2026 Honda Civic Sport Review: The Best $28,000 You’ll Spend

We live in an expensive world—nothing’s cheap anymore, especially cars. Finding the perfect balance between purchase price and long-term value is key for making a smart purchase, and despite not being a financial advisor, I’ve gotta tell you that buying a cheap car isn’t the same as buying an inexpensive or value-packed car. They’re different things. And having won multiple editions of The Drive Awards, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Honda Civic leads in that regard.

I’ve driven many Civics over the years, but typically it’s the fully loaded Hybrids or the spicy Type Rs, rather than the more basic trims. So, when Honda offered me a Civic Sedan Sport with a price tag of $27,890 (including $1,195 destination), I jumped at the opportunity. What does the sweetheart of the lineup offer that makes it such a value-packed offering in today’s segment? Let’s find out.

The Basics

There are two Civic body styles: Sedan and Hatchback. This is the former, obviously. There are technically four trims available for each body style, but they break down into two sets: Regular and Hybrid. The base two trims, LX and Sport, get the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 150 horsepower and 133 lb-ft of torque. The top two trims, Sport Hybrid and Sport Touring Hybrid, get the 2.0-liter engine plus two electric motors, for a combined output of 200 hp and 232 lb-ft of torque.

All models come with the Honda Sensing safety suite standard, LED headlights and taillights, push-button start, a seven-inch digital gauge cluster, a seven-inch infotainment touchscreen, Apple CarPlay (wired for LX and Sport), auto climate control, and a rear folding seat (60/40 split for Sport and up).

The Sport trim, like my Solar Silver Metallic tester, adds noteworthy features that enhance its look and feel, like 18-inch alloy wheels (up from 16-inch steel wheels in the LX), black exterior body trim, a sporty exhaust finisher, fabric and leatherette interior, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, paddle shifters, sport pedals, eight-speaker stereo, and heated mirrors. It also adds blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.

The jump from LX to Sport is $2,000, so just based on price alone, the features listed above are well worth the price of admission. My tester did not feature any add-ons, as there really aren’t any, so its total price came out to right under $28,000, plus applicable state taxes and dealership fees, of course.

Driving the Civic Sport

Last year, I spent a couple of months with the range-topping Civic Sport Touring Hybrid and averaged 52.1 mpg over 1,800 miles. As the Hybrid, it had a punchier driving experience that, at the time, I described as “just the right amount to have a little fun on a country road,” while also being super efficient on the highway.

The Sport I drove this time around is down 50 hp from last year’s tester, but it’s also a good chunk lighter: 2,926 pounds versus 3,252 pounds. That 326-pound difference is noticeable, especially given the power deficit, and even more so in corners. The Sport’s driving experience can be described as sprightly and, like with most cars in this hp neighborhood, it really depends on the driver whether things feel somewhat lethargic or exciting. Time your throttle right, watch your brake inputs, and work the steering smoothly, and you’ll get that quintessential Honda driving experience that’ll put a smile on your face on a back road. Mashing the throttle to the floor on the highway won’t leave you frustrated, but it also won’t catapult the Civic forward with the urgency needed to pass those two semi-trucks. Of course, if you’re someone who doesn’t care about driving engagement and just needs a fuel-efficient, good-looking sedan to get you to work and back, this will do that too, without ever revealing its sporty side.

The whole point of this trim, however, isn’t the driving experience. Sure, there’s a certain standard, but it’s all about its value. And on that front, the Sport met every need I had while I was driving throughout my test. And really, there were only a couple of minor details that left me wondering whether they were enough to spend another $3k on the Sport Hybrid model. Those features were wireless Apple CarPlay, heated front seats (because Midwest winters), and dual-zone climate control. The latter is prob the least important on my list, but the other two are up there on my priorities, and at that point, each one of those features would essentially cost me an additional $1,500.

Verdict

At the end of the day, the answer is no—I don’t think I would spend the extra $3,000 to bump from the Sport up to the Sport Hybrid to get those extra features. And truthfully, it has nothing to do with the features themselves or even the money, because what’s $3,000 when you plan on keeping a car for many, many years? It has everything to do with my personal mindset behind buying a car like a Honda Civic.

See, I’ve owned a bunch of Hondas throughout my life, but I currently have three in my stable: a 2012 Honda Civic LX sedan with an automatic, its identical twin in Coupe form with a five-speed manual, and a 2007 Fit Sport. When I buy a Honda, I choose the most modestly equipped model, with the idea of spending as little as possible to keep it running for decades. By splurging on those extra features, I lose the base four-cylinder engine and bump up to the hybrid. Nothing against the hybrid, nor its astonishing EPA-rated fuel economy of 50 mpg city and 47 highway (versus the regular Sport’s 32/41), because it’s truly a phenomenal car. But in my opinion, it opens the door to greater complexity, which could mean it would be more expensive to maintain over the next 10, 15, or 20 years.

Nothing beats Honda simplicity, and that’s ultimately what the Sport is all about. For $28,000—which is not an insignificant amount, by the way—you can buy the best-looking, most reliable, safest, and most fun-to-drive sedan out there. And if you take care of it, it’ll last you a lifetime.

Honda provided The Drive with a seven-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of writing this review. 

2026 Honda Civic Sport Specs

Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com