Honda Civic Lease: The Best Option for Canadian First-Time Buyers

The Civic is an iconic vehicle. You see it every day on the road, one or more of your friends has one, one of your family members once drove one... it is the most popular car in Canada. In the U.S. is the Accord, the "bigger" Civic version, but still, if you are looking for your first car, then the Honda Civic lease will be the best of all options. On this article, I will talk about the three main aspects that make it rank at the top for a first-time buyer: popularity, pricing, and reliability.

Amazing For Starters (and for anyone)

And with starters, I mean "first-time buyers," young people who have never acquired a vehicle before. The Civic is the most sold car in Canada for the last 20 years. Yes, that is since 1998. It is second to no other car in Canada, considering, of course, the Ford F-150 and RAM to be pickup trucks, not "cars."

As a second thing to note about this "20 years" record, there is an important detail: the Civic is the platform for multiple submodels that definitely diversify the alternatives for the market that are usually not available on other models from competitors.

Regarding actual features, I won't spend much time on it. The Civic is a state of the art vehicle when it comes to tech, safety, comfort, driving experience, performance, and fuel consumption. It is definitely a piece of art from the Japanese manufacturer.

"Lease" Specifically, but also Financing

The Civic leasing pricing meets the mid-point between affordability, reliability, popularity, and quality. It will depend, for sure of how much you will expect to drive, on average, per week. If you have doubts about this, please refer to my article Leasing is Better Than Financing, Unless You Drive More than 385Km/week. Leasing incentives from Honda are handsome, although I would always suggest doing the math of your total driving as it will ultimately depend on this.

Honda Civic Lease: The Best Option for Canadian First-Time Buyers: Honda Civic Sales

Honda sold 69,030 Civics in Canada during 2017 and 377,286 in the U.S.

Manual transmission versions of the Civic start around 250-280CAD/month tax. inc. when leased for 60 months, although the most popular alternatives that come with the CVT transmission start around 300-340CAD/month tax. inc. for the Sedan LX.

Honda's Warranties for the Civic

Honda is well known for building robust vehicles. Top selling car in Canada: Honda Civic, Top selling SUV: Honda CR-V, and neither of both among the cheapest ones. But "it is Honda".

It is important for first-time buyers (on any kind of product) to enjoy a pleasant experience. You need a vehicle that holds strong, reliable and a complete legal + functional backup that ensures you will have your transportation needs solved. Well, as any other vehicle, the Civic comes with Honda's Warranty. The following is a summary of the default vehicle warranty on every single Civic in Canada:

8 Years Warranty

  • Emission Systems (or 130,000 km)
  • Integrated Motor Assist System (or 160,000 km)

5 Years Warranty

  • Power Train 5 years (or 100,000 km)
  • Rust Perforation (No Distance Limit)

3 Years Warranty

  • Distributor's Warranty (or 60,000 km)
  • Emission Systems (or 60,000 km)
  • Accessories (or 60,000 km)
  • Surface Corrosion (or 60,000 km)
  • Roadside Assistance (No Distance Limit) 
  • Battery (No Distance Limit)
  • Audio Components (or 60,000 km)

On the specific case that you are leasing the vehicle for 5 years, to have a full coverage of the "3 Years Warranty" components that lasts up to 60,000 km, an average of 1,100CAD (depending on the model) can be paid under the Honda Plus Coverage program to extend these all to 5 years / 100,000 km. There are multiple other variants, but I will refer only to these as leasing is usually limited to no more than a 60 months term.

For a full list of details refer to Honda Canada Civic warranty page.
 

About the author

Jorge Diaz is a passionate car lover, winter driver & Software Engineer. For the last 10 years, he has built Online Solutions used by more than 5,000 companies across the globe. He founded LeaseCosts in 2016 with the purpose of simplifying and helping Canadians to better understand the complex market of car leasing in Canada. You can connect with him at Leantrepreneurship.com.

Jorge is also the author of Car Leasing Done Right: A Canadian Guide for Understanding & Optimizing Vehicle Leasing Costs, released on Nov. 5th, 2021. It is available at Amazon.ca