Brendan Seery

ONDAS (both cars and bikes) are known for two things: their build quality and reliability and their revvy engines.

Back in the 1960s, their tinyengined Grand Prix bikes used to hit 20 000rpm without much sweat, and the V-Tec engines in Honda’s cars will, likewise, still hold together as the needle goes into the red paint at 7 000-plus. (The S2000 sports car motor would go to 9 000rpm before the electronics cut the fuel.)

Even in Honda’s mundane passenger cars, like the Ballade and the Civic, the red line was always higher than those in their opposition’s power plants.

This was a thrill to boy racers – who loved the V-Tec and often fitted free-flow exhausts to enhance the sound – but could be a huge pain in day-to-day driving.

I know this from experience, because we once owned a Ballade 150i Luxline. When I was younger, I would have been impressed by the high, 6 800rpm redline, assuming (incorrectly, I have learnt) that more revs always equals more power. The real value of an engine is in how much torque it makes... and how accessible that torque is.

On the Honda, there was not a lot in the way of torque and where it peaked was way up in the rev range – at about 4 400rpm. That meant that, if you wanted to go quickly, you had the thrash the car. That’s one of the inherent drawbacks of a small-capacity, naturally aspirated petrol engine.

The solution, as the bulk of car makers have discovered, is to put a turbocharger on to the engine to force in more air and, therefore, create more power. With modern turbos, you can get the power of a 2.5-litre out of a 1.5l. Not only that, but under low load and careful

Hthrottle, the smaller engine will be as economical as a naturally aspirated one.

Up to now, Honda has not put turbos on its mainstream cars (other than diesels, but they are a different, more complex and expensive, kettle of mechanical fish).

So, I was looking forward to the new Civic sedan, with a 1.5 turbo petrol motor, putting out a quoted 127kW.

I expected to be pleased with the effortless performance of the car – and I was. Despite having a Constant Velocity Transmission (CVT), the Honda gets up and goes with alacrity, if there is a slight hesitation while turbo lag and the