• Pros

• Perfectly adequate, easy-to-live with car that drives like a…. Civic!
• The usual Civic attributes: It’s easy to drive and smooth riding, and it handles competently. Sensible, intuitive and simple layout for all controls.
• The A-pillar, between the side window and the windshield, had an inset section of glass that improves visibility when turning.
• The usual Civic excellent reliability and great fuel economy that we’ve come to expect.
• Two-level dashboard has an easy-to-view speedometer, fuel gauge and clock.

• Cons

• Dashboard is entirely computer-generated, using LEDs. At night, everything on the dash lights up, and it’s easy to think that your headlights lights are on when they’re not.
• There’s no automatic light switch to turn off the headlights—in 2012, that’s just plain dumb, in our humble opinion.
• The interior is cheap looking, especially for the high-end $22,000 EX version that we drove. The plastic looks cheap and there were spaces between pieces of it.
• No trunk latch. You need to use the key fob or the release button near the driver’s window, to open the rear hatch.
• Other cars in this segment, notably the Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus, have made huge improvements, leaving the Civic falling behind by comparison.

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