Honda Civic 2020 review: RS sedan

Because this is the family segment, it can be hard to imagine a small car can ever have enough space, but the Civic sedan doesn't feel small inside. There is more room than in the hatchback version and we didn't have any issues at all with leg or head space, even with the taller members of my family.

The back seat also has enough space, and I had loads of room. At 161cm I can easily fit with enough space between my knees and the seat in front of me, and taller adults would also be able to fit comfortably. For a small car, that's great news.

The boot also has a surprising amount of space; 525L is more than some mid-size SUVs, although this boot is lower and not as convenient to use, there is still a load of room here. It fits the bulky CarsGuide pram, and groceries/school bags will fit, too, so there really is enough space for a family of four.

The back seat has enough space, and I had loads of room. (image: Dean McCartney)

Once you're going in the Civic, it drives well - nice and smooth and effortless. There's a 1.5-litre turbo engine under the bonnet, which gets up hills quickly. I took the Civic on a really long highway drive, and it coasted along and overtook with ease when I needed it to.

The steering wheel is quite heavy, so it doesn't feel as nimble as a small car should. Any kind of turning while driving is not as easy as it should be, which makes getting into tight parking spots quite annoying, and even doing U-turns or reversing into parks is harder than it should be for a car this size.

The  reverse-parking camera is not super high definition, but you can see what you're doing, and there are parking guidelines on the screen to help.

There's a 1.5-litre turbo engine under the bonnet, which gets up hills quickly. (image: Dean McCartney)

The Honda comes with keyless entry and the front seats are power adjustable, both of which are good inclusions in this price bracket.

The interior storage is also quite good. There are two cupholders in the front, both deep enough if you want to fit bottles in there, and the centre storage bin is large for a small car. There's a spot to throw keys and a phone, plus an extra shelf below the centre console where you can feed your cord to plug into the USB point, so everything is nice and tidy. Rear passengers also get two cupholders in the centre armrest and there are bottle holders in each door.

If you have to do children's seat belts up, bending over in a low sedan can get tiresome after a while, and the boot is also low, so lifting things out of it can get heavy, but this is more of a category issue than a problem with the car itself.

Once you're going in the Civic, it drives well - nice and smooth and effortless. (image: Dean McCartney)

On this Civic RS model, which is second from the top of the range, the safety is great. Almost everything comes as standard, including auto emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane-departure alerts. Some of the safety is not as sophisticated as you would get in other cars, for example the forward-collision warning is a flashing light on the dash that is easy to miss. But it's there. On some of the lower-spec Civics, the advanced-safety stuff is not standard.

You'll get airbags for driver and front passenger and side curtain airbags that extend to the back row. There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether points to fix kids' car seats in safely.

The Honda Civic RS sedan costs $31,990 before on-road costs. The metallic paint job is an extra $575, taking the total price to $32,565.

Fuel consumption is a claimed 6.3L/100km and the Civic sedan is covered by Honda's five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with a six-year rust-protection warranty.

Services are recommended every 12 months or 10,000kms.

Can a family of four actually live with a small car, rather than a small or mid-sized SUV? (image: Dean McCartney)