HONDA CIVIC 1,5T SPORT CVT

Bigger but pricier: can the new Civic win ground for Honda?

O7,93 sec 127 kw/220 N.m 200 km/h N the South African market for 34 years now, the 10th generation of that poster-child for sensible motoring, the Honda Civic sedan, has just been launched. It was not a market that was particularly enthused with the ninth generation, however, with the highly regarded hatch and sedan combined selling in the low 20s each month.

Can this new-generation sedan increase those numbers? It’s a big ask in the current economic climate, but Honda SA will be buoyed by this new car’s huge success in the USA, where its introduction saw sales jump an impressive 28%.

In theory, its chances look good. For one thing, its bigger brother, the Accord, has been discontinued in SA and Honda sees this new Civ- ic as, in part, taking some of its former sibling’s sales by dipping its toes in D-segment waters. How so? Well, along with various speci cation and engine offerings, the new Civic is noticeably larger. With a wheelbase that’s 30 mm longer and total length up by 109 mm, it has more passenger leg- and shoulderroom, as well as a boot that, at 320 dm3, offers 10% more space. And then there’s the price … that also puts it into D-segment territory, but we’ll talk more about that later.

As ever, styling remains subjective and the CAR team was divided in it opinion of what’s clearly a more purposeful-looking vehicle than its rather vanilla predecessor. Lower overall by some 20 mm, the sloping roof gives it a fastback-like silhouette that’s lled with a dynamic mix of sharp creases and curves that afford this Civic a far more aggressive appearance. The nose sports Honda’s new “wing face” grille (piano black on the Sport) that has LED daytime-running lights as standard, and the large C-shaped rear light design – together with the pinched boot – further emphasises the fastback shape.

As one of two derivatives