The Civic started life as a cheap commuter car with great gas mileage and not much else. The ultimate A to B car has grown over the years into a comfortable daily driver with amenities like heated leather seats and satellite navigation.

Now the Civic competes with the other former commuter car, the Toyota Corolla, as well as several other small cars in what might be the most competitive new car segment. The Civic also competes with the Nissan Sentra, Ford Focus, Chevy Cruze, Dodge Caliber, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3, Mitsubishi Lancer and Volkswagen Jetta. With that much competition, it’s hard to stand out, but the Civic’s reputation for bulletproof reliability has made it popular over the years.

The 2011 Honda Civic is one of the most versatile affordable cars available today. Under the Civic umbrella, there is the 36-mpg commuter car DX, the luxurious but still frugal EX-L and the sporty Si, all available in both coupe and sedan body styles. Honda also offers a Honda Civic Hybrid that gets 40-mpg city and 43-mpg highway.

The 2011 Civic is available with either a 140-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine in DX, LX and EX models or a 197-hp 2.0-liter four cylinder in Si trim. The smaller 140-horsepower Civic engine can be bought with either a five-speed manual transmission or a five-speed automatic that actually gets better gas mileage. The Honda Civic Si is only available with a six-speed manual transmission.

Honda Civic vs. Toyota Corolla

The most common comparison buyers will make is the 2011 Honda Civic vs. the 2011 Toyota Corolla. The two major players in the compact sedan segment have been competing for more than 40 years and the Corolla has outsold the Civic historically. Recent recall troubles may sour buyers on the Toyota and turn them toward the Honda.

The Civic and Corolla are basically even in gas mileage. The Civic gets 25-mpg city and 36 highway while the Corolla gets 26 city and 34-mpg highway.

Both cars can sit five people in reasonable comfort, though long journeys might result in discomfort for larger backseat passengers. The Civic is larger inside than the Corolla in nearly every dimension. The Civic has 0.6 inches more headroom in front and 0.2 more in the back. Legroom is a similar story with 0.5 inches more in front and 1.3 inches more in the rear for the Civic. The Corolla does have a larger trunk than the Civic with 12.3 cubic feet to the Civic’s 12.0.