With prices starting at $ 22,694 for a 2022 LX Civic Sedan, no one expects the Bentley level interior from Honda’s new mass car. Original wood, authentic metal and stitching craftsmen on your brown skin will always come at a price. After all there are good reasons, luxury cars usually start at six points and spiral from there.
However, what the new Civic shows is that the economy does not need to mean the design is sacrificed. Or, more specifically, it’s just because you build a budget, that doesn’t mean you can’t be surprised and have fun with what you gave. You only need to prioritize a little differently.
The mesh line that divides two Dash Civic 2022 is a strategy in practice. It looks very nice, fresh and creative, and leaves the cabin feeling wider and higher technology. Controls like a joystick for HVAC ventilation hidden behind the mesh not only have fun and fun, but it is easier to control than most other systems.
Honda has focused on the budget where he packed the most punch. Mesh is a genuine metal: you are not close and realize it’s cheap plastic pretending otherwise. Honestly, it feels like something you expect to be found in the car is much more expensive than this.
In many of these things about the attention to detail, even if the details don’t always need a lot of money in themselves. HVAC Civic’s knob is a good example of it. They may not be milled from metal pieces, polished diamonds, and then mounted on the original wooden trim slab, but Honda has clearly sweaty small items. They have a pleasant weight when you change it, which gives a greater sense of prestige.
I doubt Honda a lot, in a large scheme of things, to improve the feel of touch. Maybe more timely than money, in fact. But it’s a reminder that “affordable” doesn’t have to mean “pedestrians” too.
The other trim section underlines the strategy. Honda, wisely, has avoided fake wood in a new Civic: it never convinces anyone, always looks tacky, and it might not go with the whole aesthetics in a new sedan. Instead of gloss black plastic so commonly used instead, however, it chooses to finish textured.
The results reduce reflection, but also in fingerprints and stains. Things that make the car interior look tired and dirty much faster. Again, I doubt the material choices added mainly for the entire Bill of Honda material, but the value-added consideration of a significant car maker.
It’s not to say Honda’s strategy is a fully clean sweep. The option is a little civic and far between, another approach that helps keep things simple – and save costs. By starting with four main trims – LX, sports, ex, and tour – and only a few choices of fabric chairs, Honda gets an easier production line and we get the cost of benefits.
The problem is, that means you are at the mercy of Honda’s packaging, and I’m not sure I agree with them all. Most frustration is the fact that you can only have a 9-inch infotainment touch screen above the 2022 Touring Civic specification: other trims are equipped with a 7-inch screen. This also means you lose on Apple Carplay and Android Auto, because LX, Sport, and ex use the cable system instead.
Honda is not alone in that approach, or in paying attention to details, but the 2022 Civic Sedan is probably the most memorable of the cabin I have seen in a relatively new car from the past few years. I might have my other complaints – the absence of an electrification option, to start – but I can’t criticize Honda’s decisions made around the design and material. The rest of the automotive industry must consider that challenges are thrown.