Yahoo Autos 2022 Honda Civic Hatchback First Drive | A bridge to R
The 2022 Honda Civic Hatchback is what happens when the straight-A honors student gets tutored by an Ivy League professor. There might’ve been a few youthful, rough edges before, but add in a mature, guiding hand, and the end result surpasses your wildest expectations.
You see, even in the previous generation’s curtain call, the Civic Hatchback was a smart buy. Honda, knowing how well it dominates this small hatchback market, didn't futz with a formula that’s been working beautifully for the past half decade.
The 2022 Hatchback’s shape is still closer to what we’d call a sportback with its fast-sloping roofline. Except, this time, the details are less dramatic, following the 11th-gen Civic Sedan’s lead of mature and clean design. That’s not to say the car isn’t exciting to look at. The sum of Honda’s changes — lower and longer hood, full-length horizontal beltline and full-width rear taillights — combine to make the Civic Hatchback appear lower, wider and sportier. What it loses in fake vents and extra tacked-on plastic, it gains in sheer road presence.
Honda throws more than a few bones to enthusiasts, too. The Hatchback gets a different honeycomb mesh grille than the Sedan, and its overbite where the Honda logo cascades into it isn’t quite as severe, either. A noticeable shortening of the rear overhang (4.9 inches shorter than the Sedan’s) keeps the rear looking nipped and tucked. A small diffuser is decoration for down below, while more aggressive side sills offer some visual interest to the side view. Those who obsess over the finer details will love that Honda managed to make the new hatchback’s hinges nearly unnoticeable — plus, the Hatchbacks get a classy dual exhaust not seen on the Sedan.
To our eyes, the Hatchback is more appealing than its Sedan counterpart. But even if you think the looks are a wash, Honda drives a hard bargain when it comes to added utility with the hatch. Its 24.5 cubic-feet of space may be ever-so-slightly less than the 25.7-cube max of the previous-gen car, but it’s still competitive with crossovers and greatly surpasses the Sedan's 14.8 cubic-feet. Also, there’s no space penalty with the Sport and Sport Touring trims this time around (10th-gen Hatchbacks lost 3.1 cubes of space in those trims). Honda made the lift door itself lighter and easier to open by making it out of composite. In some ways, it’s better than many compact crossovers due to its super-low load height, ease of operation and utterly enormous opening.
All 1.4 inches of the 2022 model’s additional wheelbase is baked directly into rear-seat legroom. Frankly, Honda didn’t need to do that; the Civic already had a giant backseat. If you were worried about excessive weight gain, don’t be, as the 11th-gen Civic Hatchback is only between 51 and 91 pounds heavier depending on which trims you compare.
So, the Hatchback is obviously the practical Civic to get, but it's also the driver's choice (well, at least until the Si arrives). The Hatchback gets a unique suspension setup versus the Sedan that’s dialed-in for a better-handling car. Honda gives all Hatchbacks thicker coil springs that are fractionally stiffer than those on the Sedan — especially so in the rear. The dampers are the same between the two body styles, but the rear stabilizer bar is bigger by 0.5 millimeters on the Hatchback, and similar to the one found on the Sedan Touring trim (all other Sedan trims get a smaller rear bar). Honda also says it’s retuned the steering, and goes as far as adjusting the tune for the different trims available with the Hatchback body style. We only drove Sport Touring models, but we’re told the difference is minimal if hardly noticeable amongst the various Hatchbacks. Versus the outgoing Hatch, this new one is considerably stiffer with damper stiffness up 2% in front and 17% in back.
All of the above is great news for handling — more on that in a bit — but the most important factor of all is the ability to spec the Hatchback with a six-speed manual transmission. You can’t get the manual with the regular Sedan, making this the only way to get three pedals in a Civic … for now. Honda even lets you pair the manual with both of its available engines — get the Sport trim for the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter, or the Sport Touring for the 1.5-liter turbo and all the other goodies that come with it.
