2017 Honda Civic Hatchback: Premium Hatch
I’m from a time when hatchbacks were generally a lesser expensive alternative to a coupe or sedan. If they weren’t more affordable, they certainly were not pricier by any considerable margin. If you’re in the market for such a car, you’ll have noticed a few things: three-door hatches are all but dead and five-door hatches are not cheap, price or quality-wise.
For a number of manufacturers, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Ford, to name a few, mere hundreds of dollars separate the saloon from the hatch, the latter generally sporting a higher price tag. The added versatility of the large opening trunk is easily worth the investment, especially if you’re an active person or, like me, don’t want to break your back dropping a stroller, a diaper bag and a small playpen into the trunk.
Compared to a base Civic DX sedan, the HB LX is $5,000 more ($2,100 more than an LX sedan), but the superb 1.5-litre turbo powertrain and a few select features easily justify the price difference. The thing is that Honda has done things differently this time around. The new Civic HB is the premium high-end version of their best-selling car. In fact, the HB becomes the halo car thanks in large part to the coming of the next Si and the highly anticipated Type-R. If you’re in the market for a more affordable hatch, the Fit is waiting for you.
The Civic hatchback as we now know it is aimed at the Volkswagen Golf and all of its versions. The same goes for the Focus hatchback and its special iterations. The base $21,390 LX HB will handily tackle with the likes of the Hyundai Elantra GT and newcomer Chevy Cruze despite the mild premium in price. A test drive will convince you that the engine is worth it.
What I take away from this is that the hatchback body style, once on the brink of extinction, has made an incredible comeback in the last decade. Consumers finally realized that the large rear opening makes life so much easier and not to mention, does wonders for the car’s styling. My hope, going forward, is that consumers remember how great station wagons were…