Honda’s been tweaking the Civic lineup for the 2025 mannequin 12 months, a time of refreshing. The largest replace is the addition of a strong, environment friendly Civic Hybrid that replaces the 180-hp, 1.5-liter turbocharged choice and shares quite a bit with the hybrid accessible within the Honda Accord and CR-V. The Civic’s suspension will get retuned for 2025, though the adjustments solely lead to minor enhancements felt behind the wheel. Equally, delicate updates to the Civic’s exterior model are seen across the entrance fascia, additionally minor sufficient that customers might not discover. A brand new 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system sits atop the sprint of the on top-level Sport Touring and Civic SI grades, powered by Google Constructed-In and providing entry to apps by means of the Play Retailer.
That Si advantages from darkened taillights and new 18-inch wheels, too, together with its personal retuned shocks and chassis reinforcements. The automated rev-matching system additionally now works for downshifts from second to first, which might be fairly interesting for autocrossers.
The 2025 Civic Kind R would not get any of this, unchanged for the shift into the brand new mannequin 12 months save for pricing. Now $800 greater than it price in 2024, the Civic Kind R begins at $46,690 after the $1,095 vacation spot cost. Honda blamed a part of the upcharge on “greater prices related to manufacturing and logistics … taking impact with the 2024 mannequin 12 months.” And remember, you’ll be able to solely get black or purple for that value. Blue, pearl white, and grey all add $455.
The primary bit of excellent information is that supplier markups seem to have been washed away. A fast search of latest stock throughout the nation turns up copious items priced at MSRP. That will get the Kind R in additional simple competitors with choices just like the $46,890, all-wheel-drive 2024 Volkswagen Golf R, and the $37,635 2024 Toyota GR Corolla that is additionally AWD. Outliers for the battle embody just like the top-of-the-line $45,335 2024 Subaru WRX GT and $34,850 2024 Hyundai Elantra N. Again at Toyota, now that the 2025 GR Supra dropped its 2.0-liter four-cylinder, it is successfully out of the equation, costing greater than $57,000.
The second bit of excellent information is that the Kind R nonetheless holds its personal within the phase. The extra mature appears to be like that got here with the Eleventh-generation mannequin have not lapsed into ennui, and the efficiency nonetheless kicks. Honda set a brand new benchmark lap time for front-wheel-drive automobiles on the Nürburgring final 12 months, a 7:44.881 that also hasn’t been beat. Admittedly, Honda used a Euro-only decontented Kind R S on particular Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, however there’s in all probability not quite a bit in it between the Civic and the Renault Megane that held the document beforehand, taking all of the variables into consideration. The Kind R nonetheless fights among the many head of the category.