Sophisticated Honda Civic in league of its own

There are not many compact saloons on the market right now — certainly not outside the premium segment where the likes of the Audi A3 and Mercedes CLA offer options. The choices are limited, primarily because this is a market segment which appears to have withered on the vine in the face of an ongoing SUV/crossover onslaught.

Sat, 20 Oct, 2018 - 01:00

By Declan Colley

This week’s tester, the Honda Civic ‘Sedan’, as the manufacturer likes to call it — perhaps in deference to its large US audience — is one of only a few non-premium compact saloons out there.

In fact, I think (but am open to correction on this one) the only other candidates of this ilk you can buy right now are the Mazda 3 saloon, the VW Jetta, and VW group twins, the Skoda Rapid and the Seat Toledo.

A reasonable indicator of the death of the affordable compact saloon came recently when Ford announced its new Focus line-up — with no four-door option available. When a company the size of the Blue Oval decides niche sales numbers are no longer good enough to warrant the making of such a car, it would appear the writing is on the wall for the genre.

When even the new Corolla saloon, which is due to land here next year, will be sold mainly as a hybrid — Toyota expects 90% of sales will be in that format — it tells you something is amiss in the world.

Honda — which has never really been a company to conform entirely to industry norms — is bucking the trend and the Irish arm of the company is really quite bullish about the Civic saloon.

After driving the thing, I can certainly see why, as this is a very polished performer indeed.

But Honda is not only ploughing its own furrow with regard to making a saloon car, it is also going against the grain by offering a diesel powerplant as one of only two engine choices. They do like to do things their own way, these Honda guys.

Part of that Honda uniqueness is expressed in the look of the new Civic — in whatever format it comes. The new hatchback has proved to be a divisive thing and it is a very ‘Marmite’ sort of a car; people either love it or hate it.

Personally I quite like it, for the simple reason that it tries very hard — and largely succeeds — to be different and while the designers appear to have gone out of their way to build more angularity than should rightly be seen on a car into the Civic’s look, they have (whether you like it or not) made it very distinctive.

The saloon is a stand-out job as well in the looks department. While it has a definite visual relationship with its sibling, a closer look illustrates individual quirks. The roofline is more curved and the rear end is quite different too, surprise, surprise.

On the engine front, there is a choice of a three-pot one-cylinder petrol engine or, as we tried, the 1.6 litre i-DTEC turbodiesel. Both are front-wheel drive and are available with the choice of a six-speed manual gearbox or, in the case of the diesel, a nine-speed auto and in the petrol a CVT system.

I would suggest that, in the interest of a better driving experience — and your ability to extract the maximum from the engines — there is no need to look further than the six-speed manual.

The diesel might seem to be a tad on the puny side, offering a mere 118 bhp, but it will still clock up the dash to 100km/h from a standing start in a decent enough 9.9 seconds and has a top speed of 205km/h. It will also return a near-startling fuel consumption figure of 3.5 l/100km (bang on 80 mpg) while emitting just 94 g/km for an A2 tax band rating and an annual tax bill of €180.

It is a quiet engine to drive and live with, but it also has a nice bit of life about it when asked a question or two and while it will not shatter any land speed records, it is a decent and workmanlike proposition with the likely and welcome prospect of being largely bombproof mechanically.

Dealing with urban drudgery is not bother for this thing, but it does like to take the country air as well and you will find it to be a very accommodating and comfortable motorway companion, particularly as it comes as standard with adaptive and intelligent cruise control, a batter of safety systems including lane departure warning, and a heap of collision avoidance systems.

It is worth noting that the Civic is pretty loaded when it comes to specification. In the premium grade we tried, it is interesting to see how the evolution of the small car has reached a point whereby it comes kitted out with the sort of stuff which, until very recently, was only available on seriously premium cars.

Look at the inventive and very appealing dashboard computer graphics, for example, or the advanced satnav, the traffic sign recognition system, the auto wipers, and a whole host of other stuff like the leather upholstery (with leather steering wheel and gear knob) and the 10-speaker premium audio system — you will come away very

impressed.

On the road, the saloon has been tweaked slightly, in comparison with the hatch, and has recalibrated steering to cope with its increased bulk.

That being so, the feel you get from this Civic is one of a larger car and you also get the impression that the chassis could cope with a lot more power and also deal comfortably with any road surface you could throw at it. The overall feeling is that it is very sophisticated for what it is.

It is also very comfortable and practical with plenty of head and leg room for driver and passengers and a seriously big boot as well.

The price tag might seem a little OTT for what is essentially a small car, but the Honda is a small car wrapped up in big-car clothes and what’s on offer for the money will make you think again.

A very decent buying prospect then, and one which a very appealing option in a much diminished field of opposition.

It might be that the saloon genre as a whole is taking a severe beating from the SUV hoards, but Honda illustrates clearly here that there’s life in this particular dog yet.