Honda Civic - Reliability and safety

The 11th-generation Civic was awarded the maximum five-star safety rating by Euro NCAP in 2022, receiving impressive 89 and 87 per cent scores in the adult and child occupant protection categories, respectively. The Civic is a whole star ahead of the latest Peugeot 308 and Vauxhall Astra, and it protects vulnerable road users and has better accident avoidance technology than the VW Golf and Skoda Octavia. 

All versions feature the same high levels of active safety kit, with a departure warning system that also includes a lane assist function to help keep you within your lane; there’s traffic sign recognition that (among other things) lets you know the current speed limit of the road you’re on, a forward collision warning to let you know if it thinks you’re about to hit something ahead of you, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) to help mitigate or prevent collisions at low speed with other vehicles or vulnerable road users, a blind spot information system that’ll warn you of any cars following alongside on the motorway, and a cross-traffic monitoring system to let you know of vehicles crossing your path should you be reversing onto a main road, or trying to edge out of a junction you can easily see what’s approaching. There’s even a traffic jam assist function, which uses a combination of radar and camera systems to detect vehicles ahead and maintain an appropriate speed.

The latest Civic is too new to have featured in our 2023 Driver Power customer satisfaction survey. Honda, as a brand, managed a mediocre 18th place out of 32 manufacturers. That puts it below Hyundai, Toyota and Kia, but above Nissan, Skoda, VW, Ford, and Renault.

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Warranty

All new Hondas come with a three-year/90,000-mile warranty, which is a little behind the curve compared to the seven-year cover offered by Kia and the ten-year warranty package provided by Toyota. Civic buyers can extend their warranty for an additional one or two years – or as part of an add-on to a five-year service plan (more about that in the next section). 

The cost is either £499 for an additional year, or £899 for two years.

Servicing

Servicing limits haven’t been mentioned yet, but going by the terms and conditions of Honda’s five-year servicing plan, the Civic will most likely need servicing annually or every 12,500 miles.

Speaking of the service plan, you can purchase a five-year policy (transferable to subsequent owners) for £799, and you could add the Customer Care Package add-on to that for an additional £399 to extend the warranty and roadside assistance policies up to five years.