Closer look at the 2017 Honda Civic

This is the new Honda Civic, it’s now lower, wider, longer, designed to be a little more premium than before. This is all done to convince you not to buy a Volkswagen Golf but a Honda Civic instead.

You can tell Honda are trying to make the Civic feel more upmarket inside because gone is the old hap hazard arrangement and it has been replaced with something that’s far more ordered. Take the dials for instance, now in the old car they are on a split level dashboard but now they are right in front of the driver like you would find in any other normal hatchback. They are quite smart too, every car has a TFT display and it looks really quite good. And whilst the plastics aren’t as squidgy as you’ll find on a Volkswagen Golf everything does feel very well screwed together and it’s a lot plusher than the old Civic. The infotainment screen is new too, it’s a lot better than the old Civic but it does have a few problems which I’ll mention a little later. The Civic is well catered for storage, whilst the door bins don’t pass the water bottle test, the central cubby has a couple of cup holders which can be arranged to fit a 1.5 litre bottle of water and the glove box is of a decent size too. Elsewhere there is a useful space ahead of the gear lever and behind the dash there is an area to charge your phone.



Meanwhile you can choose 7 versions which is around 2 too many. The EX car is a little too pricey but it gets adaptive dampeners, leather, rear cross traffic alert and you can optionally get wireless phone charging. But it’s the safety kit that’s impressive. All cars get a vast array of the standard kit including traffic sign recognition, lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control that will take control of your car stopping and moving off. With the Civic now having larger dimensions it means there’s more space inside. In the back you realise the Civic isn’t particularly well thought out. Whilst I can’t complain about knee room, I mean there is plenty of it but if I sit upright my head actually hits the top of the roof. If you are over 6 foot you are really going to struggle in the back. Now you can fit 3 people at a push, if someone sits in the middle they will have enough head room. They won’t have much shoulder room but for shorter journeys it’s fine. There is an arm rest in the back which is quite good with a couple of cup holders, and there are Isofix points in both outer seats but this new Civic doesn’t have what we call magic seats. Now the old Civic did and it’s quite a clever system. It meant that the seat bases could fold upwards allowing you to load large items like bikes and other large items but this Civic doesn’t have it which is a bit of a shame really.



The Civic has an enormous boot, it’s only beaten by the Skoda Octavia for outright volume and once you’ve lifted the tailgate you see the opening is square and very wide. Honda has also developed a new type of parcel shelf, yes those clever Japanese. Instead of lumbering with a great big piece of cardboard there is just a roller blind which you lift up and it collapses. It’s easy to remove as well, just one click and out it pops. Quite what you do with it once it’s removed I’m not sure but it’s quite an interesting concept and quite novel you have to admit. Now if you go for the EX model and above you get some extra storage with a removable boot floor but that’s really where the good points stop because when you fold down the rear seats which is perfectly easy to do with a couple of clips on top of the seats, you’ll see that there is an enormous hump in the floor which makes loading suitcases a little difficult. I am just knit picking a little bit mind you as boot space in this car is absolutely vast.



There’s a small range of engines in the Civic there’s the 1 litre turbo petrol with 127bhp and the new 180bhp 1.5litre turbo petrol. Arriving later will be a 1.6litre diesel and a 2 litre turbo petrol with 160bhp but that’s reserved for the hot Type-R version. We drove the 1 litre turbo petrol and it’s a really good fit in the Civic. It’s really energetic. It feels and sounds very similar to Ford’s 3 cylinder eco boost but it doesn’t feel as lively as the Ford engine. That’s largely because the rev limiter is 5,500 rpm and that’s a bit of a shame you can’t really rev this engine out. It’s also not as smooth as VW’s 1 litre TSI because you do get quite a lot of vibrations coming through the pedals. Really I’m just being fussy because it’s a good strong engine for the Civic. It’s also nicely matched to the 6 speed manual gear box and it is so precise it’s one of the nicest gear boxes currently in production. Now you can choose the Civic with a CVT gearbox but in all honesty it behaves much like a normal CVT and that’s not very well. Along with the brilliant manual gear box the Civic is actually a fun car to drive. Honda has fitted it with torque vectoring which keeps it fixed on its cornering line and there’s a new multi- link independent rear suspension so it rides and goes round corners better. And whilst the steering is a little lifeless it’s quick and accurate enough. The Civic also rides quite well and it’s hushed and comfortable when cruising.



Bad points well let’s start off with visibility. Now in the old Civic it was particularly dreadful but in this one it’s a little bit better but it’s still not great. You still have a bar that goes over the back of the windscreen and with the windscreen wiper mounted on it means that when you actually look in your rear view mirror that’s all you look at. Front visibility is fine until you look down in the bottom right hand corner. With the large A Pillar and the absolutely enormous door mirror it does create a bit of a blind spot which is particularly bad when you’re trying to negotiate out of a junction.

Secondly is the infotainment system, now like I said before it’s a lot better than in the old Civic but it’s still not that good. There are too many sub menus and there are far too many buttons to actually negotiate. It’s in stark contrast to the simplicity of the systems that you get in the VW Golf and the Vauxhall Astra. It’s just unnecessarily uncomplicated at times.

Lastly, it’s the styling. While looks are always subjective, the Honda Civic is a difficult car to warm to what with its angles and fussy lines and bits of plastic that serve no use whatsoever. But there is no doubting the Civic is a big step on from the old car. While it may not have the inoffensive looks of a Golf or an Astra it’s well made, different and good to drive. Discover our new range of new and used Honda Civic cars for sale on DesperateSeller.co.uk.