Honda hatch gets extra sense
Honda has updated its RS hatchback for the new decade, including its Sensing safety suite. Nile Bijoux reports.
Fair question. Honda Sensing is the brand’s active safety suite, offering a flurry of advanced safety technologies. That includes active cruise control, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, road departure and lane departure mitigation, low speed follow and automatic high beams.
It’s pretty comprehensive. The ones you’ll use most during day-to-day driving are the active cruise control system and lane departure mitigation. These will let you set a speed for the Civic to aim for, while various systems and sensors monitor the vehicle in front to maintain a safe distance as well as maintaining its own lane position. It’s not fully hands-free but it makes highway cruising less stressful. It’ll work right down to walking pace too, helping ease the tedium of the commute. Set the speed to 50kmh, put on the radio and let the car do most of the work.
You still need to be ready to take the wheel, so don’t take the opportunity for a nap.
A few things to be aware of – the sensors up front keeping track of vehicles ahead can occasionally detect a vehicle in a flush lane and hit the brakes, thinking it’s stopped in the middle of the road.
However, a stab of the throttle keeps the Civic moving and we only experienced this two or three times during our week with the RS Sensing hatch.
Additionally, the cruise control system can’t brake itself when coasting.
Weird omission, I know, so be careful when passing speed cameras in case the Civic’s velocity creeps up.
If you’re familiar with the RS Sensing sedan, not really. The same 1.5-litre turbocharged engine is present and, given the sedan and the hatch weigh roughly the same, it performs identically. It’s a great engine though, with boost kicking in nice and early to help off-the-line go. Honda has even convinced the engine to run on 91 octane fuel, which should help the wallet.
That initial torque is a bit of a surprise, given the RS makes do with a CVT transmission. Typically, CVTs struggle to get moving, something Toyota reckoned it solved with the addition of a physical first gear.
However, this transmission does just fine on its own. Pop the transmission into S and tap away at the wheel-mounted paddles for some extra open road fun.
That said, despite how refined Honda’s CVT is, a proper dualclutch automatic opponent will come out on top any day of the week in terms of speed and driving pleasure. It is good for keeping fuel consumption down, though.
Honda has upgraded the suspension and the hatch is happy slinging around some of Auckland’s back roads. Civic RS’ package is not quite up to the level of the Type R but that’s OK, given the R costs just under $20k more.
The 235/40 R18 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber helps keep the Civic glued to the tarmac and doesn’t introduce too much road noise to the cabin while cruising.
Additionally, Honda bundles all its new cars with a fully transferable five-year warranty with unlimited kilometres and 24/7 roadside assistance.
If you don’t mind the German styling, have a look at the Golf TSI Highline. For a sportier drive, there’s also the Polo GTI, although it comes with a slightly shrunken footprint.
The new Mazda3 GTX is another option if you prefer the understated exterior with the more premium interior, although it uses a bit more fuel than the Honda.
Then there’s the new Ford Focus Titanium, which costs exactly the same as the Honda with similar performance creds and, finally, consider the Hyundai i30 N Line. It costs a few grand more but offers more performance as a trade-off.
To be honest, the $40k hatchback segment is flush with quality hardware at the moment. The best buying advice we can offer is simply find the one you like the most. Just don’t forget – you meet the nicest people in a Honda.