2022 Honda Civic versus 2021 Toyota Corolla: A comparison

Civic versus Corolla is an old rivalry. While there are plenty of other sedans in the market, these two always contend for the top. Now the 2022 Honda Civic is being pegged against its crosstown contender, the 2021 Toyota Corolla.

Preferences and brand loyalty aside, could any one of them be slightly better than the other? Let's take a look.

Engine

When we look under the hood, the 2022 Honda Civic is fitted with a 158-hp 2.0-liter I-4 and a 180-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter four-pot engine. Meanwhile, Corolla comes standard with a 139-hp 1.8-liter four-cylinder or the larger 169-hp 2.0-liter I-4 powerhouse.

However, Corolla also has a more muscled hybrid option with a gasoline-electric powertrain that can squarely compete with the Civic-based Honda Insight gasoline-electric hybrid compact sedan. So maybe this is an obvious call after all.

Transmission

When it comes to controlling, Honda fits its sedan with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). Meanwhile, Toyota offers the 2021 Corolla with the option of a six-speed manual transmission on certain 2.0-liter-equipped models or a CVT.

Interior

Both the 2022 Civic and 2021 Corolla sedans have standard 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment systems. Yet, Civic offers a 9.0-inch unit top-up while Corolla’s options stop at an 8.0-inches.

The Civic even has a 7.0-inch gauge cluster screen that tops the tiny 4.2-inch unit in the Corolla. For an even more immersive digital gauge cluster experience, the Civic Touring comes with a 10.2-inch setup. Similarly, the high-end Corolla XLE and XSE trim have a standard size 7.0-inch digital display.

Exterior

As much as beauty is skin deep, we care how the car looks on the outside. With 107.7 inches of space between its wheel centers, the 2022 Civic sees its wheelbase grow by 1.4 inches relative to its predecessor. That's also the extra length the new Civic's wheelbase has over that of the Corolla's.

This length had the sides adjusted too. So that means up to 99.0 cubic feet more passenger space and 14.8 cubic feet of trunk space. That’s 10.4 and 1.7 cubes more than the Corolla.

The Corolla still has the LED head and tail lights. The vehicle comes with two special editions ‘Nightshade Edition’ that offers black accents, and wheels as well as other knick knacks. While the ‘Apex Edition’ offers a touch of bronze accents, 18-inch black flow-formed alloy wheels, and a unique body-kit. The Civic comes with standard halogen headlights but LED options are available. The 2022 Civic buffed out those fine lines for a more streamlined look, but otherwise looks the same. It does have larger tail lights though. To put it plainly, Civic didn’t get much work done on the outside.