Base Trim Lovers Rejoice! LX Trim Is Back For CR-V, Civic
Honda has learned from you that the LX trim level needs to remain an option for Civic and CR-V potential buyers.
Love slicktop roofs? Love steel wheels? Well, you’re not alone. Demand for Honda’s absolute base trim Civic and CR-V has been noticed. Honda has heard you, and now the Civic LX and CR-V LX models are back!
According to Car and Driver, pricing for the Civic will start under $25,000 and pricing for the CRV will be under $30,000. The Civic will be on beautiful steel wheels with hubcaps, and will forgo the sunroof option. You won’t have Blindspot monitoring, and your seat adjustments will be manual. Similarly, the CRV, LX will have an equal amount of fewer options, but at least you still can opt for all-wheel-drive on the CR-V.
The Civic differs from the CR-V in trim spec hierarchy, however. For the Civic, LX is the base model, then comes Sport, which shares the LX’s 2.0 liter motor. Then the EX gets the more peppy 1.5–liter turbo. On the CR-V side, the LX is immediately under the EX, with the Sport Hybrid slotting in above those two.
This might end up working greatly into Honda’s favor, as the worldwide chip shortage affects vehicles that have a higher amount of options. Honda might actually be able to pump out LX models faster than EX or EX-L’s.
Based on government regulations, the Civic and CR-V will still have a suite of safety options. Reverse cameras, brake assist, and other safety items are still included on the base model cars.
Honda’s HR-V and Accord are both available in LX trim. That’s confusing to us, because if you compare crossovers, the HR-V is smaller than the CR-V. Yet the entry-level model is available in LX trim. Now compare the Accord, and the Civic, and the more expensive car is available in LX trim.
Weird.
For the enthusiasts, there is some bad news. If you thought the basic trim would be a back-to-basics, bare-bones Honda motoring experience, you’ll be sad to find one thing missing. A clutch pedal. The base Civic is available in CVT automatic only. You’ll have to get the Sport or Sport Touring if you want to row your own gears.
This means we need to petition Honda to put the manual on the LX, because they actually do respond to consumer input.
Photos: Honda
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