It's so good | 2026 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid Review

Can we just give a round of applause to Honda? They did it. The 2026 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid Hatchback. Let's talk about it. All right, let's talk about driving this thing. Obviously, that's the most important part. There's really two ways that you can drive this Honda Civic Hybrid. One way is to maximize your fuel efficiency. The second way is to maximize your fun. And we can achieve both of those things by the use of the drive modes. So we have two unique drive modes. One is Eco and one is Sport. Let's talk about the Eco one first. What Eco does is it prioritizes the use of your dual hybrid engines, which speaking of the powertrain, we do have a 2.0 liter four cylinder with the two hybrid engine support system there producing about 200 horsepower. In the Eco mode, you're gonna feel a little bit less responsive with the throttle control. So basically what that means is you're gonna have to push in the accelerator a little bit deeper than you would normally have to. Now it does feel a little bit more sluggish on the gas pedal. And I honestly don't mean that in a bad way. That's just kind of the truth of it. It just feels less responsive. You have to push in further to gain the same amount of output. The benefit of driving in Eco mode though is that you will get up to 50 miles per gallon. Now, the other way that you can drive is to maximize fun. And that's by using the sport mode. Now in sport mode, you're still going to have the hybrid motor system try to engage first. However, the gas powered engine is going to kick on a heck of a lot quicker than when you were in Eco mode. The other big difference is gonna be your steering. The steering wheel is gonna feel a lot tighter, a lot more responsive. And then your accelerator, you're barely gonna have to push in at all. And you will kind of feel that instant torque responsiveness. I love that feeling. And if I'm being perfectly honest, if it was me, I'd probably never take it out of sport mode. Now, it is important to note that we have an eCVT here in the Honda Civic, but the crazy part is, and I've been driving this for a little while now, the craziest part about the transmission is that it doesn't feel like a continuously variable transmission. It honestly feels more like an automatic transmission. All right, I'm not gonna do a true zero to 60 test, but I will accelerate here in sport mode and we'll see how it feels across the camera. Here we go. I mean, again, I don't know how that translates over, but felt pretty dang good. I can't lie. With this 2026 Honda Civic, Honda's really gotten back to their roots. You're not gonna find a bunch of overwhelming technology that gets in the way of your driving experience, but rather Honda has used technology to maximize your fuel economy while at the same time providing a class-leading zero to 60 time in a gas-powered hybrid engine. Now, speaking of technology, let's go over what we've got here. We've got a nine-inch digital touchscreen infotainment system that does have the Google Apps pre-programmed into it, but I think most people will probably wirelessly connect to either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You also have a wireless charging pad down here at the bottom of the dash that works great. You have a digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. We do have physical knobs and buttons for all of our climate controls, as well as our volume control up here on the dash. We also have a 12-speaker Bose surround sound system. As for the seats, we do have this kind of black leatherette material on the seats. Honda is claiming these as bucket seats and these seats are heated as well. Now, here in the second row, you have just enough space. Obviously, in something like the Honda Accord, you'll get a little bit more space in that second row, but even in here, for me, I'm about six feet tall. This is set to my driving position. I have enough leg room, enough headroom, but Kobe behind the camera, he's about six foot four, and he's definitely mentioned that it is pretty crammed, but he's tall and handsome, so he'll get no sympathy from me. We have a armrest here in the center console that folds down into some cup holders as well. I think for most people, this is gonna be just enough space to do simple things like carpooling. This is not meant to be a luxurious experience for your passengers in the second row, and again, I think for most people, that's good enough. All right, pulling up to the stoplight here, let's talk about our suspension, as well as our wheels and our tires. This is actually where Honda did an incredible job and they didn't hold back. So as far as suspension goes, in the front, we have McPherson struts, and in the back, we have a multi-link system. That's going to allow for a much smoother drive, and then especially with that multi-link system in the back, both of the wheels can actually spin and operate independently, which again, is just gonna give you more control. You're gonna feel like you actually are controlled and connected to the ground, as well as minimize a bunch of kind of those micro jitters that you would feel going over bumps or small potholes or whatever. And then lastly, for your wheels and tires, you have 18-inch alloy wheels with the all-season tires. Now you have two options for the trunk. You have the classic enclosed trunk look, or my personal favorite, you have the hatchback. With the hatchback, there's no automatic tailgate, but it does use momentum pretty nicely to swing all the way up. And here in the back, you have 24.5 cubic feet of storage capacity, which is more than the enclosed trunk, which only gives you 15.5. Now here in the hatchback, you do have a little privacy screen to help kind of shield away all of your valuables, which is nice. Again, you wouldn't need that or have that on the enclosed trunk. The only real issue is there's not a super easy way to fold down the second row from the back here. You'd actually have to go into the second row and use the handle levers. But with the seats folded down, you get an expanded 46 cubic feet of storage capacity. So who's the 2026 Civic Hybrid for? Well, for the first time in a long time, it's for anyone. It is the perfect daily driver because of its fuel economy, while at the same time being a great option for enthusiasts who want to have fun while driving a sedan. This exact vehicle behind me is listed at $33,000. But with all of our videos and all of our vehicles at Dick's Auto Group, we do have special offers for our YouTube audience. You can find all of our contact info on our channel. Just let us know you're from YouTube.