2013 Honda Civic Hybrid 1.5 from North America

Summary:

Great buck for the buck at $7990.00

Faults:

Nothing so far.

General Comments:

Was looking for a smaller economy car. Saw this hybrid 2013 used at my local Lexus dealership. It was $8990.00 with 111,000 miles on it and thought that was too much for that many miles on it. But when they lowered the price on it to 7990.00, I went in and bought it. The car is in excellent shape and runs well too. Very solid clean car and seems to get good gas mileage at around 34-38 MPG so far. I have 4 other cars... a Lexus GS430... a Mercedes Benz S430... a Nissan Titan and a smaller older Honda Civic stick shift car. This hybrid should help out on longer trips with its good gas mileage. Is this car perfect, no it isn't. But for a little economy car it suits me. Honda in 2013 made the hybrid in three different models. The base model... the nav model... and the top of the line nav/leather package one with heated seats... this was the middle model with nav and back up camera.

PROS:

Great gas mileage.

Fit and finish.

Paint.

Down hill and flat road level performance.

Good nav system.

Back up camera system.

Good manual seat adjustments.

Strong A/C system.

Great 160 watt stereo with 6 speakers.

First year for the upgraded li-on batteries.

Smooth solid ride.

Great reliability.

CONS:

Weak uphill performance with the 1.5 engine.

Auto stop is annoying and can't be turned off.

Econ button on it is distracting.

Smaller trunk because of hybrid batteries.

No sunroof.

Needs better seats.

Very low car and it's hard to get in and out of if you are older like me.

At 34-38 MPG it's really not much higher than a regular Civic with a 1.8 engine.

Rubber band feeling CVT trans, especially going uphill where it whines.

Did not come with spare tire on this hybrid model; had to buy a space saver spare for it off eBay.

This hybrid car was way overpriced in 2013 at $23,000 to $27,000 new.

In conclusion, I am very happy with it. Since I live at elevation at about 2000 feet up, the driving uphill with it is not very good... but downhill and on flat level, it's very good. I am retired now so I don't have to make that trip to work everyday. Because this would have been the wrong choice to drive up and down the hill. I would say the regular Civic 1.8 engine would have been a better choice and I did look for one at a fair price, but couldn't find any cheap ones that were 2013 and up. Most were over $12,000 and I didn't want to pay that much. These hybrid Hondas drop like a rock in re-sale so you can get a better deal on them. I sense that the dealership got this car for about $3000-4000 dollars; then even with all the safety stuff to do the car before putting it on the lot, they still made a good profit. Also the 2013 model was a year they made some major improvements to.

Improvements that I would like to see on this 2013 Honda Hybrid:

Bigger trunk.

Standard sun roof.

Standard heated seats.

Bigger 1.8 engine in them; 1.5 is just too small.

Hybrid system that you can turn off/on... if you want a standard drive especially going up hill in bumper to bumper traffic.

The ability to run on battery for a few miles.

The ability to plug in electric cord to the batteries at night.

Touch ignition with remote start.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th February, 2018

1st Mar 2018, 01:33

Also want to add that the rear view from the driver's seat is not very good. Rear window is small and sharply slanted and hard to see out of from the inside. Had to remove the headrests from the rear seats to help. There are three of them. Also it could be the very dark tint this car had on it when I bought it.

2013 Honda Civic LX 1.8 from North America

Summary:

Poor

Faults:

Drive by wire is faulty. Hesitates on acceleration. Dealer says, "two footed driving method issue". But it is intermittent; if two footed driving is the issue, why would it be intermittent?

Performance wise: Going up a steep grade, it won't come out of 3rd gear without releasing pressure on the pedal. Even after leveling out grade wise.

My major complaint is the hesitation. Almost to a scary level, on left turns or trying to pass a vehicle.

General Comments:

I would not buy a Civic again unless it was the sport stick shift model.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 14th September, 2015

14th Sep 2015, 12:56

Intermittent: apparently, the dealer has determined that sometimes you remember to take your left foot off the brake pedal, and other times, you don't.

28th Feb 2016, 04:17

Not only the dealer gave you a typical lie, but he also found supporters here on site. Search for another dealer who is more responsible or search on Google or Honda forums about this issue.

29th Feb 2016, 17:09

Honda has sold a lot of Civics over the last 40 years. Some good, some bad. For many buyers 2013 wasn't a bad year. But sounds like it didn't work for you. Hopefully the all new designed 2016 is a winner. Because Honda says they are going back to making good, solid, fun Civics again. Also the cars will be build in Canada and Indiana, so hopefully it won't have some teething problems the Mexican built newly designed Fit had in its first year. But for me, buying a first year newly designed car from any car maker is just too unpredictable.