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First drive review: Honda Civic Sport

Friday, 10 December 2021

We only get the one Civic for 2021 - the Hatch Sport.
Honda is only offering one Civic in New Zealand – the Hatch in Sport trim.
Honda is only offering one Civic in New Zealand – the Hatch in Sport trim.
The rear end looks a little Kia Stinger-like, doesn’t it?
The rear end looks a little Kia Stinger-like, doesn’t it?

The eleventh-generation Honda Civic has landed, and we managed to get the keys for a quick early drive. Is the sole Civic offering in New Zealand the new sub-$50k hero?

Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?

Honda has refined and matured the design of the Civic, especially compared to the Transformer-like tenth-generation. New Zealand is getting just one version, the high-spec Sport, which gets a lot of options as standard, which I’ll get into shortly.

**READ MORE:

* Honda reveals new Civic Hatchback

The interior is a big step up from the old model, with those new vents one of the highlights.
The interior is a big step up from the old model, with those new vents one of the highlights.

* Five Things: Fun cars at a reasonable price

* Sunday Drive: Honda Civic Type R Mugen Equipped

* Road test review: Honda Civic RS Sport Sensing hatch

It might look like an interesting shade of blue, but the paint is actually greyer in the metal. It has some green iridescent finish to it though, which makes it look quite good.
It might look like an interesting shade of blue, but the paint is actually greyer in the metal. It has some green iridescent finish to it though, which makes it look quite good.

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The new hatchback has a slimmer front end, with narrower headlights and grilles compared to last generation, and a sloping roofline that meets a small lip spoiler. A full-width LED light bar connects the two taillights, similar to the Kia Stinger (RIP).

Air vents are an odd thing to focus on but these genuinely work really well. You can actually point them at your face.
Air vents are an odd thing to focus on but these genuinely work really well. You can actually point them at your face.

Honda has built the rear hatchback out of a new lightweight composite, which reveals an opening 40mm wider than before, and a maximum of 693 litres of cargo space when measuring up to the roof.

Inside is a new 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto and satellite navigation, and a physical volume knob. Behind the wheel is a 10.2-inch display, the largest yet for a Civic, combining a digital rev counter and a physical speedo. It looks quite similar to Mazda’s dash, with some Honda additions.

The Civic does look rather fantastic in Crystal Red as well.
The Civic does look rather fantastic in Crystal Red as well.

A new honeycomb grille pattern stretches across the dash and hides the air vents, while Honda has included its new anti-fatigue leather-accented and heated seats, wireless phone charging, and a 12-speaker premium Bose sound system as standard.

Those new vents are great for one main reason – the vent direction control stalk means you can easily figure out where the air is blowing. No more spending hours trying to get the air conditioning to reach your face.

As is the norm these days, about a hundred different active safety systems are included, like autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, traffic-jam assist, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and low-speed reverse AEB. Honda says that reverse AEB helps prevent “sudden retreat due to carelessness”.

Meanwhile, under the bonnet is the same 1.5-litre turbo engine as before, now making 131kW/240Nm, up by 4kW/20Nm on last gen. It’s paired with another CVT, which gets paddle shifters if you want to pretend it’s a normal automatic. Three drive modes are available, Sport, Normal and Eco.

Where did you drive it?

Honda offered the Civic to us for just a day, so I picked our usual Auckland backroads for a quick test.

The new model uses a reworked version of the older chassis, with a 19 per cent improvement in torsional rigidity. It also has better ride, handling and refinement as well as reductions in noise, vibrations and harshness thanks to Macpherson struts up front and multi-link suspension at the rear.

After a day of driving, it has to be said that those changes have definitely been improved. The revised chassis is very good through corners, holding the line well with minimal body roll thanks to slightly wider rear track and longer wheelbase. The brakes are brilliant too. Honda’s seats are nicely supportive, and the steering is sharp, although the suspension could be tuned a bit better, and the tyres could do with an upgrade.

Apparently, the suspension and steering were developed in Europe and fine-tuned for North America, and while that might make it sound like the suspension is too soft, I found it to actually be a little firm.

There aren’t any adaptive dampers or anything here, so Sport mode only alters the transmission behaviour, and a few bumps do transmit into the cabin as a result, more noticeable at city speeds. Though, to be fair, this could be Honda living up to the ‘Sport’ suffix of the Civic, and it is appropriately great to drive harder. It’s also a good indication the new Type R will be a seriously fast car.

The weakest link of the Civic is, once again, that transmission. Honda has worked on it to improve the simulated gear changes, dropping faster under braking and holding ratios longer under acceleration, but it’s not quite on the same level as something like the Volkswagen Groups’ latest DSG. I’m thinking mainly of the Seat Leon here, which is only available as a wagon for $44,900.

It is good for fuel efficiency though, keeping the Civic at below 9L/100km under normal urban driving.

It’s a bit of a shame, because the engine is still a peach. Honda has given the exhaust valves VTEC this time around (no, it doesn’t make the noise) and the extra output is appreciated. The Acura Integra gets the same engine with a manual transmission (and potentially more power), so hopefully Honda New Zealand will be able to bring it here. But probably not, considering it’s an American model, and we don’t get any other Acuras here.

What stands out the most?

Off the bat, it was the level of kit included for the price. That Bose audio system is great, as are the seats for both comfort and support, and the general fit and finish. But looking deeper, it’s the chassis. Like I said, the suspension may be a tad firm for the bumpy Kiwi roads, but it’s brilliant when pushed hard.

Why would I buy it?

You want a hatchback with Honda reliability that doesn’t break the $50k mark but also don’t want to feel like you’re sacrificing much to get there.

Why wouldn’t I buy it?

You don’t like CVTs or simply prefer German-born machinery. Or wagons.