Compare the2023 Honda CivicVS 2022 Toyota Prius

Safety
Engine
Fuel Economy and Range
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Passenger Space
Ergonomics
Model Availability
Recommendations

Safety

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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 Toyota Prius doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

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 Prius doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

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 Prius’ side airbags don’t have smart features and will always deploy full force.

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

Both the Civic and the Prius have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, driver knee 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, rear parking sensors and rear cross-path warning.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Honda Civic is safer than the Toyota Prius:

	Civic	Prius
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
Neck Injury Risk	30%	33%
Neck Stress	241 lbs.	323 lbs.
Neck Compression	23 lbs.	51 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Honda Civic is safer than the Toyota Prius:

	Civic	Prius
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Chest Movement	.7 inches	.8 inches
Hip Force	286 lbs.	373 lbs.
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	12 inches	12 inches
HIC	260	267

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

Instrumented handling tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analysis of its dimensions indicate that the Civic, with its five-star roll-over rating, is 1.2% less likely to roll over than the Prius, which received a four-star rating.

For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, and daytime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Civic the rating of “Top Safety Pick” for 2023, a rating granted to only 53 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Prius last would have qualified as a “Top Safety Pick” in 2018.

Engine

The Civic Sport’s standard 2.0 DOHC 4-cylinder produces 37 more horsepower (158 vs. 121) and 33 lbs.-ft. more torque (138 vs. 105) than the Prius’ 1.8 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid. The Civic EX/EX-L/Touring’s standard 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder produces 59 more horsepower (180 vs. 121) and 72 lbs.-ft. more torque (177 vs. 105) than the Prius’ 1.8 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid.

As tested in Car and Driver the Honda Civic is faster than the Toyota Prius:

	Civic Sport	Civic EX/EX-L/Touring	Prius
Zero to 60 MPH	8.8 sec	7.2 sec	10.5 sec
5 to 60 MPH Rolling Start	9.1 sec	8 sec	10.9 sec
Passing 30 to 50 MPH	4.3 sec	4 sec	5.1 sec
Passing 50 to 70 MPH	5.7 sec	5 sec	7.6 sec
Quarter Mile	16.9 sec	15.6 sec	17.8 sec
Speed in 1/4 Mile	86 MPH	92 MPH	79 MPH
Top Speed	125 MPH	126 MPH	115 MPH

Fuel Economy and Range

The Civic has 1.8 gallons more fuel capacity than the Prius AWD-e’s standard fuel tank (12.4 vs. 10.6 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Civic has 1.1 gallons more fuel capacity than the Prius FWD’s standard fuel tank (12.4 vs. 11.3 gallons).

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 Prius doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the Civic’s brake rotors are larger than those on the Prius:

	Civic	Prius
Front Rotors	11.1 inches	10 inches

The Civic stops much shorter than the Prius:

	Civic	Prius
70 to 0 MPH	170 feet	179 feet	Car and Driver
60 to 0 MPH	114 feet	131 feet	Motor Trend
60 to 0 MPH (Wet)	137 feet	149 feet	Consumer Reports

Tires and Wheels

For better traction, the Civic has larger standard tires than the Prius (215/50R17 vs. 195/65R15). The Civic Sport/Touring’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Prius (235/40R18 vs. 215/45R17).

The Civic EX/EX-L’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 50 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Prius’ standard 65 series tires. The Civic Sport/Touring’s tires have a lower 40 series profile than the Prius XLE FWD/Limited’s 45 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Civic EX/EX-L has standard 17-inch wheels. Smaller 15-inch wheels are standard on the Prius. The Civic Sport/Touring’s 18-inch wheels are larger than the 17-inch wheels on the Prius XLE FWD/Limited.

Suspension and Handling

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

For better handling and stability, the average track (width between the wheels) on the Civic is .9 inches wider in the front and 1.6 inches wider in the rear than the average track on the Prius.

The Civic Touring Sedan handles at .88 G’s, while the Prius L Eco pulls only .79 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Civic Touring Sedan executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 2.2 seconds quicker than the Prius L Eco (26.7 seconds @ .64 average G’s vs. 28.9 seconds @ .55 average G’s).

Chassis

As tested by Car and Driver while cruising at 70 MPH, the interior of the Civic Touring Sedan is quieter than the Prius (69 vs. 72 dB).

Passenger Space

The Civic has 5.9 cubic feet more passenger volume than the Prius (99 vs. 93.1).

The Civic has .9 inches more front hip room, 2 inches more front shoulder room, 4 inches more rear legroom and 3 inches more rear shoulder room than the Prius.

Ergonomics

The Civic (except Manual) has a standard remote vehicle starting system, so the vehicle can be started from inside the driver's house. This allows the driver to comfortably warm up the engine before going out to the vehicle. The climate system will also automatically heat or cool the interior. The Prius doesn’t offer a remote starting system.

The Civic’s power parking brake sets with one touch and releases with one touch or automatically. The Prius’ parking brake has to be released manually.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The Civic’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Prius’ headlights are rated “Acceptable.”

The Civic has a standard automatic headlight on/off feature. When the ignition is on, the headlights automatically turn on at dusk and off after dawn. The Prius has an automatic headlight on/off feature standard only on the XLE/Limited.

The Civic EX/EX-L/Touring/Sport Touring’s standard dual zone air conditioning allows the driver and front passenger to choose two completely different temperatures so people with different temperature preferences won’t have to compromise. This makes both the driver and front passenger as comfortable as possible. The Prius doesn’t offer dual zone air conditioning.

Model Availability

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

Recommendations

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius, based on reliability, safety and performance.

A group of representative automotive journalists from North America selected the Civic as the 2022 North American Car of the Year. The Prius has never been chosen.

The Honda Civic outsold the Toyota Prius by almost four to one during 2022.