The Civic LX sedan remains the most comfortable Civic we've driven. The DX edges more toward spartan inside, while the EX heads toward lush. Fit and finish meet Honda standards. Plastic trim elements look high grade, although the multi-piece dash invites concern about high-mileage squeaks and buzzes.
Seats are comfortable, not plush. The fabric upholstery feels durable and its robust nap assists the modest side and seat bottom bolsters in restraining occupants during spirited motoring. The Si models get sport front seats with more aggressive bolsters both bottom and side for improved support. Seat bottoms provide better than average thigh support. The manual height adjustment on the driver's seat pivots on front hinges, forcing drivers to choose between seat height and legroom.
The view out the front, with the expansive windshield, low cowl and sloping hood, is unparalleled in the class. A commensurately low beltline would enhance side vision, but there's little about which to complain. Tiny front quarter windows on the sedan, necessary to allow the front door windows to roll all the way down, push the side view mirrors a bit too far rearward for quick and easy glances at neighboring lanes.
Controls are for the most part where they should be, but not necessarily as they should be. There's little symmetry in organization or shape of features and interfaces. It's not an unpleasant look, but one that requires some acclimation. Despite the seeming logic behind the relocation of the digital speedometer, we still haven't adjusted to that weird pod draped over the top of the dash.
Splayed across the top of the seemingly unending dash in front of the driver is a hooded opening with a digital speedometer between LCD coolant temperature and fuel level gauges. Down below, in the more common place for the instrument panel, a large, round, analog tachometer dominates the half circle formed by the top half of the steering wheel. To each side of this lower IP are large, irregular vent registers. Centered in the dash above the climate control panel is either an LCD window combining the navigation display and audio settings and, in the Hybrid, a selection of graphic depictions of the hybrid system's functions and status or a stereo control head with the pertinent accoutrements. To the right of this squished pod-like arrangement, the dash curves away from the front seat passenger and houses two, more horizontally oriented vent registers, again neither of which matches the other. A wide, but not especially deep glove box resides below a cabin-wide, clam shell-like notch dividing the upper and lower halves of the dash.
There is no center stack to speak of tying together the dash and the drive tunnel. Below the climate control panel is a shallow storage bin with a power point and an audio input jack on the left side. Forward of the metallic-trimmed block of plastic serving as a base for the hand brake and shift levers is a good-sized, rectangular storage bin. Another, shallow cubby is tucked in between the shift lever housing and a pair of seat bottom-level cup holders under a sliding cover. Aft of this on all but the DX is an abbreviated, padded armrest covering another storage bin, inside of which on the EX, Si and Hybrid is a second power point. Each door has a hard plastic map pocket. A magazine pouch is on the rear of the front passenger seatback; on the Hybrid, there's one on the driver seatback, too. Architecturally busy interior door panels could be friendlier to fingers in terms of grips and pulls, but armrests provide good support at the right level.
The Civics are easily competitive with other cars in their classes when it comes to interior room. Almost oversize rear doors provide easy rear seat access. The bench seats in the rear are flat and do little to keep passengers in place twists and turns.
Cargo space trails the class leaders by a couple cubic feet; the Hybrid gives up 1.6 cubic feet to battery and such, while the GX loses fully half its trunk to fuel storage.
