After a string of high-end German luxury cars, this week I'm driving the 2019 Honda Civic Touring edition, with an appealing price tag of $27,300.
Why it matters: The Civic comes with standard safety and assisted-driving features that are similar to those found in the German luxury models. Like Toyota, Honda has made assisted-driving features standard across its lineup for no extra cost.
- That means you can buy a Civic for as little as $19,450 and get important safety features like adaptive cruise control, low-speed follow (for traffic jams), emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance — all for free.
- Other mass-market brands like Chevrolet and Ford are now racing to make the technology standard as well.
Yes, but: My impression is that Honda's lower-end technology may not be quite as responsive as those in the higher-priced European models.
- For example, while using adaptive cruise control on the highway, it seemed to take a moment longer for the car to recognize that another car had pulled in front and to slow down.
- Likewise, when the car in front changed lanes, the Civic lagged when making the decision to resume its cruising speed.
The bottom line: It's still a lot of driver-assistance technology for the money, and most people will be pleasantly surprised by what their little Civic can do.
Go deeper: See what else Joann has been driving
