2016 Honda Civic
It’s been more than three decades since I took driver’s ed in a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback. In the intervening years, every segment of the car market has grown progressively larger, heavier and more powerful in response to tougher safety regulations and expanding customers. Last fall, Honda launched the ninth-generation Civic on an all-new global platform that was deemed worthy of being awarded the 2016 North American Car of the Year. After a short but impressive drive last fall, I recently got to spend a longer period of time living with the new Civic.
By the time I learned how to operate a clutch and manual gear shift in that old Civic, it was mid-way into its second-generation. At a mere 148-inches long, the three-door was nearly three feet shorter than the latest sedan that comprises the bulk of sales. While the new Civic sits in the heart of the current compact car segment, three decades ago, this would have been considered a mid-sized sedan or more based on its voluminous interior.
2016 Honda Civic
At best, the past couple of Civic generations were generally considered bland both in design and driving dynamics by most critics although they did continue to sell very well. This time around, the Honda designers and engineers sought to give the Civic its mojo back and to a large degree they have succeeded.
In line with the current fashion, the Civic sedan has a fastback profile that sweeps back in one continuous curve from the base of the windshield to the trailing edge of the trunk. As Honda explained when they first showed off the Civic last summer, the base of the windshield has been been moved back compared to the last two generations providing a more distinct break from the hood and a more premium and muscular appearance.
2016 Honda Civic
The flanks that have been sculpted with some character lines that give the Civic more of a sense of athleticism without looking overwrought. While I like the sedan and also the two-door coupe, I’m actually really looking forward to the return of the five-door Civic hatchback this fall. The added utility of the big rear opening largely makes up for the lack of a station wagon which is the preferred body style in our household. Despite the limited opening of the sedan’s trunklid, the 15.1 cubic feet of cargo space is impressive for this class of vehicle.
2016 Honda Civic
Inside, the cabin materials have received a significant upgrade and the two-tiered instrument cluster has finally been banished in favor of a more traditional design. The front seats in typical Honda fashion are excellent with a great combination of comfort and lateral support. Even the back seat is roomy enough for three adults if they aren’t too broad-shouldered. The Civic sedan is offered in five trim combinations, LX, EX, EX-T, EX-L and Touring with my tester being the latter.
2016 Honda Civic
My only real complaint with the interior is the control layout of optional touchscreen audio system. Like other recent Hondas, this one has a capacitive touchscreen like modern phones and tablets and that includes the volume control on the left edge. The rotary knobs for the dual-zone climate control sit directly below the screen right where you might expect volume and tuning knobs to be and I repeatedly turned up the temperature when I intended to turn up the volume. The touch volume control has never worked particularly well on this or other Honda applications.
Fortunately the Civic does have a physical volume control on the left steering wheel spoke and even this has multiple ways to use it. You can tap the top or bottom to use it as a rocker control as most cars do or swipe your thumb across it to turn the sound up or down. Given the physical nature of the rocker, the swipe control seem redundant and on more than one occasion resulted in an unplanned volume change. Overall this is a minor quibble though. One element I really appreciated from the driver’s seat of this car was the A-pillars which are surprisingly slim by modern standards, providing excellent visibility.
2016 Honda Civic
On the plus side, all Civics with a touchscreen audio system (that is all but the base LX trim) include support for Android Auto and Apple Carplay. In general it works the same as it does in systems from other automakers, but the Civic has one important added feature. When using the built-in navigation system on most new vehicles, prompts for when to turn are echoed on the digital display in the instrument cluster.
When I’ve used Android Auto in Ford, Hyundai, Kia and GM products the navigation info only shows on the main display, not the instrument cluster. Honda has added this capability so that prompts from Google Maps (I didn’t try Apple Maps, but I assume that works as well) appear in the cluster just like the built-in system, a very handy feature. The touchscreen display itself is also excellent with good contrast and bright colors and none of the distortion through polarized sunglasses that plagued the Prius screen.
2016 Honda Civic
I’ve always like Honda engines with their smooth demeanor and power delivery. But I’m also a fan of low-end torque and the driveability it provides, especially around town. This is an area where despite their VTEC variable valve lift system, Honda engines have often lacked. The new Civic changes that with its optional 1.5-liter direct-injected turbo four-cylinder. With 174-horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,700 to 5,500 rpm, this is a sweet engine with a very pleasant sound.
The 1.5-liter is available exclusively with a Honda-designed continuously variable transmission (for now at least, rumor has it a manual gearbox may be added in 2017). While Honda has reworked the controls to get rid of some of the motor-boating of its previous CVTs, Nissan still does a better job with its D-step system. Nonetheless, the Civic offered more than adequate performance around town and on the highway. While an Si sedan (or better yet a Type-R) would be nice, most typical drivers will still have plenty of fun with this one.
2016 Honda Civic
For the first time, the Civic is available with the Honda Sensing package of driver assist systems and it can be added to any trim level including the LX. The package includes radar-based adaptive cruise control with forward collision warning and collision mitigation braking. You also get a camera-based lane-keeping assist system that provides minor steering corrections to help prevent drifting when driving on the highway.
I actually drove two different Civics during my test period. The first had some electronic gremlins that prevented lanes from being detected and kept the tire pressure warning on continuously even though the tires were correctly inflated. After trading for another car, everything worked fine although the lane keeping didn’t seem quite as capable as that on the Hyundai Elantra I recently drove. Unlike the Elantra which disengaged its cruise control when the vehicle got down to about 5 mph, the Civic has full stop and go capability making it handy when driving in traffic. However, it did seem to wait longer and then brake harder than the Hyundai which had smoother control.
2016 Honda Civic
Honda also includes its lane watch system with a cameron on the underside of the passenger mirror to give you a better blind spot view when changing lanes to the right or turning. While this system is handy enough, I’d rather have a radar based blind-spot monitor that also includes cross-traffic alert for those times when I’m backing out of a parking spot at the mall.
Fuel efficiency has always been a staple of the Civic and that continues for 2016. The combination of improvements to the gas engines and slow sales of the hybrid and natural gas editions has led to the cancellation of the latter two this year. The 1.5-liter turbo gets EPA ratings of 31 mpg city, 42 mpg highway and 35 mpg combined. In my combination of driving around town and a couple of runs to Detroit, I saw 36 mpg overall which is fully competitive with the current compact competition.
The Honda Sensing package is priced at just $1,000 on all but the top Touring trim which includes it as standard. The base Civic LX with a slick shifting six-speed manual gearbox starts at $18,640 with the CVT adding another $1,000. The Touring models I tested go for $27,335 including the $835 delivery charge. Unlike the extremely basic and small Civic I learned to drive in all those years ago, today’s edition is a sophisticated sedan with ample room for four adults (five if they are slim) and plenty of cargo in the trunk. Personally, I’m waiting to take a look at the five-door hatch this fall as a potential replacement for our exhaust-cheating Jetta wagon, but if you prefer the slick-backed look of this sedan, don’t hesitate to try it out.
Click here for full specifications of the 2016 Honda Civic
