Honda Civic vs Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen: which is more reliable?
The Honda Civic and the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen are level on the federal record — 80/100 against 82/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
The record, side by side
Honda Civic
- 5 model years scored
- 1,613 owner complaints on record
- about 28 complaints per year on the road
- 15 recall campaigns, 11 safety-critical
- best year 2013 (84/100) · worst 2012 (68/100)
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen
- 4 model years scored
- 1,594 owner complaints on record
- about 38 complaints per year on the road
- 4 recall campaigns, 4 safety-critical
- best year 2012 (90/100) · worst 2011 (79/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Civic against Jetta SportWagen
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Honda Civic
- Air Bags — 429 complaints
- Power Train — 323 complaints
- Electrical System — 178 complaints
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen
- Electrical System — 449 complaints
- Engine — 321 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 239 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Civic's complaints concentrate in Air Bags, the Jetta SportWagen's in Electrical System. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Honda Civic: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Honda Civic prices at about $10,000 and a Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen at about $9,800 — they price within $200 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 32.0 against 32.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Honda Civic or the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen scores 82/100 against the Honda Civic's 80/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Honda Civic and Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen years should I avoid?
Honda Civic: no year scores below 45. Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen: no year scores below 45. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Honda Civic and the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen?
The largest complaint group on the Honda Civic is Air Bags (429 complaints); on the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen it is Electrical System (449).
Is the Honda Civic or the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen cheaper to own?
A recent used Honda Civic prices at about $10,000 and a Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen at about $9,800, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.