The Honda Civic originally made its name in the 1970s, arriving at the perfect time to attract tens of thousands of customers scared out of larger, thirstier vehicles by the oil crisis.

Four decades down the line and the Civic still has a reputation as a gas sipper, though the modern car is unrecognizable from its first-generation counterpart.

Now, you get a choice of ways to be green, by either selecting a regular, gasoline engine, or picking a hybrid or natural gas version. We've collated a selection of articles on the Civic and its various models, to bring you our ultimate guide.

Click here to read a full review of the 2014 Honda Civic

On this page, you can find details of Honda's greenest Civics, the Civic Hybrid and the Civic Natural Gas. Click through to page 2 for more general details on the Civic range. It's just a pity the U.S. doesn't get Europe's ultra-frugal diesel Civic...

 

2014 Honda Civic Hybrid
44 mpg city, 47 mpg highway, 45 mpg combined

The Civic Hybrid is currently the greenest of the Honda Civic range, using a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine, paired to a slim electric motor as part of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist system. All that drives through a continuously-variable transmission.

The car is now in its third generation and though the current Civic is nothing to write home about in most areas, it's still one of the most fuel-efficient cars on sale today. Updates for the 2014 model year boosted highway economy, improving its combined figure too.

2012 Honda Civic EX

2012 Honda Civic EX

2014 Honda Civic Natural Gas
27 mpg city, 38 mpg highway, 31 mpg combined

Look at the numbers above, and you might wonder what's so green about the Civic Natural Gas. Well, the clue is in the name--although it's a little less fuel-efficient than a regular Civic, natural gas burns more cleanly than petroleum products and emits less CO2 when burned.

Of course, it's less energy dense too, meaning the power and economy figures are nothing special, but it's also relatively cheap and the U.S. has its own natural gas reserves--so there are no foreign oil concerns for buyers.

 

2013 Honda Civic sedan range live photos, 2012 L.A. Auto Show

2013 Honda Civic sedan range live photos, 2012 L.A. Auto Show

2014 Honda Civic and HF
31 mpg city, 41 mpg highway, 35 mpg combined (HF)
30 mpg city, 39 mpg highway, 33 mpg combined (1.8 auto)

Neither interested in the hybrid Civic, nor wish to fill up with an unfamiliar fuel? The Civic and Civic HF might be your cars of choice, then. The latter is a higher-economy version of the regular car, using a few aerodynamic tweaks and some low rolling resistance tires to offer an extra few mpg on the highway and an extra mpg in the city too.

Neither is a fireball to drive--though select a Civic with the larger 2.4-liter and the performance/economy curve shifts towards the former--but each is a relatively inexpensive way of getting into a popular, reliable gas-sipper.

Honda updated the Civic for the 2013 model year, improving the styling, and giving it a much-needed boost on interior quality. A 2014 revision bumped up the MPG of the HF model to 35 mpg combined, from 33 mpg combined--and the regular, CVT-equipped Civic rose to 33 mpg itself.

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