Honda Civic 1.8 SE

Author's product rating:   

Safety	Excellent
Comfort	Good
Road Handling	Excellent
Looks	Excellent
Features	Excellent

Advantages:	Genuinely Different .  Economical .  Spacious .  Very Well Equipped .  Great to Drive .  Feel Good Factor .
Disadvantages:	Visibility is Compromised .  Some Just Will Not Like it !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

WHAT IS IT?

It's a Honda Jim, but not as we know it……

……welcome, to the Star Ship Civic!

The Honda Civic, since launch back in the annals of history, ok I was 11 years old at the time, has consistently been one of the world's biggest selling cars. When originally launched it proved to be a phenomenal "from nothing" hit for the Japanese manufacturer, only at that stage renowned for motor bikes and cars with tiny 600cc engines.

Honda got it right first time with the Civic, peppy engines, neat contemporary, if rather Japanese, styling, and, as was the norm for far eastern cars - only Japanese then - it was far better equipped than its cheap and not so cheerful British competitors, such as the Austin Allegro. That car, you may remember, had no hatchback but a square steering wheel as novelty compensation.

The small "supermini" sized Honda Civic was a phenomenal success worldwide, and, during the thirty years that followed evolved very much in line with current trends - Honda played safe, gave their ageing customers what they expected and watched the profits roll in. That was until the end of 2005 when THIS broke cover.

In all honesty, seeing the press debut photographs of this car I was thinking that April Fools Day fell somewhere else in the Japanese calendar, Honda couldn't possibly be serious?

They were, and deadly so!

Mrs R and I just happened to be at Honda Chiswick on the Saturday that the new Civic was launched there. Those photographs were no lie, love it or hate it, this car has jaw dropping styling, both inside and out. Spending an hour sitting in, poking and prodding at it, I had come to the "showroom" conclusion that, beautifully well built as it is, the Civic just had to be compromised by that styling.

The evidence now tells me that Honda's styling was a risk worth taking. Just look at how many of these radically shaped new Civic models you are seeing on the road, less than a year after launch. Next month (October 2006) they are adding three door models to the range also.

Are Civics being bought for their obvious style, the Starship Enterprise interior, the Honda badge, or because they are a cracking good drive? Hopefully the review that follows may enlighten you - driving these cars certainly enlightened me!

WHICH SPECIFIC MODEL?

As the category says, I'm reviewing the (138bhp) 1.8 petrol ES here, although this is another two for the price of one review I am pleased to say. As a valuable comparison at the same time, I was also able to drive the (138bhp) 2.2 diesel, in top of the range EX trim, this car shares its now familiar engine with my very own Honda Accord. There is also, at the bottom of the range, a 1.4 petrol powered Civic.

With two cars of identical power output, fuelled by petrol and diesel, in a sense this review could be setting out to prove the worth of diesel over petrol - or vice-versa. In truth, as it turned out, there is far more to it than that, my conclusion was not what I expected it to be either.

IN WHAT CAPACITY AM I REVIEWING THIS CAR?

I am reviewing the new Honda Civic, in two different versions, primarily as a curious Honda Accord diesel owner and secondarily as my company's fleet manager.

The driving was carried out at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire - the occasion at which it took place being the annual Company Car in Action event, sponsored by the trade magazine of the same name.

Honda are expecting private buyers to take the petrol option, whilst company car drivers, such as myself, plump for the diesel.

Since launching their renowned 2.2 litre diesel engine, just over two years ago, Honda have made big inroads into the company, or "fleet" car market. Popular with drivers due to it having a very low 143 Co2 rating and at the same time being a peach to drive, it has also in my own experience proven to be 100% reliable and relatively inexpensive to maintain……

COSTS

Neither Civic model should cost a fortune to insure. The petrol Civic is in group 9, the diesel group 10, that is of 20 insurance groups in total. The petrol version has a Co2 rating of 152, the diesel 140. Choosing the diesel Civic in order to save money, even as a company car driver is going to be a bit of a false hope!

This is one of the most interesting areas of the diesel v petrol debate, up until very recently, nobody purchased a diesel powered car for its' superior driving characteristics. The choice of diesel was made purely for financial reasons.

In my case, the larger Accord, with this same diesel engine, over the last 60,000 miles has provided a "have my cake and eat it" satisfaction - it has saved me a fortune in tax, at the same time (in my opinion) providing a superior drive to its 2.0 petrol counterpart.

Why then test the petrol Civic at all? Read on and all will be revealed!

PURCHASE COST 8 / 10

No Civic is cheap to buy new. But then, it is a new design, it is trendy and the market is not (yet) awash with them, Honda can price the car strongly and afford not to offer you much in the way of a discount.

The basic 1.4 i-DSi S costs £12,950 on the road. With the 82bhp engine in this heavy and technology laden car, it could only be described as underpowered, certainly Honda did not let anyone test drive a 1.4 on the day!

The two cars that I drove were higher up the range, the 1.8 petrol was in i-VTEC ES trim, available at £15,650, whilst the 2.2i-CDTi was a totally equipped, top of the range, EX model retailing for £18,095.

Model for model there is a £1245 price difference in favour of the petrol engined car. Nobody could persuade me that it costs Honda over £1200 more to build a mass produced diesel engine!

The 1.8 petrol models therefore look something of a bargain.

THE OPTIONS GAME: 8 / 10 or "How much do I need to spend to make it habitable?"

In truth, all of the Civics are very "habitable" in standard trim. It is not hard to spend further cash on extras such as leather upholstery, although in both models driven here I did not see the need to.

There are curious differences in equipment between the two models, the EX, being the most expensive, you would expect to have the panoramic roof, this unusual feature is actually standard on the ES, only available as a £1200 linked option (with a leather interior) on the EX.

On all counts though both models are very well equipped.

DEPRECIATION 9 / 10 - Always the biggest running cost.

Another good solid score on this count. Hondas are not big depreciators and unless the Civics' radical shape ages badly it should be a safer bet financially than its mainstream competitors.

Expect a three year old, 30,000 mile £16,000 Civic to still be worth 58% of its original cost (£9280) - that compares to an Alfa 147 at 44% (£7040), an Audi A3 or BMW 116i, also 58%, a Ford Focus 39% (£6240). Even a £16,000 Mercedes A Class will be worth only 52% - or £8320 - of its original value after three years and 30,000 miles use.

According to my comparative figures - all thanks to Autocar magazine - the new Civic very much sits at the top of its class in terms of depreciation.

FUEL ECONOMY 7 / 10 Ahem. There are lies, damned lies and statistics…

…It is not that the Civic is a thirsty car, indeed the 1.8 litre petrol engine has in the hands of road testers been proven to be a very economical power unit, however Honda's claims for the diesel have also proven to be so optimistic as to be lies!

My own experience of this engine is that, in the Accord, you will be at least 12mpg overall short of the claimed average fuel consumption. I have read several "long term test" results in magazines backing this up - both in the Accord and even more so the smaller Civic. The reality appears to be that there is hardly any difference in fuel consumption between the two engines, expect about 38mpg on average for either - that's very good indeed for a swift 1.8 petrol, pretty disappointing for a lazy 2.2 diesel.

I am sorry to bore you all with this AGAIN, but I really do feel that something should be done about a manufacturer claiming their car to be 25% more economical than it is. Hondas published fuel consumption data really is grossly misleading.

SERVICE & MAINTENANCE COSTS 7 / 10: are you going to make the dealer rich?

My own experiences with Honda dealers - a diesel Civic has identical servicing requirements to my own car - are inclined to make me say here that Hondas are not the cheapest car to run as far as servicing is concerned.

Most Honda dealers (excepting my local one) are apparently excellent, certainly Honda Chiswick who handle my requirements have always offered exemplary servicing and customer care. Each time your Honda is serviced it will be valeted - supposedly for free, included in the service.

In practice I am paying around £40 to £50 more to service the Honda than I was the Vauxhall that went before it, that is a fairly expensive wash and vacuum!

Let the "fun" begin! You want to know what this car is like to live with and to drive and be driven in…….

THE EXTERIOR:

STYLING 8 / 10: A very subjective category here.

It is one of those designs that you will either love or hate. I happen to love it!

Full of interesting details, never seen before on a production car, the Civic is a car that I could never grow tired of looking at. Two of my favourite features are the triangular twin exhaust pipes set into the rear bumpers, and the easy to clean Perspex panel that runs the width of the front of the car.

OVERALL BUILD QUALITY AND FINISH 9 / 10 Does it look as though it was slung together?

If you have read my Accord review, you will know that I had some real issues with its build quality during my first months of ownership. It probably is not fair to say that I was gutted to see that the cheaper, smaller Civic is built to noticeably better standards than my own Japanese built Honda - but we should all be proud that a car of such quality can be produced in this country.

SAFETY 9 /10 If it comes to the worst, how well are you and your family going to come out of it.

Being a newly designed car, you expect to be, and are, supplied with all of the airbags currently available. ABS (anti-lock brakes) are a legal requirement on any car now, the Civic also has electronic brake assist and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) as well as VSA (vehicle safety assist). As they stand, all of those initials mean very little - in an emergency they are all designed to steer you out of trouble.

Sitting in, and indeed driving, this car, I have to say that Honda have built in a high degree of safety, you feel cocooned from the outside world, surrounded by a substantially well built car.

THE INTERIOR:

ERGONOMICS 6 / 10 Before I can start the engine and drive away I need to feel at home in the "working environment". The relationship between the controls and how I, the driver, am able to instinctively operate those controls is, all important. This for me is make or break, before I drive a car, if it does not instinctively "feel" right in this department then I will never like it or ultimately buy it.

Unlike the interior of my instantly more friendly (and conventional) Accord, the Civic's "Buck Rogers" dashboard is going to take some learning. The general layout is intrinsically good, there are however so many knobs and buttons, controlling many state of the art features, that the Civic is a car that benefits from an evening's reading of the handbook prior to driving for the first time.

The main controls fall naturally to hand and are light and have a well oiled precision feel to them. My favourite cars have a well matched fluidity to the operation of the clutch, brake accelerator and gear lever, the Civic is now among my favourites.

The driving position is good and the seats are very comfortable, front and rear.

VISIBILITY: 5 / 10

Woops! Here we find the compromise! The rear view - directly to the rear through the split level rear window, is on a clear day just about acceptable. However, Honda fit no wiper to the rear window of the Civic and I can only imagine this car being a real handful to reverse park in the rain.

Rear parking radar is an almost essential option, Honda also offer you the option (for £350) of a rear camera too. We played with this in Honda Chiswick's showroom and were impressed with its' usefulness - I have previously viewed such devices as a gimmick - on the Civic it is a near necessity!

Those members amongst you of smaller stature may well not like the new Civic, the reason being that the window line is high and gets higher towards the rear. Shorter drivers may well find this an intimidating car to drive around town. I did not have a problem with this, many of you may have.

Before deciding on the purchase of a new Honda Civic, I would recommend even more strongly than usual a full and varied test drive.

Due to the immense size of the windscreen, Honda has fitted excellent "clap-hands" windscreen wipers, which clear almost the entire screen area of rain.

SPACE: 9 / 10:

There is an amazing amount of room inside the new Civic, unusually it is overall (on the outside) smaller than the model that it replaces. Inside there is little reduction in space when compared to my much larger Accord Saloon.

The boot is huge, even bigger than it looks when you open the tailgate - some owners have yet to discover that it actually has a false floor in there with a near boot size space beneath it.

STYLE 7 / 10:

Here we go again, you're either going to love it or……..

This car is so totally different to anything else on the market inside, that for me, its interior styling would be a major factor in my decision to purchase it. References to Starship Enterprise are inevitable, so many digital luminous read outs - what Honda describe as a "dual zone" dashboard layout, which flows into the door panels, yes indeed the new Civic certainly offers something way, way out of the norm here.

MATERIALS, FIT & FINISH 9 / 10: Aspreys or Ratners?

Model for model, the Civic is around £2500 less expensive than the Accord. Imagine my surprise then to discover that, even in the cheapest Civic versions, the materials used and the general fit and finish are of a higher standard than in my own top of the range Accord!

AUDIO & CLIMATE CONTROL SYSTEMS 8 / 10: Strange grouping?

You are not going to be able to operate these "instinctively" without instruction from a salesman (in our case) or studying the huge Honda Instruction Manual. The controls are part of the extraordinary dashboard styling, the functions that they do operate however are top-notch in this class of car though.

The top of the range EX models equipment level stretches to standard satellite navigation which shares its large central display screen with the audio display (and reverse park camera - if fitted). Importantly "voice command" function is also included, along with an integrated Bluetooth phone system. This, once you acclimatise to it, shortcuts all of the secondary controls - you do not need to touch the radio or heater buttons, just tell the civic that you want the interior at twenty degrees and the radio volume to be louder!

ON THE ROAD……..

……Time to start it up and to offer you a driving assessment.

NOISE, VIBRATION & HARSHNESS 7 / 10 Silk purse or sow's ear?

(It starts by pressing a red "START" button, just in case you think there's a malfunction!)

Now a confession. I would previously never have bought a petrol powered Honda; I am simply not a fan of their high revving VTEC engines. I am a Honda owner only due to the superb 2.2 diesel engine.

HOWEVER, in the Civic, I had a really hard time making a decision as to which I preferred. The diesel is definitely less refined in this car, the petrol engine, whilst requiring far more gear-changing, is undoubtedly the smoother, quieter and more refined power unit.

I would not describe the diesel as sow's ear here, but on balance the petrol wins the NVH competition and suits the Civics looks and character rather better.

PERFORMANCE 9 / 10 Sh*t off a shovel or a constipated tortoise?

Another oddity here. The driving styles may be different, but in pure performance terms the results are incredibly similar. If you do a lot of motorway driving, then the huge amount of extra torque (flexibility) produced by the diesel would probably be an asset. Otherwise the 1.8 petrol is a very good all round performer. This is the first petrol engined Honda that I would actually seriously consider buying.

RIDE & HANDLING 8 / 10

Here was my biggest surprise of all! I have read much in the press about this car, from way back before it was launched. Word had filtered out that Honda had dropped their much famed multi-link independent rear suspension, in favour of a much simpler, smaller, lighter and cheaper to build torsion beam set up. They took a lot of stick over this, the press condemning the car before they had even driven it!

Personally I have always preferred to trust my own judgement over the way a car drives - neither am I a technical specification snob. As an engineer, I look for the simplest, cheapest and most space efficient solution to a problem - providing it works of course! That, when you drive the new Civic, is exactly what Honda have achieved.

It is not the smoothest riding car that I have ever driven, however the ride is well damped and certainly well up to the class average. The handling on the other hand is well above it, this is a car that if you are in the mood, you will have fun in driving quickly down a twisty country road.

CONCLUSION - Would I buy one myself and would we want to drive it to Poland in a day?

Yes, either privately, or as a company car, I would have no hesitation in choosing a Honda Civic. Amazingly, having said that I am unlikely ever to own another petrol engined car - thanks to Honda's own superb 2.2 diesel engine in my Accord, here in the Civic I am going to recommend, and would buy myself, the 1.8 petrol version!

The Honda Civic genuinely drives every bit as well as it looks, is spacious, relaxing to drive and has that very genuine "I want one" factor. If only Honda had managed to inject some of the panache into the more expensive and really less desirable Accord!

Yes, we could happily drive a 1.8i VTEC SE Civic to Poland in a day - although for that particular journey the diesel would be the rather more economical choice.

FINAL SCORE: 133 / 170 - 78.2%

Only the compromised visibility stopped the new Honda Civic from walking away with the honours here.

Putting that score into perspective are the following cars based on identical scoring criteria:

ALFA ROMEO 147 1.9JTD Lusso (5 Dr) - 67.8%
HONDA ACCORD i-CTDi Saloon - 80.0%
HONDA CIVIC 1.8i VTEC SE - 78.2%
HONDA JAZZ 1.4 SE CVT-7 (Automatic) - 74.7%
SAAB 9-3 TiD Vector - 68.2%
VAUXHALL ASTRA TWINTOP 1.9 CDTi DESIGN - 78.8%
VAUXHALL MONARO VXR - 71.1%
VOLVO S60 D5 SE - 70.6%