Honda Civic: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Cars

The breadth, depth, and sheer excellence from top to bottom of the Civic lineup is unmatched.

Developing an affordably priced compact car that doesn’t feel like it’s affordably priced is one of the most difficult challenges in the auto industry. But you wouldn’t know it from driving a Honda Civic. That could be because of Honda’s decades-long experience in the arena. The Civic dates back to the first energy crisis—it was introduced as a 1973 model—and is now in its 11th generation. Some Civics have been better than others, but taken as a whole, excellence has been a through line for this nameplate, and this is the 11th time the Honda Civic has appeared on a Car and Driver 10Best list.

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We are particularly impressed with the breadth and depth of the current Civic lineup. The base version, offered as both a sedan and a hatchback, serves budget shoppers with polish and poise that belie its econocar pricing. The newly introduced Civic Hybrid, though, is a tempting upgrade; its unique gas-electric powertrain offers impressive drivability that could win over hybrid haters. It marries great fuel economy (up to 49 mpg EPA combined) with straight-line performance that rivals the Si.

For its part, the Si remains a harmonious and well-integrated sports sedan, one that tugs at our heartstrings as it’s offered exclusively with a manual transmission. This year it once again adds a summer-tire option, showing Honda’s dedication to the model’s enthusiast audience.

UNMUTE

At the top of the lineup is the stupendous 315-hp Civic Type R, where, as senior editor Eric Stafford put it, “Honda’s racing pedigree feels baked into every fiber.” Indeed, the Civic Type R currently holds our Lightning Lap record for a front-wheel-drive car.

View PhotosMichael Simari|Car and Driver

When the Civic was introduced, Americans were clamoring for small cars. Today, that’s not so true. Thankfully, Honda has not retreated from this segment, and the rightness of today’s Civic is the result.

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Specifications

Honda Civic
Base: $25,345–$46,690
Power: 150–315 hp

PERFORMANCE
60 mph: 4.9–8.9 sec
EPA Combined: 24–49 mpg

Joe Lorio

Deputy Editor, Reviews and Features

Joe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar.

Ram 1500: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Trucks

Our favorite full-size pickup undergoes a heart transplant and emerges better than ever.By Joe LorioPublished: Dec 3, 2024Save Article

John Roe|Car and Driver

“We try harder.” That was the longtime tagline of number-two rental-car giant Avis, but it seems to have been adopted by Stellantis engineers and product planners tasked with creating the current Ram 1500.

Though it’s hard to think of the towering Ram 1500 full-size pickup lineup as standing in anyone’s shadow, the brand was mired in number-three sales status when this truck was in development. The try-harder mantra provided the green light for unconventional chassis tech that transforms the driving experience: a coil-sprung rear axle and, optionally available, air springs at all four corners. Add an interior that leaves good-enough far behind, instead embracing design and materials that befit the full-size pickup’s emerging status as luxury vehicle writ large and incorporate uncommonly user-friendly technology, and it all comes together to create a pickup that vaults ahead of better-selling rivals.Car and Driver

Six years on, the Ram remains the class of the field. The 2025 version sees the most significant changes since 2019, but Ram didn’t fumble the ball. The big news is under the hood, where the long-serving Hemi V-8 has roared its last. In its stead is a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, available in two different strengths. In our testing, both the 540-hp version (in a Limited 4×4 Crew Cab) and the 420-horse variant (in a Rebel 4×4) delivered sub-5.0-second 60-mph times. The only buyers who might pine for the V-8 are those who had their hearts set on the discontinued TRX, which was powered by a 702-hp supercharged 6.2-liter monster. The TRX gives way to the new-for-2025 RHO as the high-performance desert racer of the lineup, and we’ll grant that the 540-horse Hurricane six can’t match the drama of the old 6.2-liter (but a concurrent price cut should put the new max Ram within reach of a wider audience).John Roe|Car and Driver

Other changes for 2025 lean into the Ram’s strengths, including a luxurious Tungsten trim level at the top of the range, a larger 14.5-inch touchscreen, a new front passenger’s screen, dual wireless phone-charging pads, and smartphone-as-key functionality.

Still to come are the Ramcharger plug-in hybrid and the Ram 1500 REV EV, but we have yet to drive those models so they’re outside the scope of this award. They’ll both have to execute on a high level to stand alongside their regular Ram 1500 brethren.

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Specifications

RAM 1500
Base: $42,270–$77,150
Power: 305–540 hp

PERFORMANCE
60 mph (C/D est): 4.2–8.0 sec
EPA Comb: 17–23 mpg

Joe Lorio

Deputy Editor, Reviews and Features

Joe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar.

Do the Audi A5 and S5 Succeed at Trying to Be Everything at Once?

The updated A5 and its performance S5 variant are solid all-arounders, but what do they excel at?Alexander StoklosaWriterWilliam WalkerPhotographer

Oct 07, 2025

Pros

• Good value
• Practical packaging
• S5’s sweet engine

Cons

• A5’s not so sweet engine
• S5 not as sporty as past cars
• Cabin materials

Audi’s compact luxury lineup is undergoing what’s known in corporate parlance as a restructuring, shrinking from the A4 sedan, A5 coupe and convertible, and A5 Sportback (plus each one’s sportier S-branded version) to just one model: the A5 and its sporty alternative, the more powerful S5.

Much like when one—or in this case several—of your co-workers moves on, the A5 and S5 are now facing the same workload and must cover for the sportier, sexier appeal of the two-door A5s, the A4 sedan’s more conventional vibes, and the A5 Sportback’s blend of both.

Given the new responsibilities, it’s not surprising that that the updated models adopt the outgoing Sportback’s handsome, muscular-looking four-door style that resembles a sedan but with faster, coupelike rear backlights hiding large liftgates. The A5 gets a 268-hp turbocharged four-cylinder engine, while the S5 upgrades to a 362-hp turbocharged V-6 with a mild hybrid setup.

Audi starts off on the good foot with the A5’s price: $50,995 to start, barely above the average transaction of a new car in America today. Even the priciest A5 Prestige model rings in at a reasonable $57,445. The least expensive S5 is a little over 10 grand more and enjoys a similarly limited pricing runway, topping out at $71,545. And now every A5 and S5 gets standard Quattro all-wheel drive and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

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Motor Trend Group | Sep 5, 2024

There are other upgrades besides the A5’s engine power—up seven ponies from last year’s four-cylinder engine in the A4/A5 models—including a switch to Audi’s latest in-car technology suite and moving its underpinnings to the latest Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) architecture.

Praise came in from judges for the new Audi digital displays, which consist of a 11.9-inch digital gauge cluster and a 14.5-inch touchscreen curved around the driver-side dash area; a third 10.9-inch screen can be optioned to keep the front passenger engrossed, too. The touch response is excellent, and the graphics and layouts are both easy to use and relatively subtle—this is the rare large array of intuitive screens that can fade into the background (thanks to their black backgrounds) rather than glow with cartoonish tiles or other graphic flourishes.

Dimensionally, the new A5 is larger than the previous Sportback, with most of that increase going to the rear seat. Beneath the rear hatch are 22.6 cubic feet of configurable cargo space, besting the only other hatch-equipped competitor, BMW’s 4 Series Gran Coupe, at 16.6 cubes. Fold the rear seats down, and that volume expands to 36.6 cubic feet (though BMW boasts 45.6 with seats folded).

But darn, our pesky Car of the Year criteria will eat up even the nicest cars. Although both Audis are strong on the value, safety (excellent driver assists), efficiency (up to 36 mpg highway for the A5), and performance of intended function, they lag in advancement in design and engineering excellence.

While very clearly Audis, neither the A5 nor the S5 appear new—both closely resemble, well, the old A5 and S5, and their interiors, though nicely equipped, don’t impress when you start touching stuff. And we’re not fans of Audi’s obsession with stuffing most secondary controls into a touch-sensitive panel on the driver’s door. Buttons would be just fine, thanks.

As for its powertrains, several judges found the four-cylinder to be gruff under acceleration, and it too readily transmitted unwanted sounds to the cabin. As for the smoother and more powerful S5, it felt merely like a big-engine A5, not a special sport variant like past S models, though its ride is very comfortable.

Overall, while the A5 and S5 are more than solid offerings in their primary and secondary segments, both compact luxury sedans and coupes, neither moved the needle enough to push past better cars and reach our finalist round at Car of the Year. Given Audi’s refocused efforts with the departure of the A4 and two-door A5s, that proved disappointing.

This review was conducted as part of our 2026 Car of the Year (COTY) testing, where each vehicle is evaluated on our six key criteria: efficiency, design, safety, engineering excellence, value, and performance of intended function. Eligible vehicles must be all-new or significantly revised.