strips for your turn signals and brake light, and you have your reverse light back here with your turn signals. So overall, very good design, nothing to complain about all around pretty cool modern look. But let's step back over here. I also like how this trunk lid flares up a little bit. It gives it a little bit of a spoiler effect. You got your distinguishing sport badge right here, but let's step back and you can see your exhaust tip down there. But let's start this 2022 Civic Sport up and hear how this two liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder sounds. All right, guys, so that was of course the two liter four-cylinder engine sold by Honda. So let's check it out. And wow, this latch is really tough to access. We may have to break for a second. But nevermind, I got it. Wow, that was not easy. But no struts, not really expected for a vehicle in this segment. But the prop rod is located right here. So let me position my hand so you guys can see the process. But okay. All right. So here you have it, guys. Here's your two liter four-cylinder engine. It is positioned pretty far to the left. So not a big deal with the batteries on the driver's side. Balance should be pretty good. We'll check that out once we take this car out for a drive. So I like how Honda positioned this engine far towards the back. That will also help your balance. You can see that you have a lot of empty space towards the front. It's better to see empty space in the front than it is to see empty space in the back. You want the weight to be behind your front wheels to avoid understeer. But other than that, guys, this engine does make 158 horsepower, 138 pound feet of torque. It should get this car to 60 in about seven and a half seconds. So we'll check it out once we take it out for a drive. We'll see what the handling's like. We'll see how quick it is, how responsive it is. Because remember, this car also has a CVT. But this is a new style CVT. It does have ratios. So again, it'll be interesting to see once we take the car out on the road. But let's shut this hood and check out the interior on this 2022 Honda Civic Sport. All right, guys. So stepping inside the 2022 Civic Sport, you immediately notice up top for the door panel, you're not going to get soft touch materials up top. That is unfortunate considering you do get a soft touch dashboard. It would be nice if they swapped out the two. But not a big deal. Of course, you're not going to be spending too much time with your arm on here anyway. The area where you are going to spend most of your time is going to be covered in cloth trim, which is very soft and well padded. So nothing to complain about overall. You do get some hard plastics up here. But again, that's all expected for a vehicle in this segment. You do get a high quality aluminum door handle. So nice that they gave you that. Here's your trunk release down here. And you have very good storage capability down here. You can easily fit a 12 ounce bottle with some snacks on the side. But stepping in, you don't get a nameplate over here that says Civic or anything. But your floor mats do. So also pretty cool. But check out these seats. Now, this is also a big plus to me. So there is some leather on the outside to make the seat look like it's higher quality. But the inside is going to be really good quality cloth. And it's very soft. And these bolsters are extremely supportive. These are one of the best seats I've ever sat in. Very impressive. I would definitely have no problem sitting here on long trips. And given that these bolsters are pretty nice for the sport trim, very good seat overall. So you don't have power seats, unfortunately, but you do have height adjustments. They slide back and forth and they recline. So it does everything you need it to do. But let's step inside this 2022 Civic Sport. So I want you guys to see this digital display. So let's shut this car off real quick and then start it right up. So check out the startup. Very cool. So how the digital display just starts up. Now the letters or the numbers get illuminated. So very cool all around. And it does change based on the drive mode. But we'll check that out in a second. First thing you notice coming up top or coming out front is going to be the steering wheel. Very high quality leather. It's not a flat bottom, but not a big deal. The nine and three position is absolutely excellent. You have very good ten and two bolstering notches and the overall thickness. Very good. So it fits very well in your hands and it feels very high quality. You got your volume and skip controls on the same side. That's always a plus for me. Your voice commands underneath. So this vehicle does have Honda sensing. So you do have active steering lane, lane keep assist and radar cruise control. We'll check all that out once we continue. But this horn over here, pretty high quality graining material. I do like this material. But listen to this. They could have probably given you a more aggressive horn. But again, not a big deal. You come down over here to the left. So you got these really cool air vents. If I didn't mention, you got really nice high quality. This feels really, really like stiff. It does not feel flimsy. It doesn't feel cheap. So even though they gave you a little tacky little joystick, I guess it does feel very high quality. It's not like a PS4 controller or anything like that. It's very, very like weighted down and it feels really, really good. But so just talking about these air vents, I love how they continue. No, this whole piece is not an air vent. I don't know if you pick it up to the phone, but there is openings over here, whereas this is all sealed off. But it still does the job really well. It's a really cool design. Honda definitely was innovative with this design. I've never seen this in any other vehicle. But so as we mentioned already, the dashboard material is going to be soft touch. That is nice, but it would have been also nice if they continued it for the door panel. But not a big deal. You come down here, you do get automatic climate control. That's a nice feature to have as well. You come down below, you don't get a wireless charger, unfortunately, but you do get a USB port. The wireless charger does come on the higher trims, though. So if that's something that you need, you could definitely still get it with the Honda Civic. But in here, you got your 12 volt power outlet that can house a radar detector if you need. But other than that, we can continue over here where you have your CVT transmission with a very nice shifter. It does feel really good to put the vehicle into gear. And speaking of put the vehicle into gear, let's check out the reverse camera. So not the best resolution here on this sport trim, but on the higher trims, you're going to have a better resolution camera. When you turn the wheel back, what do you call it? Guidance lines do move according to where the vehicle eventually end up. So it is nice that they gave you that. But it would be nicer if they gave you slightly better resolution. But that's expected for the base trims. When you get low and you level up on the what do you call it? Touring trims and above, you're going to have a much, much better, not just backup camera, but also a much better infotainment display. But this is your base seven inch display. So for a base display, definitely can't knock Honda for it because considering my 2018 ILX, it had like a two and a half inch display. So the backup camera is just about useless. But definitely impressive Honda for this backup camera. And you do get higher resolution on the higher trims. So don't be too upset with this. Let's put this car back into park. Let's go down here. So you are going to have some really cool materials here. It is plastic, of course, but it's not piano black. So look, you can touch it all you want. You're not going to have any fingerprints. And it does have cool grain material. So listen to this. Yeah, so it's like a little zip tie. The inside of a zip tie. It's cool. I definitely like this material. Continuing back here. I also like this. I don't know why more manufacturers don't do this on their lower trims. This is a cloth armrest over here. So a lot of manufacturers for their lower trims, they put a leather material here, but they just don't put any padding. So it's just not comfortable. So when it's like cloth, you can get away with less padding because the cloth material itself is soft. So more manufacturers should probably do this. I am impressed with Honda for putting a very soft cloth armrest. So they definitely thought more comfort over, I guess, style. So sometimes comfort is more important than style. And when it comes to an armrest in the car, that's definitely the case. But let's continue. So you do also get drive mode select. We'll see what it does. You have your econ mode and you have your normal mode. And when you're in normal mode, let's check out the overall display setup. So you do have just it's just regular. You have a regular black background, but in sport, everything turns red. So you'll check it out. So above the speedometer, you do get a little red line. But other than just the red line above your digital speedometer, not much really changes. But you also say it also says sport right over there as well. But I do like how it tells you the speed limit. That's nice that they gave you that very high tech. You do also get, like we mentioned, lane departure warning and gives you that little surround view. This vehicle also has auto start stop, which you can disable right here. You got your electronic parking brake and you have a brake hold. So when you're at a red light, you don't have to keep your foot on the brake for too long. But let's check out these cup holders. They're not rubberized, but they're very large. You can fit cups in here with no problems at all. When it comes to the glove box, it is damped. It's very well damped. It actually takes a pretty long time to come down. It's not the largest. It's not line with filled, but it will still fit at least eight to 10 license plates. But let's go check out this armrest as we were mentioning it before. So when it comes to space, actually, this is extremely impressive. You can easily fit a six pack in here. You may fit some 12 packs in here. You can easily fit at least eight to 10, 12 ounce water bottles. So very impressive center console, guys. You can definitely fit quite a bit of stuff. But that's about it for this front seat, guys. Of course, you got your red illuminated start stop button. You got your seven inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Let's just check out this window sticker and briefly go over anything that we may have missed. So, of course, we talked about the engine. You got your two and a half, two liter, four cylinder engine with CVT and paddle shifters. You can check out the paddle shifters right back here for your CVT transmission with ratio. So the paddle shifters are effective, but you have a bunch of safety features. You got all the airbags. You got curtain airbags, knee airbags, child latches for the back. We're not going to go into that too much. But you also get advanced safety features, which we'll go into more detail in one second. In the interior, we talked about everything. We got the leather steering wheel, leather knob for the shifter. You got seven inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This audio system does come with eight speakers. So it sounds very good for a base system. No, it's not going to be as good as a 12 speaker Bose. But for a base system, this eight speaker audio system should be very, very good for you. But you also got your driver attention monitor, USBs all over the car, push button start, automatic climate control, which is nice. You got your sport pedals. So they are luminantly illuminated with rubber grips. So they are pretty cool pedals all around. So we also got these 18 inch alloy wheels. Of course, you got automatic high beams. You got auto off headlights. That's nice. You aren't going to have to do it yourself at night. But you also got your 12 volt power outlet. You got a capless fuel. That's nice. You got your exhaust tip, remote engine start. So we didn't go over. So check out this key fob, too. It's very small. It's not going to take up too much space in your pocket. You also get a remote start. So that is also nice. But other than that, pretty impressive key fob. You can keep it in your pocket with no issues at all. Barely going to be noticeable. So pretty cool all around. But other than that, guys, all you really have are these advanced safety features, which is called Honda Sensing. So you get adaptive cruise control, collision mitigation braking system, lane keeping assist. You got road departure mitigation, too, with traffic jam assist. So with all these base standard features, this vehicle comes to about $23,100. So another option that this vehicle has, the only option this vehicle has, is a metallic paint. So you got your platinum white pearl paint color. That's $395. So after all that, plus destination and handling, you get an MSRP of about $24,500. So great value on paper. We're going to test it out on the road and see how it really performs. But on paper, guys, what you get for about $25,000, it's really tough to beat. You got all the features you could ever really want or need in a car. You got pretty good performance on paper. You got really comfortable seats and, overall, really good suspension that Honda has promised to improve. So the previous generation Civic was a very good overall vehicle. It handled very well. It sold very well. It performed really well all around. So this vehicle is supposed to build upon it. So it should be interesting to see how it really performs and what you really get with this total package. And last thing up here, if I didn't mention, you also get power one-touch front windows. No power one-touch for the back. However, there's still, of course, power windows. But it's nice that you get the power one-touch for a relatively base trim. But that's about it for the front seat, guys, in this 2022 Civic Sport. So let's check out the back real quick. So stepping into the back seat on this 2022 Civic. So similar to the front, you're not going to get any soft-touch materials up top. Everything up here is going to be hard plastic. You're not going to get any cloth over here for your arm roll-off and hit. But the armrest itself is cloth, and it is very well padded. So at least they thought that through. So definitely nothing to complain about all around. You got a very nice little storage area over here with more storage where you can fit a 12-ounce bottle with relatively no issues at all. When it comes to legroom, you have very impressive legroom with me sitting in my seat settings. These seats as well, pretty impressive. But they're not going to continue all the way to the doorframe. So you're not going to get that couch-like feel. But not a big deal. The seats themselves are going to be cloth on the inside with some leather on the outside. So let's take a seat and see exactly how they are. So I'm 6 feet tall sitting behind my seat settings. And I have plenty of space. I got at least 3, 4 inches of knee space before my knees will start to touch. I have plenty of footroom, even though I put my seat in its absolute lowest setting. I still have plenty of space back here. I can recline, relax, and have a pretty comfortable experience. One thing I don't like is that you don't have air vents. And I don't believe you can get air vents on the Civic. I don't think it comes on any trim. So it would be nice if they offer them for you for the rear passengers. But of course, that comes in the Accord. So I guess that gives consumers reason to get the better model. But continuing over here, no armrest. So that's unfortunate. But these seats do fold down 60-40 splits. So if you really need maximum space, they will provide it. But you have no armrest. That's unfortunate for the passengers. So of course, no pass-through either. But you do get latches back here for car seats and booster seats. So overall, nothing to complain about. But that's about it for the back, guys. Plenty of space. Materials that you are going to be using are going to be high quality. So nothing to complain about back here. Let's check out the trunk real quick and then take this car out for a drive. All right, guys. So to step into the trunk, you simply press the button. You can, of course, also press the key fob and you can press the button on the inside. But so my first impression is absolutely massive opening, guys. This is so much larger of an opening compared to what I had on the 2018 ILX that it's not even comparable. This is absolutely enormous. You check inside in here, you have a ton of space. It does come in pretty deep. So your stuff's not going to be flying around. Very impressive all around. I'm not going to lie. It doesn't go in very far. But these seats do fold down. Not 60-40 split. I apologize about that. They just fall down as one piece. But you can fit basically anything you would need back here and the opening is absolutely massive. Definitely competitive opening to the midsize segment, even though this is a compact car. But one thing that I have to complain about, you don't get any little, I guess, areas for these hinges. No little covers for them. So if you do pack your stuff all the way to the top, when you close the trunk, those hinges will crush your cargo. But other than that, guys, I'm sure they have thought it through for the higher trims and for the Accord. So shouldn't be complaining all around. In terms of overall space, guys, very, very impressive. But that's about it for the trunk, guys. Let's close it. Take one last step back. And let's take this car out for a drive. All right, guys. So now that we've just about seen everything that we need to see with the inside and outside of the all-new 2022 Honda Civic Sport, let's take her out for a drive and see how she really performs. And my first impressions are this steering. It is light, but it's not that light. It's not going to be floaty, if that makes any sense. It will feel like it's planted, so it is nice for a sport trim. Definitely can't complain when it comes to pure steering. We'll also check it out in sport, which I actually think we are in sport. So let's put it back into normal. So in sport mode, the steering is great. Let's check it out in normal mode. But honestly, the steering doesn't feel much lighter in normal mode. So we'll check it out once we step on this road. But all right, guys. So immediately, the gas pedal is very responsive. That's usually the case with Honda cars. The CVT does like to stay in the lower RPMs. It's not going to float up very quickly. But you do get up to speed very quickly. We got to 45 without really trying. So definitely impressive all around. We got a little bit of a turn coming up in a second. So we can get a sense of this vehicle's cornering capability. OK, throwing it in. Pretty sharp, guys. You can hear the water bottle flying. You know what that means. It's a sharp turn. And it handles it very, very well. So pretty impressive all around. We got somebody in front of us right now. We'll give him a little bit of space. And then we'll try to hit this next upcoming corner right here. And even this acceleration, there's a decent amount of torque. You get to speed without a whole lot of gas pedal. And guys, I'm telling you, this steering is fun. This car is an absolute blast when it comes to cornering, given that this vehicle is part of the compact car segment. So just cruising around, it's very quiet in here. You don't hear any wind noise. You don't really hear or feel any road noise either. So very impressive. They definitely built upon the previous generation well. The wheelbase is longer. So it's going to feel more stable too. It's going to feel more premium. And you're going to have more, as a result of that wheelbase, you're also going to have more trunk space and more rear passenger space. So all around, guys, great overall value. And when we're cornering right here, the car stays very, very flat. And just holding the steering wheel in your hands, guys, it feels really good. There's really no play in the steering. Maybe give some credit to the tire setup, how you have 235s. Pretty wide setup for a relatively small car with not much power. But matching this extended longer wheelbase, these tires, and a very well-sorted suspension, I'm very, very impressed with this all-new Civic. They've definitely, definitely given it some well-needed improvements. But OK, stepping right here on about half throttle. So you see, not much. So it is tuned pretty aggressively. So when you're barely on the gas, you are getting really, really good response. But when you're really leaning into it, that's when this 158 horsepower four-cylinder really shows what it is. But now we're hitting these turns at relatively high speed, and the car stays super flat. I'm unbelievably impressed with how well this car can handle, guys. And you do have plenty of acceleration. It's not a particularly slow car. So you can't really complain about it too much. But we're going to stop right here and step on the gas all the way one time and really see how this vehicle can accelerate. But OK, just all the way down. Oh, it's pretty good. So OK, it does have a little bit of... There we go. So there may be a tad bit of dead zone. OK, so we're not pushing much farther. But this car can actually pick up. There's a little bit of dead zone between 2 and 3,500, but very good torque initially. So they definitely tuned the car well. But OK, one more turn right here. Nice. No understeer at all. A sharp one right here. Nice. Guys, this car can really, really handle. But we caught up to the traffic now. You got these guys on a motorcycle going 25 miles per hour in a 40. So it'll be a good opportunity to, I guess, sum up this video. So very impressive car. The acceleration is pretty good. You can get to 60 between 7 and a half and 8 seconds. But that's not what this car is about. This car is about a great price and it handles fantastically. So if you're not the kind of person that needs to be going fast all the time, you just want to have an enjoyable driving experience. You want good handling. You want a comfortable ride. You want a quiet ride, too. You want a good sound system from the factory without having to pay an arm and a leg for the vehicle. This is a great vehicle to buy. So with all these options, you got Apple CarPlay, Android Auto. You got advanced safety features. You got radar cruise control. Really everything you could possibly want or need. Now, you don't have power seats. That would be nice if they also offered you power seats. But you can spend a couple of thousand bucks extra for the Touring trim. And it'll come with all of that. It'll also come with the wireless charging pad. It'll have more USBs all over the car. It'll have a different digital display, too. So the Touring is definitely an upgrade to this vehicle. But this vehicle is really all about the bang for your buck deal. So great value, in my opinion. You get a ton of space in this all-new platform with the extended wheelbase. You get, again, great handling. You get really good tires. So very impressive all around. It is a shame that these guys are going so ridiculously slow right now. Borderline obnoxiously slow. So we really can't finish the video the way I would want. But again, it's not about performance, really. This car is about overall consumer daily driver value. And it definitely delivers on that. Very comfortable ride. Very quiet. So overall, very impressed with what Honda has done. I would definitely recommend this car to anybody that's looking for an affordable first car. If they want to lease one. If you just graduated college, you want to have a fun car to drive. But you don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. Great car to buy. Very impressive. And it was already impressive in the 10th generation. They really built upon it very, very well. So definitely would recommend it all overall, guys. But that's about it. Please subscribe. If you've already subscribed, thank you so much. I have endless gratitude for all you guys. But if you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe. Join the WTF family. Leave a like, too. It'll help me out with the YouTube algorithm quite a bit. And leave a comment, too. Let me know what you like. Let me know what you don't like. But other than that, guys, I hope you all have an absolutely great day. And huge thanks to Regal Honda here in beautiful Lakeland, Florida, for making this review possible. So these guys have an absolutely incredible dealership. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many cars they have. I couldn't park my car here this morning because there was literally no parking spots. I had to park the car back in the detailer lot. So these guys have a huge, huge inventory. They'll have literally whatever you need. They're a great group of guys. Very friendly. They love making deals. So I would definitely check them out if you're in the Florida area. You can definitely see just all the cars sitting here. It's borderline ridiculous. But we're going to return the car over here to this little inventory lot. Thank you again. Thank you so much for watching. Please subscribe if you've already subscribed. Thank you so much. But other than that, guys, I hope all of you have a great day.