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By
EWAN KENNEDY
29 May 2006
Styling of the eighth-generation Honda
Civic takes a whole new direction. With a cab-forward look that’s as
much people mover as sedan the new Civic works exceptionally well
visually. It also works from a practical point of view, offering good
interior space, plenty of luggage room and good on-road dynamics. All
this comes at an attractive price.
The price isn’t all Honda’s doing,
the latest Civic sedan is built in Thailand so benefits from a
free-trade agreement between Australia and that country. Thus giving the
Civic a price advantage of about $1000 to $2500 compared to competitors
from Japan.
The cab-forward design of the new Civic
puts the windscreen a long way forward and leaves an extra-large dash
between the driver and the windscreen. This takes a bit of getting used
to so if your initial test drive doesn’t leave you with a positive
feel it’s worth asking the sales people for a bit of extra time in the
car. Worryingly, the forward setting of the windscreen creates
significant blind spots in the area of the A-pillar. There's good
visibility to the sides and rear, though the large glass area may create
problems come summer time.
In the front there's a pair of good-sized
seats that can handle full-sized Aussie adults with no problem. The back
seat is more than adequate and, unless there are very tall people in the
front seats, there's good space for four adults in total. Rear seat
headroom is slightly restricted by sloping roof so tall adults should
try it for size. Three kids in the back is a breeze. The look of the
spacious interior is enhanced by large windows and light-coloured trim.
The ‘double-deck’ instrument layout
is an interesting one. It has the speedometer, fuel gauge and cooling
water temperature gauges sitting in a separate housing atop the dash.
The upper gauges are digital and the large speedo is easy to see with a
minimum of eye time off the road. The less important tachometer and a
plethora of warning lights sit in a more conventional position in a pod
in the dash.
Honda Civic is now offered with two
conventional petrol engines, a 1.8 and 2.0-litre, as well as a
petrol/electric hybrid unit. Our test car had the 2.0-litre engine and
an automatic transmission.
Typical fuel consumption was about seven
to eight litres per hundred kilometres in country and motorway driving,
rising to nine to ten litres per hundred in suburban use. Today's
automatics are pretty efficient units so buying a manual Civic is only
likely to result in fuel savings of about four to seven per cent.
Handling is good, with plenty of road
grip and predictable feedback through the electric power steering.
However, it doesn’t have the superb European feeling of big brother
the Accord Euro, being aimed more at the average driver than the keen
one.
Considerable effort has gone into making
the new Honda Civic quieter and smoother than the old. These generally
work well, but there's a fair bit of tyre noise on coarse-chip surfaces
that are often found on many minor Australian back roads.
Build quality was generally OK on the
four new Civics we have driven to date, but one of them had an
irritating rattle somewhere in the vicinity of the driver’s door.
Perhaps the guys in the Honda factory in Thailand aren't quite as good
as their Japanese counterparts. This is something that Honda's head
office is obviously monitoring very closely as the company has an
enviable reputation for high quality and is obviously very keen on
holding onto it.
There are those who will buy the latest
Honda Civic for its looks alone, looks that work well both outside and
inside the car. And if you think the four-door sedan sold here looks
special you should see the hatchback variants. These take the
new-generation Honda another radical step into the future, sadly we are
unlikely to see the hatches in Australia as they are made in Europe and
currency exchange rates would make them pretty expensive here. Maybe one
day…
AT A GLANCE
MODEL RANGE
VTi 1.8-litre four-door sedan - $20,990
VTi-L 1.8-litre four-door sedan - $24,490
Sport 2.0-litre four-door sedan - $29,990
Hybrid 1.3-litre petrol/electric hybrid four-door sedan - $29,990
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard on all models
Air Conditioning: Standard on all models
Automatic Transmission: Standard on Hybrid, $2000 option on all other
models
CD Player: Standard on all models
Central Locking: Standard on all models
Cruise Control: Standard on all models
Driver Airbag: Standard on all models
Passenger Airbag: Standard on all models
Front Side Airbags: Standard on VTi-L, Sport and Hybrid
SPECIFICATIONS (Honda Civic Sport
2.0-litre four-door sedan)
ENGINE:
Capacity: 1.998 litres
Configuration: Transverse, four cylinders in line
Head Design: DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Compression Ratio: 9.8:1
Bore/Stroke: 86.0 x 86.0mm
Maximum Power: 114kW @ 6200rpm
Maximum Torque: 188Nm @ 4200rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: Front
Manual Transmission: Five-speed
Automatic Transmission: Five-speed
Final Drive Ratio: NA
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4550mm
Wheelbase: 2700mm
Width: 1750mm
Height: 1435mm
Turning Circle: 10.6 metres
Kerb Mass: 1290kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 50 litres
Towing Ability: 500kg (1200kg with braked trailer)
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Independent, MacPherson struts, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Independent, double wishbones, anti-roll bar
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Disc
PERFORMANCE:
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 9.4 secs
Standing 400 Metres: 16.4 secs
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Fuel Type: Petrol 91RON
Fuel Consumption - Combined Cycle (ADR 81/01): 7.9 L/100km
STANDARD WARRANTY:
Three years/100,000km
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Marque Publishing Company
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