2018 Honda Civic vs Toyota Camry

What's the difference?

A comfortable and convenient daily driver that ticks all the safety and tech boxes, the VTi-LX is a compelling offering given it is better value than the RS, and not overpriced for its spec level. 

What it lacks in an interesting powertrain it more than makes up for with its huge cabin space and well sorted ride. Whether you choose it or not could very well come down to the looks…

A Camry that is fun to drive - and a hybrid, no less? You'd better believe it. The changes to this 2018 Camry have made it a genuine contender in its (admittedly shrinking) segment. Whether that translates to sales remains to be seen, but if you are considering a mid-size sedan, the addition of EV Mode to the Hybrid Ascent Sport must surely make it among the best of the Camry bunch. 

The look of the 10th-generation Civic is best described as polarising. There's a slew of hard angular edges pointing in all directions, which makes an overall design theme hard to pinpoint. The elegant curvature of the Mazda3, or the more conservative lines of the Hyundai Elantra and Subaru Impreza perhaps appeal to a wider audience.

As I mentioned earlier, the almost-as-well-equipped RS spec comes with some touches that could make all the difference here. The blacked-out bars across the RS’s front, side and rear compliment those angles a lot better, and the rear looks far more resolved with a spoiler (what are those rear light clusters pointing to?).

In comparison, the LX looks incredibly plain and, aside from those LED lights, it is honestly difficult to tell it apart from the VTi-L or even the base-model VTi. While subtlety might appeal to some, it’s an odd card to play for a flagship variant given the overall design of the Civic screams ‘look at me’.

The ‘Modern Steel’ grey colour of our test car rammed the plain-Jane look home. If it were my choice I’d go for the ‘Brilliant Sporty Blue’ as it suits the car’s angular aesthetic a little better. The only free colour is ‘Rally Red’.

The 17-inch alloys were also a topic of controversy in the office. Over my drive week I came to appreciate the milled-alloy with gloss-black highlight designs. Matt Campbell disagrees. I will concede they look smaller than 17-inches, likely due to the black highlights.

Inside is a better story. The angular design trend continues, but it’s all very ergonomic. None of the materials appear cheap or nasty, and there are more than a few soft finishes in the right places. It doesn’t have the symmetry of the Elantra’s interior, but I became very used to how comfortable it was.

Of particular note is the chunky, leather-bound steering wheel, and I have to give props to the low, sporty seating position.

Housed in the dash is a digital display which well laid-out, presents all the important information to the driver well, has a high frame-rate and seemed to never be subject to glare. It’s no premium bells & whistles experience like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit but is a nice addition nonetheless.

It looks…. interesting. And this might be the first time that description has ever been used as a compliment. 

You’ll remember the old Camry, I’m sure. The one that mean people said looked like something that should be sold in Harvey Norman and used to keep drinks cold? Well, this one doesn’t.

For one, the grille has been reimagined. There’s still a family resemblance, but it’s now a two-tier design that pinches in the middle before stretching out to each corner of the front-end. The headlights are thin and sharply angled, sweeping back into the bodywork, and a network of raised contours now lines the bonnet. 

Side-on, new body skirting links the simple alloy wheels, while the rear view is all fancy tail-lights, integrated boot spoiler and dual exhaust tips mounted on the lower left. It’s a genuinely nice, genuinely premium-feeling exterior treatment from Toyota.

There are more changes inside, too, where a new, swirling, modern-feeling dash houses the key screen and controls, and where the cheaper hard plastics are mostly disguised by soft-touch materials to give an impression that's approaching premium.

Does the Civic sedan look a little… big to you? That’s because it is. It’s massive inside. But somehow, it shares a wheelbase with the hatch.

It’s kind of magic, but that’s one of Honda’s fortes. Big practical interiors with some hidden surprises.

What surprised me the most though, is the ridiculous rear legroom. I had leagues of space behind my own driving position. How can this be if it has the same wheelbase as the hatch? 

Well, some investigation revealed that despite its near-identical looks, the sedan's cabin is physically different from the hatch, and an additional 34 millimetres of legroom is granted in the back. It doesn’t sound like much but makes a world of difference.

It legitimately has far more legroom than even some ‘large' sedans I’ve driven and ridden in, and the centre seat could fit an adult-sized human in decent comfort for a long-distance drive. Impressive.

The boot is also close to largest in the class. With the seats up, there’s 517 litres (VDA) of space on offer, which compares very well with the Mazda3 (408L), Elantra (458L) and Impreza (460L) but is just barely eclipsed by the new Kia Cerato (520L).

In the cockpit too, there’s plenty of stowage space under the centre console including two large movable cupholders (although without those little variable edges, so a tilt-risk for small stuff) plus some smallish cubbies in the doors for front and rear passengers. These won’t hold larger belongings or bottles, but they’re sufficient for smaller objects like wallets, books or keys.

Everything is also very easy to reach, but the sunroof eats a little headroom which could be a challenge for those over 182cm tall. I also had to question the choice of not including a dial for volume control. There are wheel-mounted buttons and a touch interface on the screen itself. But that’s kind of clunky when you need volume down in a hurry.

At 4905mm long and 1840mm wide, this new Camry is bigger than the car it replaces, and it sits on a 50mm longer wheelbase. And while that doesn’t sound like much, there is plenty of room in the cabin of this 2018 model.

The front seats aren't cramped, but the space is most noticeable in the back seat, where there’s plenty of legroom on offer behind all but the most NBA-ready of drivers.

Up front, there are two cupholders in the central storage area, along with the usual USB and power connections. Backseat riders get their own air vents, and they share another two cupholders hidden in a pull-down divider that separates the rear seat.

There's room in every door for bottles, and two ISOFIX attachment points - one in each window seat in the back. 

The hybrid batteries have been moved from the boot to a new position under the rear seat, where they no longer cut into storage space. The result is a 30-litre jump in boot space, to 524 litres with the rear seats in place.

The Ascent Sport Hybrid is a crisp $31,990, which would also buy you an entry-level Mazda6 or a Hyundai Sonata Active.

In the Toyota, that investment earns you 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and DRLs, auto high-beam lights and keyless entry. Inside, expect cloth seats, standard navigation, dual-zone climate, a better steering wheel and gear shift than in the cheaper models, and a powered driver’s seat.

Your technology is handled by a 7.0-inch touchscreen that pairs with a six-speaker stereo. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not available, unfortunately, but you do get Bluetooth and the Toyota Link mirroring system, as well as a second, smaller screen in the driver's binnacle.

Up this end of the Civic hierarchy, there’s just the one drivetrain. A 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine, producing 127kW/220Nm, mated only to a CVT auto. The Civic is front-drive only and, much to the dismay of old-school Civic fans, there's no manual option in sight.

That engine puts it middle of the pack compared to small sedan competitors. The enthusiast’s choice may be either the Mazda3 SP25 with a naturally aspirated 2.5-litre (138kW/250Nm) or the Hyundai Elantra SR Turbo which has an impressive 1.6-litre turbo (150kW/265Nm). Both of those can be had with a six-speed auto or DCT respectively (or, better yet, a six-speed manual option on either).

But the Civic still outshines the Cerato’s ordinary-all-round 112kW/192Nm 2.0-litre offering (which is also a bit thirsty) and Subaru’s infamously underpowered 115kW/196Nm non-turbo 2.0-litre engine which is also asked to pull a much heavier AWD layout.

This is a new set-up for the Camry, with the engine, motor and battery combination a fresh design from Toyota. The 2.5-litre hybrid will produce 131kW at 5700rpm and 221Nm at 5200rpm (up by about 13kW/10Nm), and is paired with a CVT auto. The electric motor can add as much as 88KW, but maximum power from both the electric motor and petrol engine is never available together, and the engine's maximum output is listed at 160kW.

Honda’s smaller engine choice and CVT is designed to be frugal. On the combined cycle, Honda claims the VTi-LX will drink 6.0-litres to 100km. There’s not too much variation in the field with Mazda also claiming 6.0 for the SP25 Astina, and at the other end of the scale, there’s Kia’s Cerato which is touted to drink 7.4L/100km.

After a week of driving over a tank of petrol I scored 7.7L/100km which is closer to (but surprisingly less than) Honda’s urban estimate of 8.0L/100km.

Despite being turbo'd the VTi-LX will happily drink bargain-basement 91 unleaded, and the tank holds 47 litres.

Toyota claims an impressive 4.2L/100km on the combined cycle, with emissions pegged at 96g/km of CO2. The Camry’s 60-litre tank demands 95RON fuel.

The Civic presents a strange dichotomy between the luxury spec and its sporty frame. As mentioned earlier, you sit nice and low in the Civic, and you have this chunky, well weighted steering wheel, giving you the illusion of sportiness at the helm.

It lives up to that by feeling nicely planted in the corners. This is largely due to all Civics having a more sophisticated independent rear suspension. Thankfully, it’s not a stiff tune either. It’s well sorted over bumpy stuff, there’s not a rattle to be heard in the cabin, and you don’t have to cringe every time you spot an incoming car park speed bump or unfortunately-positioned pothole.

The engine won’t exactly have you setting lap-times, however, and it’s a tad noisy in the cabin when it comes to really getting the power down somewhere past 2500rpm. 

Then, there’s the CVT. It truly isn’t the worst CVT I’ve ever driven (I’m looking at you, 1998 Nissan Micra…) and in terms of actual driving the experience isn’t dulled much. You should know it creates a slightly unpleasant rubbery characteristic, where your inputs feel delayed because it takes time for the CVT to react to changes through the driveline. 

For example, when laying off heavy acceleration, it will keep accelerating for half a second after you’ve taken your foot off. It’s a minor issue, but a noticeable one.

It also produces an annoying high-pitched whining sound at low speed and when you come to a full stop. You won’t be bothered by this if you drive around with the (actually great) 10-speaker stereo on most of the time, but you shouldn’t have to rely on it.

In terms of your ability to alter the engine’s characteristics, there’s an ‘Eco’ button which seems to make the CVT fight you as you try to extract revs out of it, and a sport mode on the transmission which seemed to make the accelerator a little more responsive and forced the CVT to act a bit more like a traditional auto.

Paddle-shift appears on the VTi-LX and RS grades but while the ‘gear changes’ they trigger didn’t have a long delay on them, they proved unsatisfying anyway.

Much has been made of Toyota’s mission to make this the sportiest-ever Camry (though to be fair, the bar was set low enough you’d need a limbo world champion to scoot under it), so let’s jump straight to it. Short answer? It is. 

A new global platform (along with a company-wide push for more exciting cars) has given this Japan-built Camry new-found dynamics - aided by what Toyota says is a 30 per cent increase in torsional rigidity across the range.

And yes, it's even good in the hybrid version. In fact, hit the new 'EV Mode' button, which will see you running exclusively on battery power, and the hybrid-powered Sport is positively zippy, sending plenty of torque to the tyres from the moment you touch the accelerator, and genuinely pouncing away from the kerb when you plant your foot. Travel too fast or too far and the petrol engine will kick in automatically, but it’s a cool new feature, and one we found ourselves using often.

Remember, the mission here is not to make the Camry actually sporty, just sporty... for a Camry. And so while the hybrid model never feels like a performance car, its impressively balanced suspension (supple enough over all but the worst surfaces, but equally feeling connected to the road beneath the tyres) and the sorted chassis combine to give a new-found confidence to the driver. 

It's quiet (and more so in EV Mode) and comfortable, too, and you won't need to squeeze your offspring into the backseat. And so while the world has turned to SUVs of all sizes, we found ourselves more than a little bit enamoured with the perks of this mid-size sedan.

The Hybrid Ascent Sport's safety story starts with seven airbags, a reversing camera and the usual suite of braking and traction aids. You'll also find auto emergency braking (AEB), lane-departure warning (with assist) and cruise control, but it does miss out on blind-spot monitoring and rear-cross traffic alert at this trim level. 

The Camry range was awarded the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating when crash tested in 2017.

Honda offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty across its range. This is great but should be the minimum.

It compares well in this segment to fellow Japanese competitors, the Mazda3 and Subaru Impreza, which fall behind with outdated three year/unlimited kilometre warranties. 

Hyundai is bang-on par with a similar five year/unlimited kilometre warranty, but the bar to beat, as ever, is Kia with its seven-year/unlimited kilometre promise on the Cerato.

Toyota offers a three-year/100,000km warranty, and the Camry will require a trip to the service centre every 12 months or 15,000km. Once there, though, Toyota's capped-price servicing program will help keep the costs down, with maintenance limited to $195 per service for the first five years or 75,000km.