IT WAS within recent memory that Honda’s showroom was practically bursting with hybrid product. From the Jazz to the NSX, with the Civic, Insight and Accord in between, Honda used to be the only viable alternative to Toyota when it came to petrol-electric offerings. 

Suffice it to say, Honda was perhaps a little too far ahead of its time. Its hybrid options went unloved, arriving well before public appetite for petrol-electrics started to soar.

The climate is different now though, and following on from the arrival of the hybrid HR-V earlier this year, Honda now has another electron-enhanced model to put in front of its customers: the Civic e:HEV LX.

However, just like the existing Civic VTi LX that it’s based upon, the e:HEV variant is offered in just a single highly-featured trim. It’s also a pricey thing, selling for $55,000 drive-away under Honda Australia’s national fixed-pricing scheme.

Considering its chief rival, the Toyota Corolla hybrid, retails for $37,620 in top-spec ZR hatch form, the Honda’s price tag is undoubtedly a handicap.

Subtracting hot hatches like Volkswagen’s Golf R and the Renault Megane RS from the price table leaves the Civic e:HEV LX as the most expensive small hatchback in the mainstream segment, and you can get yourself into a BMW or Audi for less – not to mention Nissan’s eco-warrior Leaf EV, which retails for $50,990.

But can its capabilities offset its asking price? More importantly, does the Civic e:HEV LX offer enough to justify its price premium compared to the non-hybrid Civic VTi LX, which sells for a comparatively reasonable $47,200?

The differences between the two, besides their powertrains and the $7800 gulf that separates them, are largely difficult to pick out.

The e:HEV has a single exhaust tip rather than a twin outlet muffler, a black grille, white rather red footwell illumination, extendable sunvisors, auto up/down windows for all four doors rather than just the front two, power lumbar adjustment for the front seats, a heated steering wheel, a second coat hook, all-black leather upholstery and a map pocket on the rear of both front seats, rather than just the passenger side. Small details, by and large.

There are other hidden advantages to the e:HEV over the regular Civic VTi LX though – its active safety suite is bolstered by the addition of traffic sign recognition and a speed limiter function, with passive safety getting a boost from a centre airbag between the front seats and dedicated side airbags for the rear seats, augmenting the standard head-level ‘bags during a side impact and giving those in the second row the same level of airbag protection as those in the front. 

However, there are just three major differences that will be immediately noticeable by drivers changing up from a regular Civic VTi LX: the push-button shifter quadrant, the panoramic glass sunroof that extends over much of the cabin, and the provision of front and rear parking sensors as standard-fit.

While there are arguably enough extra quality-of-life features to justify the considerable premium attached to the e:HEV, the truth is that most of them will go overlooked and unappreciated by tyre-kickers.

But while there are gains elsewhere, there’s also a sacrifice in cargo capacity – though you wouldn’t know unless you lifted the boot floor. There, rather than a shallow 45-litre storage area, the e:HEV instead mounts battery and power management components, trimming 40 litres off total cargo space to bring the e:HEV down to a still-useful 409 litres. The fuel tank is also truncated, losing seven litres of volume to store only 40 litres of petrol. 

Beyond all of the above, the rest of the Civic e:HEV experience is near-identical to that of its non-hybrid sibling. The fit and finish is still superb, the cabin presentation is crisp and highly functional, the driving position is low-slung and sport and the rear seat accommodation is roomy is almost every dimension except for perhaps headroom.

The feature set is mostly the same bar the aforementioned additions, and there’s nothing about the hybrid Civic’s presentation that makes you aware that this is the eco-minded model. Even the e:HEV badge on the tailgate is abstract, and some may prefer the fact that the Civic e:HEV doesn’t shout about its positioning as the ‘tree-hugger’ of the range.