PERFECT 10
The Honda Civic may be Generation X but it has certainly lost none of its spark
While the Honda Civic Type R is definitely one for the boy or girl racers, its humbler brother, the Civic, is no slouch either.
I was thinking this as I drove along the roads of Bonnyrigg, Newtongrange, Temple and Penicuik in Midlothian.
Picking roads right and left as the notion took me, I found some incredible places to drive – just down from Edinburgh.
But they were perfect to test out the capability of this new Honda Civic in Sport Plus trim with the 1.5-litre VTEC Turbo engine under the bonnet.
It is a great looking car if you want something different.
Very sporty, it really bridges the gap between high performance you probably cannot afford and everyday driving.
It has air intakes front and rear, a shark fin antenna on the roof and that big signature spoiler which is all Honda.
It sits on 17in alloys and this latest version is lighter, stiffer and sportier than the previous iteration, which is reflected in the handling once you get on to the road.
Put together in Swindon, it has been designed and engineered as a global car, particularly suited to the fussy European market. Hond a a dmi t that their staff have spent longer developing this car than any other. It shows. Inside it has a premium feel and the Sport Plus trim gives you heated front seats, wireless charging, a sunroof, blind spot monitoring and cross traffic monitor. It also adds an adaptive damper system to Honda’s Agile Handling Assist which comes on all models but that means you get a responsive car that really performs when you push it. The basic version is no skinny model itself. That comes with the sports garnish front, rear and sides, brake hold, sat nav, Bluetooth, Apple Carplay or Android Auto, DAB radio app integration and internet browsing, auto lights and wipers, a rear parking camera and much more.
The cabin is very driver centred with the small sporty gearstick and heated front seats low slung within the car.
The infotainment system is surrounded by a lot of piano black gloss and the switches and dials are kept to a minimum. The instrument binnacle is deep set and – in this case – the background is red but easy to read with the sat nav replicated on the central panel, making for a safer drive.
The Civic automatically defaulted, I noticed, to the ECON mode but the moment I took this off, the car took off.
From being well mannered and gentle on the road, it became a fiend. It swept along roads, took corners with agi lity and nerve, and embraced hairpins. A car for all seasons.
This is the 10th generation Honda Civic – yes, it’s been that long since this little car first hit our roads – but there is little doubt that their care and attention to this 2017 version has paid dividends. The order books will be bulging.