Honda civic 20016 LX, Manual. What happends if you engineer designed a product not a car?

I had high expectation when I started to drive my Accord 2002. After all Honda has a reputation. Civic is one the cars earned this reputation. It was 1991 may be early 92 when I saw 3 door civic for a first time. I did not lived under the rock, just in different country. This car looked slick, fast and practical. Over the time I actually drove one with 1.6 VITEC in 1999 and in a way it was a revelation. How such small engine can be so fun and how it different from stable, linear and boring Opels and Renaults . When I test drove 2014 and 2015 Civics 1.8 it was nothing to write home about. Rumor mill was filled with new civic news. It should be sharp, it should be best. Like I used to be! So I waited. One day I drove one.

In August 2016, I came for an oil change and rather unpleasant conversation with Halton Honda (Burlington ON) service department. They screwed  up my brakes, failed to deliver part in 4 months and on top of that simple off the shelf seal fell into “we don’t have you part you should come other day” explanation without any sorry this should not happened. It either service is not to the brand name or they strongly hinting: “We don’t want to deal with your car”. Conversation lead to nowhere with silence treatment of mistakes. I waited for an oil change and wondered around show room.

I spoke to sales manager about how good it will be to have Civic 5 dr with turbo and manual. According to sales manager it will be possible only in 2017 (correction it as October 2016 is available). Apparently dealership had Civic sedan, LX trim with manual. Even more, it was ready for test drive. I gave it a chance. After all I still have respect for Honda engineering. To be sincere, I already made my choice in new cars: it either Mazda 3 or VW golf with Golf leading the race. So you know my bench marks and preferences.

Civic interior is in same tune as last generation one. There are changes, especially around instrument cluster (old one was better) and infortaiment (old one was better with manual knobs!!!). From а side new Civic looks interesting, sharp, different and shows family resemblance to Accord Crosstour or common raccoon. I like how tail lamps work, I like sharp though too busy nose. Sides not the favorable spot, however some stamping makes them look like something going on and it actually is. Comparing to old one: there is nothing to compare. Old one was uninspiring and worthy competition to Corolla or industrial fridge. Fridge probably going to win on quality of materials and finish and come even on sportiness.

Seating position is good, nothing sticks out or out of reach. Seats seem to be ok for as long as test drive went. It hard to tell what will be in 300 km time. Blind spots, visibility was acceptable and nothing to complain about. Steering wheel felt plasticy but good. Manual gear shifter felt awesome!! It by far the best around. Short and distinctive shifts, nice knob and proper positioning, it is really nice to work it. Instrument cluster consists of central LCD screen with needle speed and semicircle bar rpms which resembles ones on motorcycles and I don’t like them nether on bike nor on car. It should be bigger. Side show is analog and actually boring one.

Infortaiment is touch screen only and I really missing the shut it off knob. You can do it from steering wheel, but in order to actually shut it down in case you driving at nigh and don’t want to glow in the dark, you need to press almost invisible button on top lest corner and than press few things on touch screen. Can’t do it without looking!

Not sure how it sounds, I just turned radio off as I started to drive. For me it was about driving. If Civic is nice to drive, I will check everything else .

So to start with clutch: it so light you can’t feel it. There is no information delivered about moment it engages. IT TOTALLY DIGITAL. Press button and than engage gear. By contrast with great gear box shifts it was devastating. Not like you can’t drive it. You can learn a short and easy curve and do it gently and with light press on the pedal. It probably will be nice in traffic jams.

Things not on the list is drivers experience and feedback.

Brakes were strong and engaged after slightest push on the pedal. Comparing to long action on clutch and accelerator it was uneasy thing. Breaks are good: just not set up properly. May be it just this car problem?

It was strange experience to operate clutch without any resistance, predicting engagement moment while operating sharp brakes with millimeter wide target opportunity window.

Let move to the good staff.

2.0 l engine is good. Not great, but good. In tandem with gear box it propels car in reasonable pace and was adequate in all stages of test drive. It lacks distinctive character of early Honda engines, but revs happily and fast. It way better than 1.8 in last generation.

Handling is great.  It is about as good as it gets in this class. It better than Golf’s by photo finish difference it almost as good as Mazda’s. Difference between Mazda and Honda lies in character. Honda is solid and will stand hard abuse to the limits you never expected, however car hinted about it. Body roll, cornering, grip all fall really short of excellent comparing to last generation Civic. Heck it better than Civic Si in my opinion. It behaves as mature capable companion. Mazda is more cat like: it soft touch but firm grip with more personality to handling. Also Mazda has more capable 2.0 engine. Mazda is playful.

For me the highlight of new Civic is handling! It is great. With manual gearbox I felt strange dissonance between fantastic gearbox and blunt clutch. My experience will be described by music analogy. Imagine quartet of musicians. Among these individuals you have one brilliant, one good and others … others make it sound not in tune.

New civic is better than old one, but that hardly the measure which should be applied here.  Old one was grey (with capital letters of someone who forgot about “caps on” on the keyboard). More interesting aluminum shade, not dull mate Corolla grey. But grey none the less. New one has color. It has taste. It just was not cooked by the chef.

Would I buy one? Probably not. I could not enjoy it the way I did with Mazda 3.

Also.

By the end of the day you will go to service it and this part is completely spoiled for me.