Honda Civic Coupe

– Detroit, Michigan

This is the cheapest 2016 Honda Civic Coupe you can buy. Actually, let’s call it least expensive – there’s nothing cheap looking or feeling about this base, two-door coupe. And in fact, after spending some time with a very loaded (but very good), $26,960 Touring Coupe a couple months ago, I find this $19,885 LX model to be a refreshing look at what life is like on the base end. Make no mistake, all of the tenth-generation Civic’s goodness is still plentiful in this value model.

Pros

• This car stickers for under $20,000, including destination, but it sure doesn’t feel like a base model. The radio headunit isn’t egregiously downmarket – it’s not a touchscreen, sure, but what it lacks in pretty colors and functionality it makes up for in an actual volume knob. Beyond that, the whole cabin still looks clean and modern, with nice gauges in the instrument panel and easy-to-use controls for heating and cooling. What’s more, it’s really quiet inside, and all of the cabin materials feel great – plastics, sure, but good soft-touch ones with nice graining and impeccable fit-and-finish.
• Honda continues to prove its mastery of the manual transmission here in the base Civic, with a shifter that’s big on feel and light on action. Similarly, the clutch is nicely weighted with plenty of feedback, allowing crisp shifts at all times, whether you’re really hammering it or just moving through rush hour traffic.
• I love the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine of higher-e...