The latest FE generation Honda Civic is an easy car to love. It looks good, drives well, spacious, supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, is packed with all the safety features you want, and more importantly – wears the Honda badge with pride.

Previously only available with a 1.5-litre VTEC Turbo 4-cylinder engine (182 PS / 240 Nm), the Civic has since added a second powertrain. After skipping one generation, petrol-electric hybrid power makes a return to the FE generation Honda Civic, and it’s better in every way than the turbocharged variant.

From the outside, the most obvious difference with the Civic Hybrid (full name Honda Civic e:HEV RS) are the blue Honda badges and black-chrome dual-tone 18-inch wheels. The Civic Turbo (full name Honda Civic RS) wears the same size wheels but they're painted in glossy black.

Inside, the Civic Hybrid gets the following additional features over the Turbo variant:

• Larger 10.2-inch full digital instrument panel (versus the Turbo’s half analogue-digital 7-inch item)
• Dual-zone automatic air-conditioning
• Wireless charger for smartphones
• A fancy audio synthesizer that overlays a sportier engine roar note into the cabin via speakers (when Sport mode is engaged)

Also read: 2022 Honda Civic: Hybrid vs turbo, which is the better option?

On paper, it looks like a great car to buy, but how does it fare in an almost 1,000+ km drive from KL to Johor and back, with some detours to the backroads.

Price and specifications for Honda Civic e:HEV RS

• Price: RM 166,500
• Engine: 2.0-litre, naturally aspirated hybrid
• Peak power: 184 PS motor, 143 PS engine
• Peak torque: 315 Nm motor, 189 Nm engine
• Transmission: CVT (beltless, planetary gear set)
• 0 – 100 km/h: 7.9 seconds (claimed)
• Fuel consumption: 4.0-litre/100 km (claimed)
• Warranty: 5-years / unlimited mileage, 8-years/unlimited mileage for hybrid battery

Pros: The hybrid drives a lot better than the turbo

In the smaller Honda HR-V, the turbocharged variant has an edge over the hybrid. In the Civic, the reverse is true, mainly because unlike the HR-V, the Civic Hybrid is powered by a larger 2.0-litre combustion engine.

The larger capacity engine is also a lot more refined. Low frequency vibration that permeated into the HR-V Hybrid’s cabin, is silently absent in the Civic Hybrid.

In conditions where it makes no sense to keep the engine spinning, the two-motor, 1.05 kWh battery hybrid moves in EV-like silence, but roars into life when your right foot summons for more power.

The result is a very pleasant driving experience. Quiet when you want it, playful when you are in the mood.

Combine this with Honda’s peerlessly user-friendly controls and excellent outward visibility, it easily one of the best cars on sale today.

Pros: More power without the penalty of higher fuel cost

The larger capacity 2.0-litre naturally aspirated but amped up engine has an obvious advantage over the lesser 1.5-litre turbocharged engine. With 184 PS, it makes a marginal 2 PS more than the turbocharged variant but what you want to experience is the additional 75 Nm of torque.

The motor alone makes 315 Nm while the engine makes 189 Nm, but you can’t add the two because the motor’s torque peaks at 2,000 rpm while the engine peaks at 4,500 rpm.

Because this is a two-motor full-hybrid, it works very smoothly and efficiently. The traditional gearbox is now replaced by a planetary gearset - one smaller motor within it serves solely as a generator to charge the high voltage battery, while the bigger traction motor-generator starts the car, drives the car AND charges the high voltage battery.

If you want to see how all these work in real-time, there’s a visual representation of the seamless, wizard-like switching between the different driving modes – motor-only, engine-only, engine plus motor – on the infotainment screen and instrument panel.

But there’s no need to think too hard to about how all these mechanical-electrical magic works.

Just know that it works and let the computer to select the most efficient propulsion method.

Don’t bother trying to get the battery’s charge level up because it’s intentionally capped at around 20 to 80 percent, for battery longevity.

Just drive it like a regular car. Enjoy the smooth and silent progress in urban traffic, without the penalty of dealing with the hassle of plugged-in charging.

Put it into Sport mode and punch the throttle, another persona within the Civic’s heart wakes up, with synthesized engine noise from the speakers adding to the drama.

Because the boost comes from an electric motor rather than a turbocharger, there’s no slap on the back type of acceleration so you just ride the wave of torque and watch the speedometer climb.

The claimed fuel consumption is 4.0-litre/100 km, which is very achievable even in normal driving conditions.

Pros: Honda Sensing's LSF makes for a relaxing balik kampung journey

Honda Sensing is one of the best in the business and curiously, we noted that the Civic’s Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keep Assist (LKAS) features no longer keep the car to the left-side of the lane like earlier Sensing-equipped cars.

The reason for this behaviour is because in many countries, motorcycles are supposed to overtake on the right-side, so many cars’ ACC and LKAS are developed to stay to the left-side rather than sticking to the middle of the lane.

Of course, this doesn’t work in Malaysia. Was it a one-off due to the nature of our driving conditions then? We don’t know, what we know is that it was a very pleasant highway driving experience.

When we hit a long stretch of traffic jam, the Low Speed Follow (LSF) function made the otherwise stressful stop-go traffic a little bit more tolerable. Thanks to the wide-angle Honda Sensing camera, the foot-free driving Civic tracks the lane very accurately, detecting even vehicle movements on the next lanes.

Keep your feet off the pedals and LSF will still bring the car to a complete stop very smoothly, much smoother than an impatient driver being too hard on the brakes and not making any faster progress.

When the car ahead pulls away, just a simple click with the thumb is enough to Civic moving again. No accelerator pedal action needed.

Even in the rain, Sensing still works very well but I am not stupid enough to think that such assist-only feature can replace the driver, so I followed recommendations in the owner’s manual, which is to use such features only on a clear day, on a straight road.

What you can still trust however is the Honda Lane Watch blind spot detecting camera. The difference between Lane Watch's view and the left-side side mirror's view you is day and night, literally. Critics say it only works on the left-side, which is a valid complain, but imagine if Lane Watch works on both sides. You will be looking left, to the infotainment screen on the centre, to turn right. See the problem?

Hyundai side steps this by showing the both sides' view on the instrument panel, but this brings another problem - your eyes take longer to focus between near-sight and far-sight. That's the whole point of developing Head-Up Display (HUD) technology.

Anyway, blind spot is a bigger issue on the left-side than the driver's side. 

Cons: You wish it came with Toyota Corolla Altis seats

So far so good? Here comes a potential deal breaker, and it’s not the price.

While the Civic Hybrid’s asking price of RM 166,500 is rather high (10 years ago, this was an Accord’s price).

But the price is a fair one. Remember that without tax incentives, the FB generation Civic Hybrid used to sell for RM 185k. Malaysia no longer have any incentives for hybrids, lumping everything under the vague Energy Efficient Vehicles (EEV) policy, thus explains its price.

Also read: Remember that time when a Honda Civic Hybrid was sold in Malaysia at RM 185.5k?

The lower range 1.5-litre HR-V Hybrid already has a RM 6k premium over the similar capacity HR-V Turbo variant.

The Civic Hybrid’s larger 2.0-litre engine will of course command a higher RM 16k premium over the Civic Turbo.

But the biggest problem with this latest generation Civic Hybrid is not its price, but its seats.

Regardless of whether you are sitting in front of behind, the seats lack padding. The RS specs suede-leather material actually worsens ride comfort, as it has less padding than the full leather V variant’s seats. 

After just 1.5 hours of driving, the muscles near my back’s tailbone were already aching, by the second hour, I had to pass the driving duties to my fellow peers in the car, and everyone had the same complain.

It’s an unfortunate kink in the Civic’s otherwise impenetrable armour.

If an aging and lacklustre decade-old 1.8-litre naturally aspirated engine is the reason to avoid the Toyota Corolla Altis, then poor seats is also a reason to avoid the Civic.

A perfect C-sedan is a Honda Civic Hybrid with Toyota Corolla Altis seats. Unfortunately, this car doesn’t exist.

So if you insist on getting a C-segment sedan, you will have to pick between the Corolla Altis for its superior ride comfort, and the Civic, which is superior in everything else. 

There are some things that Honda is just not good at; for everything else, there's the Civic.