Honda Civic RS

Well look at you babe! – the 2020 Civic hatch RS will get you a lot of admiring glances and it combines form and function as well. By Cathy Parker.

Whilst the makeover is mild, the exciting news is the reintroduction of the RS model to the line-up, the RS comes with the Honda Sensing Safety and driver assistance package.

The advanced active safety consists of: lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control with low-speed follow, lane keep assist system, road departure mitigation, forward collision warning, collision mitigation braking system and high beam support system.

Starting on the outside, the Civic RS hatch looks gorgeous – it drew a number of admiring looks at basketball training, especially from some of the younger players.

We would describe it as swoopy with some mild aggression and enough bling to stand out without being overstated. We especially like the twin exhaust tail pipes that mount side by side at the rear centre.

The 18-inch alloy wheels fitted with 235/40 ZR18 95Y Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres also help the standout looks.

There is a downside to the good looks though, the long nose overhang with a chin spoiler means you need to exercise caution when parking front on into kerbs or entering steeper driveways. The other price to pay is relatively poor rear visibility with a smallish rear window and spoiler, plus a steeply sloping front bonnet.

Civic’s good looks continue inside with some very attractive which also sees very comfortable leather sports seats. These supply great support and the red stitching on the seats and steering wheel adds to the sporty overtones (the leather steering wheel with its thick rim is one of the better feeling tillers we have come across recently).

The multifunction screen layout is a bit messy, but Honda get top marks for their turning camera set-up – when you indicate a turn, you get a rearwards view from that side of the car on the screen – this should be standard in every car.

Leg room is excellent in the front and reasonable in the rear, whilst the load carrying is surprisingly good, given the steeply sloping rear hatch.

The RS Sensing is powered by the 1.5L DOHC VTEC turbo engine providing 127kw at 5,500 rpm and maximum torque of 220 Nm at 1,700- 5,500 rpm.

With direct injection, a low- inertia, mono- scroll turbo, electronic wastegate and dual Variable Valve Timing Control ( VTC), the breathing part of the engine provides good power which picks up strongly at higher engine speeds, making the RS a fun car to drive. The CVT gearbox is not that obtrusive and it has a mock seven-speed functionality.

The RS Sensing gets upgraded suspension, which – combined with the direct steering – gives excellent handling, albeit with a firmish ride.

As well as the RS, there is a SX grade hatch which gets the 1.8 VTEC engine but saves $9,000 ($ 32,990 vs $ 41,990 for the RS Sensing).

If you want to both look the part and have performance to back this up, the Civic hatch RS Sensing might be the car for you.