Honda Civic
It’s the only diesel in the Civic range. How does it shape up against its rivals?
MODELTESTED: Honda Civic 1.6 I-DTEC EX PRICE: £24,925 ENGINE: 1.6-litre 4cyl, 118bhp THE Honda Civic has only been available in turbo petrol form until now, so this 1.6 I-DTEC joins the line-up as the sole diesel option. However, it’s only available in certain trims, and the EX model we’re testing here is on the pricey side at £24,925.
Design & engineering
IT’S fair to say the Civic’s styling is divisive, because the angled lines and big rear mean the car is not as obviously slick as the Renault, or as well proportioned as the Astra.
Appearance is subjective, though, so what might matter more to you is the benefits under the five-door-only skin, because the Honda’s fairly large body offers plenty of practicality.
The platform was new for this car and while it retains its predecessor’s Macpherson strut front suspension layout, which is standard for this class, this 10th-generation Civic returned to a multi-link rear suspension design, which is more advanced than the set-ups on its two rivals here.
This EX car also gets adaptive suspension dampers as standard, which is part of the reason for the higher purchase price compared with its competitors in this test. Apart from EX trim, this 1.6 I-DTEC unit is also available in SE and SR spec, but not Sport, Sport Plus or Prestige, as with the petrol alternatives.
Material quality is good in the most part – but there are some tougher, shinier plastics in some areas – and you get features such as heated leather seats. Yet apart from this, there’s not too much more kit given the Civic costs £1,810 more than the Mégane and is £1,620 pricier than the Astra.
There’s a good level of safety technology, which is important with any family hatch, as well as parking sensors, a reversing camera, keyless entry and go, sat-nav, DAB, Apple Carplay and Android Auto.
Honda’s diesel unit has a 1.6-litre displacement and produces 118bhp and 300Nm of torque, splitting the less powerful Mégane and punchier Astra when it comes to power output. It drives the Civic’s front wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.
Driving
THIS performance disparity to the Vauxhall was obvious in our tests as the Civic trailed the Astra from 0-60mph by half a second, taking 9.2 seconds in total. It also wasn’t quite as flexible in gear, a result of giving away 20Nm of torque to the British hatch.
The Honda took 7.6 and 9.5 seconds to go from 50-70mph in fifth and sixth respectively. This was a significant 3.5 and 3.8 seconds up on the Renault, but lagged behind the Vauxhall by 1.7 and 2.0 seconds.
But the torque means performance is more than adequate, and if you do have to work the gearbox it’s no problem, as the six-speeder has one of the nicest manual shifts of any family hatch on the market.
This highlights how good the Civic is to drive; it’s the most rewarding of the three models here.
The steering is the sweetest, offering the most accuracy, while the damping keeps the chassis flat and level during cornering, so it matches this by serving up the most grip. Of course, this isn’t the be all and end all of a five-door car like this, but in the default setting the dampers deliver a plush feel and plenty of composure compared with the Renault, which offers similar comfort but not as much control.
You need to be travelling at higher speed and putting more energy through the dampersers to sense the change in the Sport mode, but they do provide a more stable platform at the slight expense of some comfort. The overridingg characteristic of the Civic’s chassis is of cohesionn and control, though, while refinement is also strong.
Only if you rev it hard does the diesel unit become really intrusive, unlike the Astra’s, whichhich grumbles a bit more. The Honda’s engine revs fairlyirly sweetly, too.
Practicality
WHILE the Civic might have lost its predecessor’s clever Magic Seats, a benefit of the Honda’s slightly awkward styling and more bloated body is that it deliverss lots of usable space. The 478-litre boot means it’s 108 litres larger than the Astra’s with the rear seatsats in place and 44 litres ahead of the Renault’s.
The sloping roofline ensures it doesn’t offer quite as much headroom as the Vauxhall, although legroom is a match for both of its competitors here.
While the cabin’s dash design might appear bulky at first, there’s space behind the gearlever and in a hidden recess behind the centre console that can come in useful for storing phones and wallets.
Ownership
HONDA’S mid-table 16th-place finish made it the best performer here in our Driver Power 2017 satisfaction survey’s makers’ chart. It’s not a great result, but it beat Renault and Vauxhall by six and seven places respectively. It’ll be interesting to see what changes when we publish our 2018 table in our next issue, on sale on 25 April.
The Civic has a decent level of standard safety tech. Six airbags, autonomous braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and blind spot warning helped it to a full five-star Euro NCAP crash test rating.
Running costs
THE Civic might be the priciest car here by some margin, but it’s also the cleanest, emitting 93g/km of CO2 which puts it in the 23 per cent Benefit-in-kind (BIK) company car tax bracket. The Mégane emits 101g/km and the Astra 103g/km; both sit in the 25 per cent BIK bracket.
It means that the Honda will actually be the cheapest car to run for business users. Lower-rate taxpayers will have to contribute £1,138 per year, while those running the Renault and the Vauxhall will have to find £1,145 and £1,154 respectively.