The Rivalry Is Still Going
The Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla have been duking it out for decades, and the fight is still alive and well in the US. Both are go-to choices for anyone after practical, wallet-friendly rides with names everyone knows. For the first half of 2026, the Civic edged out the Corolla with 132,440 sales to 131,403.
That’s a relatively narrow gap, with the Civic ahead by 1,037 units. In terms of five-year depreciation, however, the story is a little different.
Toyota
The Depreciation Numbers
The latest iSeeCars study puts the Honda Civic ahead on five-year depreciation. The Civic loses an average of 22.9% of its value after five years, compared with 27.6% for the Toyota Corolla. In dollar terms, the average difference from MSRP is $5,828 for the Civic and $6,328 for the Corolla.
|
Model |
5-Year Depreciation |
Average Difference From MSRP |
|
Honda Civic |
22.90% |
$5,828 |
|
Toyota Corolla |
27.60% |
$6,328 |
|
Toyota Corolla Hybrid |
30.10% |
$7,464 |
That puts the Civic 4.7 percentage points ahead of the Corolla in depreciation, even though Toyota has 10 vehicles among the study’s top 25 for retained value. The Civic itself ranks sixth overall on that list.
Of note, the study includes no separate numbers for the Civic Hybrid, and for good reason. The electrified Civic was only introduced in the US in 2023, and the study covers five-year-old cars sold from March 2025 to February 2026. Curiously enough, the Corolla Hybrid actually loses value faster – 30.1% depreciation compared to 27.6% for the regular Corolla.
Toyota
Looking Great for the Civic
While the iSeeCars study doesn’t identify a specific reason for the gap between these two models, the Civic’s strong position is consistent with its broader performance in the study.
As mentioned, the Civic ranks sixth among all 25 vehicles with the lowest five-year depreciation, with an average value loss of $5,828 from its inflation-adjusted MSRP. That puts it comfortably below the overall industry average depreciation of 41.8%.
The study also notes that the top 25 vehicles for retained value are dominated by sports cars and small SUVs, with a handful of trucks and compact cars making the list. The Civic is one of those compact cars, sitting alongside models such as the Toyota Corolla, Subaru Impreza, and Honda Accord.
The Methodology
According to its press release, iSeeCars analyzed more than 950,000 five-year-old used vehicles sold between March 2025 and February 2026. The analysis excluded heavy-duty trucks and vans, discontinued models, and low-volume vehicles.
The company then adjusted original MSRPs for inflation to 2026 dollars using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The study calculated depreciation by comparing those adjusted MSRPs with average used-car asking prices.
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