This is how much a 2020 Honda Civic depreciated in 5 years

There was a while, right after the COVID years, when at least some cars saw their values ​​change – allowing people to sell used cars for more money than they originally paid for them. For most of us, however, those days are long gone and car owners are once again faced with the specter of depreciation. It essentially starts from the moment you take delivery of your new ride Kelley Blue Book (KBB)For example, the typical car is reported to experience a 30% depreciation rate during the first two years and then continue to depreciate by 8% to 12% annually thereafter.

But the thing is, the Honda Civic isn’t your typical car. Again, according to our friends at KBBthe Honda Civic was the top-rated small car of 2020, being named Small Car Best Buy for the fifth consecutive year. More specifically, KBB cited the Civic’s safety, reliability, and low maintenance costs as key selling points for the 2020 Civic. As a result, the website’s experts say a 2020 Honda Civic LX sedan, the entry point into that year’s Civic family, has depreciated approximately 24% over the past five years – going from an MSRP of $21,755 to a current KBB fair purchase price of $16,521.

For some context here, the current 2025 Honda Civic selection – starring the souped-up and enabled Civic hybrid – opens with an updated LX sedan that starts at $24,250 (before a $1,195 destination charge). The ’25 Civic still has the best KBB resale values ​​in its class.

The 2020 Honda Civic selection also impressed KBB with its wide range of individual choices: it was available in three body styles and seven trim levels (not including the high-performance Civic Type R), and while not all trims were offered in all body styles, each model still managed to translate its unique advantages into better-than-average depreciation scores. Keep in mind that the average depreciation rate over five years is approximately 54% (30% over the first two years and 8% over the next three).

Next to the LX sedan, for example, the LX coupe and hatchback saw their original values ​​of $22,005 and $22,705 drop by just 23.8% and 22.4%, respectively. The Sport trims, which welcome features like a 7-inch touchscreen and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, originally had an MSRP of just $23,555 for the sedan, which – to flip the script – retained more than 77% of its value, compared to the typical car’s 46%. With the option to add sunroofs and leather seats, the luxury EX and EX-L sedans retained approximately 73% and 76% of their value over five years.

The enthusiastic Si trim raises the bar for value retention to approximately 80%. Gearheads looking to go even faster will find that a 2020 Honda Civic Type R depreciates even more slowly, losing about 15% of its value after five years. The Touring and Sport Touring trims dominate with standard features such as LED lighting and satellite-linked navigation, with the most expensive 2020 model, the $29,905 Sport Touring hatchback, depreciating around 29% during its first five years in service.

All those different build combinations can mean the Civic’s competition can vary quite a bit as well: Those looking for a simple family sedan like the Civic LX probably aren’t cross-shopping with ultra-hot hatchbacks like the Civic Type R. A better match for the LX sedan would be the 2020 Toyota Corolla sedan, another of the country’s most popular compacts.

In this situation, buyers will find that the Honda LX retains slightly more of its value than an entry-level Toyota Corolla L sedan five years into its life cycle: the Honda, as mentioned, depreciates 24% in that time, and that compares to Toyota’s small sedan of about 26.5%. The gap becomes even wider when you compare the Civic and Corolla hatchbacks. Over a five-year period, the first falls in value by 22.4%, and the second by about 27%.

As for the Type R, it’s hard to find another mainstream compact with more than 300 horsepower for comparison, but the 2020 Hyundai Veloster N came close, with 250 horses standard. In terms of depreciation, however, Hyundai can’t keep up, with the Type R’s value drop of around 15% compared to the Veloster N’s ​​massive drop of almost 35%. Of course, this isn’t quite apples-to-apples, as the Civic Type R has four doors plus a hatchback, and the Veloster N has two traditional doors, a hatchback and a passenger-side rear hatch. But the bottom line is: don’t expect Civic Type Rs to become cheap anytime soon.