I started to post this in First Gear, but since I'm only interested in a Clubman, I thought I'd ask here. I wanted to see what comparisons you might make between the two cars.

TIA!

 

I will attempt to answer your question. I do have two caveats first. I do not and have never owned a Civic. Second I have yet to take delivery of my Clubman.

Having said that, I currently own a Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe, and can give some comparisons from my test drive of the Clubman. I think that the comparisions do have some validity because the Accord and the Civic do have some simularities as to build quality and general "Hondaness". Compared to my V6 the base Clubman is a bit slower. The Clubman outshines the Accord V6 when it comes to cornering and breaking. The Clubman also seems to be put together better than my Accord. I can say that the Clubman does seem to have more useable room than a Civic.

If you have more specific questions I think that would help us to better inform you.

 

I came from a Mazda3 to the Clubman having owned a MC prior as well.

First thing you will notice is that the Clubman will not fly off the line like any instant ON Japanese car ... this is one of the biggest things I did not like in the Mazda3 driving characteristic. Feather touch throttle ... why?

Having been in a Civic ... yes, more room, more connection to the road, probably more engine and exhaust sound but not when crusing (this is a positive for me, but some don't like it)

 

Hi hoonu! I've never owned a Civic, but my wife used to own a '98 back when we were dating and she now drives one of the new CR-Vs, and I've driven the new Civic, so I'm familiar with the overall "Hondaness" as bumgardnern put it.

A few things that would leap out at me if I were shopping between the two:

Driving Position - The Civic has one of the most sharply raked windshields in all of cardom. The Clubman, not so much. The view out the front, and the overall driving experience, are IMO much different from this one design difference. That's not to say one is better than the other, but it's very noticeable if you go from one to the other, and you may have a preference.

Handling - The Clubman's the champ here. Very tossable. The go-kart handling thing isn't a joke, and the steering is taut and communicative, but lightens up at low speeds for parking lot ballet. Honda does better than Toyota, but IMO their suspension and steering are still light and soft. That may be different on something like the Civic Si, but I've only driven the basic Civic, so who knows.

Power - Completely different philosophies of power delivery. Honda likes peaky, high-rev engines that don't really come alive until 5,000+ rpms. I can't speak for the Clubman, but the Clubman S is the exact opposite, with gobs of torque down low in the rev range and a phenomenal feeling of acceleration off the line. Others have said the power delivery falls off after 5,000 or so, but I'm still in break-in and have only blipped above that once or twice.

Passenger Space - It's been about a year since I sat in the Civic. That huge windscreen and crazy Star Trek dash make it feel more spacious inside, but that was before I'd sat in an R56, much less an R55. Coming from an R53, the Clubman feels downright big. The Civic probably has more room in the rear, but keep in mind that the Club Door gives you a ginormous opening on the passenger side for accessing the back seats.

Cargo Space - Barn doors beat a trunk any day. If carrying anything bulky was any sort of priority, I'd consider a Fit before a Civic. But I hate trunks and have sworn to never again own a vehicle with one unless it also happens to have two doors, a soft top, and rear wheel drive.

 

I drove a Civic EX Special Edition Coupe for almost 3 years and am anxiously awaiting my new Clubman. First of all, I hated the Civic. My first car was a new Beetle with turbo, so the Civic was a huge disappointment. I compared my Civic to a lawnmower. I had a 5-speed and could not get the damn thing to pick up! I would not recommend that car to anyone who actually enjoys accelerating and driving in general. As my MA said, "The Civic is not a driver's car."
Having test driven the Clubman and Clubman S, I would say the S is notably different from the civic in terms of acceleration. Also, my Civic was rear-wheel drive, and that was a pain especially in the snow. The Clubman is front-wheel drive and I think it drives a lot better that way. Oh, and my Civic, though it was "special edition" came without traction control or dynamic stability control. Go figure.

 

My wife's '98 Civic (believe it was an EX Coupe) was fun to drive back in the day, but if I recall correctly that was right before they redesigned it and fouled everything up. That and I was driving a Land Rover Defender 90 at the time, so pretty much anything would have seemed like a handling master by comparison!

Umm, really? Because so far as I know the Civic is and has always been front-wheel drive. The only Honda car with RWD is the S2000.

 

To my knowledge the Civic has always been FWD, but I could be mistaken. I know the Accord, and the Prelude are FF for sure.

 

I drive a 99 civic sedan with an automatic. The civic has more leg room in the back but less in the front. It's obviously easier to get into the back of a four door. The clubman only seats 4. The trunk on the Civic is deeper but not as tall. Honda also sells 28,000 of them a month in the US so they are everywhere. The base clubman definately gets off the line faster and is more fun to drive. Get the clubamn; you know you want to.

 

When I get out of my car I always look back at it. The Civic is a fine car. The clubman is a cool car.

 

My husband currently drives a 2006 2-door Civic Coupe EX, and I just took delivery of my Clubman S (with sport suspension).

Mini Braking is superior, handling is tighter.

Size/room is similar - as others have mentioned, there's a HUGE difference in the windscreen, and that comes down to personal preference. I personally like the Clubman's better, my husband prefers the windscreen on the Civic.

His Civic gas mileage is usually 36 - 42 on regular unleaded gas. I'm still working on my first tank, but I will be using premium and expect slightly a bit lower mpg than his Civic (still in the 30s hopefully).

Hauling capacity will be similar since the Civic rear seats fold down as well, but the Clubman would be easier to load/more versatile due to the split barn doors.

His Civic ride is smoother, but I do have the S with 17 inch wheels and Sport Suspension, both of which are said to make the ride rougher.

The Clubman is more unique and can be very "personalized" (things that I like). Civic, not so much. There's also a pretty big price difference (depending on trim levels)

If you have more specific questions, we'd be glad to try to answer them. I LOVE my Clubman and am much happier with it than I would be a Civic (or CR-V which is the other car I was looking at); my husband loves his Civic and so far he seems to be enjoying my Clubman well. The mpg would probably tip him towards the Civic if he were buying now, but he has said it would be a very tough race between the two.

 

In the same boat here.

Really? First, on the build, I only recently was told that the Civics are built in Canada; are the Accords built in Marysville? Do you think US assembly is reflected in the quality? (No anti-American bias meant here). As far as room, how do you figure that?

Well, I was trying to leave it kind of open ended. A Civic is my other option for my next vehicle, (once I sell the VW), and as one can imagine, it's a lot less money. I know that it doesn't compare in terms of character and performance, I was wondering about reliability and build quality, given some of the stories one can read here on NAM.

True dat!

Bwahah! Yeah, good influence there! SWMBO refers to the Civic as the "settling for..." choice, as opposed to the "want it" choice.

It hadn't occurred to me that the rake of the windshield was responsible for the appearance of roominess. It certainly gives you more glass to let heat in as well. First impression is kind of "40's pickup"-like, ...or like the Classic Minis, I imagine. Sports car, rather than spacecraft?

Yeah, that's one of my variables. Either will save me $$$ compared to my current vehicle (no, not an SUV, thx!) The notion of buying premium doesn't give me the warm fuzzies, but I've read and follow the logic discussed elsewhere.

That's definitely true, and a big part of the attraction to a Clubman. The downer is that no way I'll have it before early fall at best.

Thanks, all, good stuff.

 

I don't know that the civic is a lot less. You can't get AC unless you get the LX package (it gets 100+ in the Summer here). I think it would run about 17k to get one equipped like a base clubman (19.5k). The clubman is a lot cooler. You can spend as much as you want on a clubman, but you don't have to. I thought about getting another civic, but I've wanted a Mini since they brought them back out. I figured that the price was within a few thousand so why not get what I want.

 

The Clubbies I've built out have all been in the $26K range, without leather. The Civic EX sedan is only $21.3 with leather, heated seats, and automatic. $19.1K with fabric and five speed.

Hmm...I don't mean to sound like an advocate for the Civic, that's not it at all. It's just that the price difference is pretty substantial, IMO.

It's the individuality of the MINI that does it for me, I think. I mean I shied away from Honda's (fine) motorcycles because they're everywhere.

 

I guess mine was 20.8k (i went cheap). I would have bought a civic from the lot (they were all about 19+). I can wait (almost) for a clubman to be built. Waiting for a civic would be very anti-climatic. Been driving the current civic 110,000 miles and wanted to pass it on to the wife so she would drive the suburban less. Figured it was time for a fun car. Went for the clubby so I could at least haul our three boys around. Everyone here will encourage you to get the clubman, but we won't make fun of you if you go for the civic (at least not that you know of). This will be my first new car in 11 years. Sometimes you have to be pratical. Sometimes you can bend it a little.

 

I'm only in Week 2 of ownership, so I can't say much about reliability. I will point out from observation that there seems to be a HUGE difference in the service aspect depending on the dealership/part of the country. And when thinking about those stories, remember that you're always more likely to read bad news than good news...but it doesn't mean that the good news isn't there (and possibly much more prevalent than the bad).

That was like comparing the CR-V and the Clubman for me. Initially, I thought that the CR-V was the more "practical" choice, and the Clubman was my "but I really want that one" choice. My husband initially kept trying to encourage me to go for the CR-V. But when we test-drove the Clubman, and started really looking and learning, it became more & more practical every day. Even my Honda-loving husband agrees that I absolutely made the right choice.

HUGE difference in the appearance of roominess...but it's all optical illusion! We were debating the roominess in the backseats -- we think the Clubman actually gives a little more than the Civic, but not much more.

While you're throwing in the cost quotient, remember that you get free service for the first 3 years/36,000 miles (if you live close enough to a dealer to make it worthwhile).

But I bet you anything it will be worth the wait . Best of luck to you in your decision. Hope that either way you go, the choice is right for you. If you haven't test driven a Clubman, I highly recommend doing so. It will make a lasting impression .

 

Were you comparing the sedan or the coupe?

Barely. I prefer to do most of my own wrenching for routine stuff. Years of dealing with VW dealers will do that to you...

Oh, it did. Both times!

 

Not to throw a wrench into the works, but what about the Mazda3? If the Clubman didn't exist, that would have been my first choice to replace my '06 MCS, hands down. The 5-door config gives more useable space than the Civic, in my opinion the styling's better, and the handling's about as MINI-like as you can get outside of, well, a MINI.

 

I really liked the 3 when it came out. It actually drove better than the Mazdaspeed Protege they also had at the time. But, the car's pretty noisy, and the factory radio is really bad, and hard to upgrade. Throw in only 32 MPG (EPA), and it sort of fell to the end of the line for me. And I'm a Mazda fan overall.

 

i actually had an '08 Mazda 3 from September of last year up until 2 weeks ago when I picked up the Clubman ...

not one hickup in 9 months ... i mean nothing. perfect car.
too small for me though at 6'7", smaller than the MC ... it was a compromise as we needed something a bit bigger as a family (rear seat wise)... but the worst was the mpg's in the city where I use it most. was getting 16-18 on average. yes, its a 4 cyclinder but a 2.3 liter at that.

but it was the last Japanese car I will ever own (save for maybe a Subaru)
Its great for what it is, but ultimately souless at the core.

 

Oh, sorry -- the Coupe. That's what we have. (that's the hard part of all these comparisons - so many factors!) I will be completely honest though and say that our backseats are primarily storage space -- we have no kids, and don't do much traveling with friends/family so they really don't get used as passenger space.

OK, well then - never mind!

I imagine if you go for the Clubman you'll be doing a custom build, but in case you're interested in one off the lot to avoid the wait check with Jimmy at Mini of Charleston. They don't have many, but they have a Mellow Yellow base right now and he mentioned a Chili Red Clubman coming in...and maybe one more.