By Karl Peskett.
Funny how things get bigger over time. Humans are becoming taller on average. Our electronics are becoming larger, too. Just look at the size of the iPhone 11 compared with the first iteration. Our TVs are also increasing in size, with many people now mounting 75-inch screens on their walls.
Cars are growing as well. I remember an old friend of mine had an original Honda Civic, a 1974 model. It was so reliable she kept it going right up until she passed away a couple of years ago. The real reason it stood out, though, was because it was tiny. As a three-door hatchback, it was very squeezy, with many taller folk hilariously trying to bend themselves into and out of this little runabout.
Compared with the test car we’ve just finished with, the first Civic feels like a matchbox car. Consider some comparisons. The 1974 Honda Civic was 3.5m long. The 2019 Honda Civic Sedan is 4.6m long. The first Civic was 1.5m wide, while the new one is 1.8m. And the old car was 1.3m tall, while the current version is 1.4m high. As you can see, things get bigger over time. Consequently, the Civic may be labelled as a small sedan, but it’s really a medium. It’s only 20cm shorter than a Commodore.
The new Civic is more powerful, more fuel efficient, faster and most importantly, a lot safer. Honda now includes what it calls Honda Sensing on the turbocharged versions of the Civic – ours was a VTi-L, with a 1.5-litre turbo engine – which is the company’s name for its suite of active safety gear. So, you get autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane departure and lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, active cruise control, a camera to show you your blind spot when indicating left, blind spot monitoring for both sides and rear cross traffic alert.
Couple that with the swag of airbags, crumple zones and side impact bracing and the 2019 Civic scored a maximum of five stars in ANCAP testing.
Inside, you’ll find a redesigned interior that has a new infotainment screen that now features actual buttons for some of the functions such as home, phone, audio and a back button. It makes it far easier to keep your eyes on the road. Of course, there’s always smartphone mirroring and you can plug in a USB or an HDMI device as well.
The seats now get a chequered centre panel on both the seat squab and backrest, giving it a more sporty look. However, the cloth material does feel rather cheap, and the centre console armrest gets grubby very easily. We also found that resting your elbow on that panel tended to make it slide back and forth; it really needs to be able to lock into place.
We’re unsure about the golf-ball-like dimpled finish on the dash fascia, and likewise the multi-layered dashtop design is a bit excessive, however the materials are all of good quality and the whole cabin feels very solidly put together.
The back seats have an impressive amount of knee and footroom, and while the Civic isn’t the widest car out there, you can fit five full size adults without an issue. Helping this cause is the middle seat which may look like it’s been shaped to exclude a middle passenger, however the foam padding is soft enough to make that lump disappear.
The boot is also a good size, at 525 litres. Considering the current Commodore only has 490 litres, that’s very practical. And being a sedan, you get a separation of the cargo space and the cabin, so there’s a fraction less road noise.
It drives pretty well, too. While the Civic is never going to compete with its Type R sibling, the standard car is more than up to the task of the daily grind. The road noise is good, though on really coarse-chip surfaces it’s noticeable, but the 17-inch wheels do a good job of balancing road-holding with ride comfort. The suspension keeps it level when cornering on long sweepers, and the brakes do an excellent job of hauling everything up. Helping the handling here is the fact that the new Civic only weighs 1294kg. That’s probably why the engine may be a bit small, but has plenty of grunt to get it up and hustling.
With its four-cylinder turbo making 127kW and 220Nm, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but with one person on board it really feels like a six-cylinder with a 0-100kmh time of 8.4 seconds. The CVT gearbox isn’t too bad, either and at full-throttle it steps up like a regular auto. It’s almost as good as Subaru’s CVT, so we’ll give it a pass.
Oh, and the fuel economy is pretty good. It’s listed at 6L/100km on the combined cycle, but we found around 7.2L/100km was the going rate for everyday driving.
On the whole, there’s a lot to like about the new Civic sedan. It looks great, has a heap of space and has a lot of pep. Sure, the interior has a couple of black marks against it, but with a great stereo, small fuel tank (won’t cost you much to fill 47 litres every week or two) and comprehensive safety suite, the new Civic is priced well enough to take on the small car establishment. Just don’t tell anyone it’s a medium sedan – it’ll be our little secret.
