Honda Civic Hybrid Saloon (06-10) - Review

Review by Dan Harrison on
Last Updated: 27 April 2009
It may look like simply a saloon version of the Civic hatchback we're all familiar with, but in fact this is a very special Honda. It's actually a hybrid so, like the Toyota Prius, it uses an electric motor along with a conventional petrol engine. The electric motor assists the engine by giving it a boost during acceleration to improve economy - it also runs the car at idle to reduce emissions. The clever bit is when you brake or coast, the energy is captured to charge the battery for the electric motor. That means you get the power of a 1.6-litre engine, with the fuel consumption of a 1.1-litre. It works up to a point, but the car does feel underpowered and needs to be revved hard to get decent performance - which sees fuel economy rapidly drop.
3 out of 5

Other Honda reviews

4 out of 5

Running costs

For those who regularly travel into central London the Civic Hybrid makes good sense as, like all hybrid cars, it is exempt from the central London congestion charge. But while it's cheap to tax, fuel economy in real life conditions won't be as impressive as Honda claims. Insurance is group 7 though, which is reasonable for a car of this size but depreciation may be heavy when buying new, because of the high list price.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

Every 12,500 miles.

Warranty

Three years/90,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£10.00 - £10.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

4 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
    109
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

This is where the Hybrid excels - it emits just 109g/km of CO2 and can return 61mpg. But while this was mightily impressive when the car was launched in 2006, other manufacturers are now able to offer similar-sized diesel cars that are even more efficient and economical.

Find the exact engine and CO2