2014 Toyota Corolla LE Eco vs. 2013 Honda Civic EX


2014 Toyota Corolla LE Eco vs. 2013 Honda Civic EX
The 2014 Toyota Corolla will be a huge seller, but is it better than the 2013 Honda Civic? Read our latest comparison test to find out.
Tagged:
0
Comments
That being said, i wish the Civic offered a Sport model like the Accord does. Yes, I know there's the Si, but there should be a Sport model without the need to step up to the Si.
The 2013 Civic received an impressive GOOD rating in a recent IIHS Small-Offset Crash Test, whereas the all-new 2014 Corolla received a very-disappointing POOR rating.
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings
Ask the professional car reviewers what constitutes a driver's car; they are the ones using that as the primary reason to buy anything in any given segment. I'm the wrong person to ask, but I personally found the Mazda3 and Ford Focus to be the most enjoyable and noticeably better than a Civic, Corolla or Elantra. I've driven the previous Civic and was pretty underwhelmed with both steering feel, drivetrain refinement, and the feel of the front suspension considering the praises sung by folks and Motor Trend and Car and Driver.
Performance wise, the Mazda 3, is probably the best in class.
Civic EX $20,136 Accord LX $21369 (invoice price).
IMO, there should be a series of cross/up shopping comparisons for value and/or on-the-fence shoppers of Focus->Fusion, Elantra->Sonata, Corolla->Camry, Civic->Accord, etc.
By the way, editors, nice that on a lead article you enabled the COMMENTS box so we can read what else was posted at any time.
Driving dynamics really aren't that far apart, and the Civic falls well short of the Focus in this department and isn't anywhere near perfect like you guys claim.
Also, how come you test a higher trim level Civic, then declare it a winner against a lesser Corolla? You could've at least outfitted your Corolla LE with alloys instead of the steelies, but that would've been too fair correct?
Also, you are flat out lying in your picture captions when you say "Both cars have split folding rear seats". Both cars have cars that have folding rear seats, but the Corolla's are 60/40, which is far more practical and something a buyer is likely to prefer since it allows you to still have passengers while having part of the seats folded. The Civic's entire seat back folds down, hampering usability.
In the ways that matter to the compact sedan buying public, Toyota's design efforts are completely irrelevant. The previous model was woefully behind it's competition in design, power, performance, fuel efficiency, materials, fun to drive factor, etc. Yet it remained the top seller.
When it comes to the buying public and the Corolla, the only critical design element is that the Toyota name remain on the vehicle.