Cornwall

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The highly-respected car price guide people, Parker&#8217;s, awarded the <a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All-New Honda Civic Hybrid e-HEV</a> Best Car of the Year 2023 for its impressive powerful engine, handling and good looks, saying this family hatchback is tempting enough on all fronts to lure families away from the ubiquitous SUV. 



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But what does your highly-respected plate-spinning, mum-taxi of an intrepid roving Muddy reporter (aka Lisa, editor of Muddy Devon) who happily goes the extra mile in the name of research think? Quite a lot actually.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



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Newly launched in autumn 2022, the All-New Honda Civic Hybrid comes in three models: Elegance, Sport (which I&#8217;ve got my mitts on) and Advance. They&#8217;re all automatic with 2-litre engines, giving you a thrifty 56.5-60.1mpg, doing 0-62mph in a belly-tightening 7.8 and 8.1 seconds, and emissions ranging from 108-114g/km, although which you go for might just come down to whether you want a sunroof, full or half-leather seats and these stealthy all-black alloys. Nice wheels, literally.



&#8216;Course you know but just in case &#8211; a ‘hybrid’ means it uses more than one means of propulsion, effortlessly switching between two engines, one electric and one petrol, without you having to worry your pretty lil&#8217; head about it. That all adds up to faff-free fuel savings and eco warrior points.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE LOOKS</h2>



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The exterior is low and sporty with a go-faster fin on the roof, a sleek rear and a face which says I mean business. Colour-wise, you&#8217;ve a choice of five: black, white, metallic red or electric blue and grey, fairly basic but sufficient to cover the favourites. 



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The only clue it&#8217;s a hybrid is the blue rim to the Honda badges front and back, so you never feel you&#8217;re wearing your eco-conscience on your sleeve.



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Inside, it&#8217;s plenty roomy front and back, although the dip caused at the back by the sunroof in the Advance may catch out the six-footers. I love the central console with its easy phone-charging &#8211; just lay your phone flat on the console or plug into two USB charge options. A boon for workers and mums with screen-scrolling kids. It has Hotspot WiFi so the mini-moaners will be kept more than happy on long journeys watching a movie in the back.



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The boot is 400 litres, so plenty of room for those overnight cases for your dirty weekend away, okay more like the weekly shop or an entire term&#8217;s washing from the child at uni but we can dream, eh?



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I liked the retractable toneau which cleverly hide your bags and whatnots from prying eyes &#8211; so much better than than a rigid panel which always leaves you with the problem of what to do with it if you take it out to tote luggage. Why don’t all cars do this?



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE DRIVE</h2>



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When I picked it up from Rowes Honda I was told to expect &#8216;seamless and dynamic&#8217; which I took for sales speak. But seriously, it really is so seamless, you don&#8217;t even hear it change gear. It&#8217;s fast, feels fluid and light to drive and yet holds the road really well. It&#8217;s astonishing. The smoothest automatic I have ever driven (and the bar is set high with a Beamer).



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This is the archetypal easy-peasy mum taxi: jump in, chuck the keys in the console, press a button, and pull off with ease thanks to the reverse camera. Even better, thanks to Car Play if you were listening to a podcast or music on your phone beforehand, it automatically resumes via the car speakers without you lifting a finger. Seamless indeed.



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There&#8217;s so much I love about this car; my nicely toasty bum cheeks thanks heated seats in three heat settings; the reverse camera; the ability to accelerate without so much as a splutter going up Devon&#8217;s inexorable hills; the low bonnet and good vision (enhanced by the recessed wing mirrors) which means you have great view of the road; the automatic beam &#8211; no aggressive flashing from drivers you&#8217;ve, oops sorreee!, accidentally blinded.



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The other half (who drives an Audi) was genuinely jealous he didn&#8217;t get to give it a spin. He liked the sleek styling which he said reminded him of a classic Cadillac, plus the honeycomb detail (matching the bumper grill) which neatly hides the dashboard air vents.



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And its electric appeal? Yes, it’s a hybrid but apart from the savings at the pump you pretty-much forget because you never need to plug in or worry about finding an electric charging station (easily done in and around Exeter but woeful elsewhere in Devon). The only sign is it’s quiet in low gears under 15 mph and, with a flip of a button on the steering wheel, you can see a graphic changing from green to blue depending on whether your fuel is electric or unleaded. And of course there&#8217;s the impressive mpg, which for me averaged around 52mpg over a mix of slow city and dual carriageway driving.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE TECHY BITS</h2>



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The All-New Honda Civic Hybrid comes with loads of useful tech, including Apple Car Play to sync your life with your car, so you can take calls, listen to your latest podcast (Elizabeth Day&#8217;s excellent How to Fail, since you ask), use Google Maps (or the in-car navigation system) and your Spotify playlist. And the surround-sound Bose speakers are topnotch.



Neater still is Honda Sensing, designed to add an extra layer of protection, removing driver error, and alerting you with a beep if the road is slippy, or you need to brake more urgently when approaching stopped traffic. It comes into its own on long drives, especially on dual carriageways and motorways. When you&#8217;re pulling out to overtake, it beeps and a little light flashes on the driver wing mirror if there&#8217;s a boy racer coming up in your blind spot. It&#8217;s a bit wtf-alarming the first time you hit a patch of autumn leaves, say, and lights and beeps start going off but you quickly get used to it.



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The only thing that didn&#8217;t work for me was the voice activation while driving. Even with my best received pronunciation it just kept telling me to try again. Or offering to phone Jacob Rees Mogg. Saves you tapping away when parked though, besides it&#8217;s my fault for not realising I should have been using Siri via Apple CarPlay which would let me change tracks, make calls etc. Rookie error.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



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This time last year I wrote about the Honda HRV and the review started with a winge about the price of fuel *laughs ruefully*. In the year which coined the word permacrisis, it&#8217;s beyond the right time to be checking out motors with low emissions and savings at the pump. I really, really loved this car. I was genuinely sorry to take it back to the dealership. It&#8217;s so fluid, fast and easy to drive &#8211; riverting to my gorgeous Mini convertible afterwards felt like driving a wee tractor and our family Audi, even though it&#8217;s powerful and fast, like handling a heavy tank. Plus, it&#8217;s so easy to get to grips with, it was like a member of the family after just a day or two. 



Good for: lookin&#8217; sassy; easy-peasy mum taxi&#8217;ing and busy bees who&#8217;re forever leaping in and out of the car to school/train/shops etc etc; worker bees who like to eat up the road with the podcast or toons on full blast while being plugged into a virtual mobile office; dipping your toe towards a full electric vehicle; country bumpkins with zero charging points locally (ie: most of us); hill-start haters (thank you brake hold); on-street parkers without access to home charging.



Not for: Queen of the Road types who like an elevated seat and high-up view, this is low down and sporty, a road-huggin&#8217; roadrunner; prestige bonnet badge seekers or people who like cute.



The damage: From £29,595 including Honda deposit contribution of £1,000 if purchased through Honda Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) or Honda Hire Purchase (HP) and 5 years&#8217; service package.



Fancy getting your mitts on the wheel of a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Honda Civic Hybrid e-HEV</a>? Don&#8217;t miss out! <a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Book a test drive</a> with the lovely guys at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rowes Honda</a>&nbsp;at Plymstock, Plymouth, Truro and Hayle.&nbsp;Get in touch&nbsp;with your local Rowes Honda dealership to book.



<a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rowes Honda Plymouth</a>, 447 Wolseley Road, Plymouth, PL5 1BL, 01752 364400/ <a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rowes Honda Plymstock</a>, 56 Oreston Road, Plymstock, PL9 7JQ, 01752 485333/ <a href="https://www.rowes.co.uk/honda/new-cars/civic-hybrid/?utm_source=muddy&amp;utm_medium=review&amp;utm_campaign=civic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rowes Honda Truro</a>, Trispen, Truro, TR4 9BA, 01872 279631.

Muddy reviews Parker’s Car of the Year 2023

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