2025 Honda Civic Sport Touring Hybrid EV Offers a Great Alternative to Tesla’s Model 3 Long Range RWD For Those Who Are Unpleased With Elon Musk’s Political Activities

Tesla is a brand that is now considered verboten by many on the left in America. Once the darling of the liberal establishment, celebrities like Cheryl Crowe are ditching their Teslas. Many EV advocacy publications, like Transportation Evolved, won’t cover the brand any longer out of protest for Musk's views. And Tesla sales are down worldwide. Tesla is on its way out, and let’s face it, so are sedans. If only there were another vehicle very similar in size, perhaps a smidge larger, with similar performance, with a more practical design, including Apple CarPlay, and built with a clean powertrain. 

Well, there is - The Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-electric vehicle. Let’s look at some facts and figures and contrast these two vehicles. 

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Size and Body Style
The Honda Civic Hatchback is categorized as a Large Car by the EPA. The Model 3, by contrast, is midsized according to EPA. The Civic Hatchback has three cubic feet more passenger volume. The Civic Hatchback has a very large cargo opening, and the Model 3 has a traditional type of trunk. However, the Model 3 has a frunk as well. Overall, the Civic has more cargo volume. Winner - Civic

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Price and Cost of Ownership
The entry-level Model 3 has a consumer price of $44,130, according to Tesla’s pricing configurator. The Civic we are comparing is the very top trim, with a price of $34,300. That is a $9,830 price advantage for the Civic. The Civic is also a car that has a depreciation of between around 20 to 30% over its first three years of ownership. The Tesla Model 3 has a depreciation slightly higher. Party due to the dumping of the Model 3 by Hertz. We’d call the depreciation similar, except that with Tesla being hated now as a brand, we think it may drop. Tesla is a brand that many call the most expensive to insure. Honda is average. In our area of Metro Boston, with fuel priced below $3.00 per gallon, the Civic has a cost per mile of about six cents. With our electricity cost being $0.32/kWh, Model 3 would cost us $25.50 to fully charge not counting charging losses. It can travel 363 on a full charge, so its cost per mile is seven cents. That’s about 15% more for energy than the Civic. Advantage Civic.

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Infotainment
Tesla has a love-it-or-hate-it infotainment system. It uses Tesla’s proprietary software with some help from Google for navigation. By contrast, the Civic offers wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Advantage Civic for those who want seamless phone integration. 

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Performance
The Honda Civic can accelerate from 0-60 MPH in about 6 seconds, according to independent tests. The Tesla Model 3 is the winner here with a 5-second 0-60 MPH time (without a rollout cheat). 

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - - Safety
The 2025 Civic Hatchback has earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick Award for 2025. The Model 3 has not been tested in a few years. A recent study of NHTSA data shows that Tesla is among the brands with the most deaths per mile. Advantage Civic.

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - BEV vs. HEV Convenience
One can charge a Tesla Model 3 from about 5% SOC to 100% SOC in the very best circumstances in about an hour and a half. That adds in about 344 miles of range. A Civic hybrid-electric vehicle can be fully energized in about 87 seconds and add about 525 miles of range. Advantage Civic. 

2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-Electric Vehicle vs. Tesla Model 3 LR AWD - Maintenance Cost and Convenience
Tesla offers no included maintenance. Civic comes with two years included. The Model 3 has a service interval, according to the manual, of every 6,250 miles or sooner. According to its manual, the Civic has a maintenance interval of every 7,500 miles. Advantage Civic. 

In the meantime, Tesla just made its next move and started the production of the New Model Y at its Giga Berling factory, which you can see on the Torque News YouTube channel.

Those looking for a sedan certified by EPA as a Smart Way vehicle for its clean operation and who don’t want a Tesla for the many reasons listed above will find it in the 2025 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Hybrid-electric vehicle. Tell us what you think of our comparison in the comments below. 
 

John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools. 

Chart comparing Tesla Model 3 to Honda Civic by John Goreham. Image created using Grok. Image of Civic Hatchback cargo area courtesy of Honda. Image of 2025 Honda Civic earning Top Safety Pick Award Courtesy of IIHS. Stopwatch image by John Goreham.