How much is your used Honda Civic worth?

By Martin Pretorius

 

Almost three years after it was introduced to our market, the tenth-generation Honda Civic has just received a mild mid-life facelift. It’s the usual cosmetic job: new bumpers, a new grille, and new wheel designs. The cabin’s changes are slightly more extensive, with some hard buttons appearing to supplant the touch interface, and the re-appearance of a physical volume knob to replace the old “touch-slide” adjustment method. 

These are however all comparatively minor enhancements to a car which was already very competent to begin with: even the variant designations and engine options remain unchanged. And, seeing as the pre-facelift Civic has been available for a while, it would be interesting to see how much an earlier example would be worth these days.

To estimate their values, we looked at some Civic derivatives, getting our price- and mileage data from the cars listed here on AutoTrader. Different model years will obviously affect the picture, with older or higher-mileage cars being worth less than newer, lower-mileage cars. We’ve investigated the average values of some listed Civics, taking into consideration their age. 

1. Honda Civic 1.8 Comfort

Current resale value range (2017 model year): R 220 000 – R 240 000

Depending on the mileage, the entry-level Civic makes for decent used-car shopping, but slightly depressing news for current owners, with a 2-year drop in value of around R 100 000. This is about average depreciation for a compact sedan of this vintage, however.

 

2. Civic 1.8 Elegance

Current resale value range: R 260 000 – R 280 000 (2017 model year); R 300 000 – R 335 000 (2018 model year)

Being a slightly more-upmarket variant, the 1.8 Elegance is also worth a little bit more on the used-car market. Even though this derivative cost R40 000 more than the Comfort at the time of its launch two years, its pre-owned value differs by much less than that, making the plusher Elegance even better value for used-car buyers. 

 

3. Civic 1.5T Sport

Current resale value range: R 370 000 – R 475 000 (2019 model year)

It’s interesting that the listed values of this variant differ by such a huge margin, to the extent that some nearly-new examples are priced above the freshly-announced update's suggested retail price of R 474 700. Add a few thousand kilometres to the odometer, however, and it becomes a lot cheaper and better value. 

 

4. Older Civics

The previous generation Civic never achieved the sales success of its predecessors, possibly as a result of the market’s shift towards SUVs and Crossovers already gaining momentum at the time of its release. This trend unfortunately seems to continue in the current generation, even though the latest Civic is a very accomplished and agreeable all-rounder. 

For used-car buyers, this means that older Civics, while not as nice and modern as the current generation, offer really good value for money. They can be had for as little as R100 000, with the last examples barely cresting the R200 000 mark in top-line trim. Age shouldn’t really be a factor either, as Honda’s reputation revolves to a large degree around their durability and reliability. This is the Civic tradition in a nutshell: a relatively inexpensive but durable and economical sedan. What’s not to like about it?