Compare the2022 Honda CivicVS 2021 Kia Forte

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Honda Civic have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Kia Forte doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Civic are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Forte doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Honda Civic has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Forte doesn’t offer knee airbags.

Using vehicle speed sensors and seat sensors, smart airbags in the Civic deploy with different levels of force or don’t deploy at all to help better protect passengers of all sizes in different collisions. The Civic’s side airbags will shut off if a child is leaning against the door. The Forte’s airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Civic Touring/Sport Touring has standard Low Speed Braking Control that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Forte doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.

The Civic Touring/Sport Touring has standard parking sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or in front of their vehicle. The Forte doesn’t offer a front parking aid.

Compared to metal, the Civic’s plastic fuel tank can withstand harder, more intrusive impacts without leaking; this decreases the possibility of fire. The Kia Forte has a metal gas tank.

Both the Civic and the Forte have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Civic its highest rating: “Top Pick Plus” for 2021, a rating granted to only 72 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Forte is only a standard “Top Pick” for 2021.

The Civic’s 5 year corrosion warranty has no mileage limitations, but the corrosion warranty on the Forte runs out after 100,000 miles.

There are over 39 percent more Honda dealers than there are Kia dealers, which makes it easier should you ever need service under the Civic’s warranty.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2021 Auto Issue reports that Honda vehicles are more reliable than Kia vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Honda 10 places higher in reliability than Kia.

The Civic LX/Sport’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 11 more horsepower (158 vs. 147) and 6 lbs.-ft. more torque (138 vs. 132) than the Forte’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder.

As tested in Motor Trend the Civic EX/EX-L/Touring 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder is faster than the Kia Forte 4 cyl. (automatics tested):

On the EPA test cycle the Civic Sedan gets better mileage than the Forte:

On the EPA test cycle the Civic Hatchback gets better mileage than the Forte:

In heavy traffic or at stop lights the Civic’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. If the conditions warrant or the driver wishes, the system can be manually disabled at any time for the duration of a trip. The Forte doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

The Civic has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The Forte doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

The Honda Civic comes standard with an automatic transmission, for driver comfort, especially in the city. Automatic costs extra on the Forte.

The Civic stops shorter than the Forte:

For better traction, the Civic has larger standard tires than the Forte (215/55R16 vs. 195/65R15). The Civic Sport/Touring’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Forte (235/40R18 vs. 225/40R18).

The Civic LX’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 55 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Forte FE’s standard 65 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Civic LX has standard 16-inch wheels. Smaller 15-inch wheels are standard on the Forte FE.

For superior ride and handling, the Honda Civic has fully independent front and rear suspensions. An independent suspension allows the wheels to follow the road at the best angle for gripping the pavement, without compromising ride comfort. The Forte has a rear torsion beam axle, with a semi-independent rear suspension.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Civic’s wheelbase is 1.4 inches longer than on the Forte (107.7 inches vs. 106.3 inches).

The Civic Touring Sedan handles at .88 G’s, while the Forte EX pulls only .81 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Civic Touring Sedan executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1 seconds quicker than the Forte EX (26.7 seconds @ .64 average G’s vs. 27.7 seconds @ .61 average G’s).

The Civic Sedan is 3.7 inches shorter than the Forte, making the Civic easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

As tested by Car and Driver, the interior of the Civic Touring Sedan is quieter than the Forte GT:

The Civic has 3 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Forte (99 vs. 96).

The Civic Hatchback has .5 inches more front headroom, .1 inches more front legroom, 1.3 inches more front hip room, .9 inches more front shoulder room, 1.7 inches more rear legroom and .7 inches more rear shoulder room than the Forte.

The Civic Hatchback has a much larger trunk than the Forte (24.5 vs. 15.3 cubic feet).

The Civic’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Forte has a lever-type parking brake that has to be strenuously raised to engage properly. It has to be lifted up more and a button depressed to release it.

The Civic’s front power windows open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Forte’s standard power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully. Only its driver’s window opens automatically.

On a hot day the Civic’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance with the keyless remote or at the outside door handle. The driver of the Forte can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The Civic EX/EX-L’s standard wipers speed up when the vehicle does, so that the driver doesn’t have to continually adjust the speed of the wipers and the Civic Touring/Sport Touring’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield. The Forte’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

The Honda Civic comes in sedan and four door hatchback bodystyles; the Kia Forte isn’t available as a four door hatchback.

The Civic Sport was chosen as one of Car and Driver’s “Top Ten” for 2 of the last 4 years. The Forte has never been a Car and Driver “Top Ten” pick.

The Civic was chosen as one of Automobile Magazine’s “All Stars” for 2 of the last 25 years. The Forte has never been an “All Star.”

A group of representative automotive journalists from North America selected the Civic as the 2016 North American Car of the Year. The Forte has never been chosen.