This week on The Drivetime Road Test we get to spend some time in an old favorite that still has it! The Honda Civic. This driver favorite has fought off the competition and shines as one of the best mid twenty thousand dollar range cars out there!
After a shaky redesign a couple of years ago, to their credit, Honda listened to their customers who didn’t like what was sitting on showroom floors and went back to the drawing board. The result… well let’s go through it.
Walking around the Civic you notice an opened up front end with open mouth grille, sculpted lines, haunched wheel wells, a raked long front, short deck look that comes off as attractive without being gaudy. Visibility is excellent all around, entering and exiting the Civic is relatively easy with ample door openings for a car this size. A few design tricks give the rear of the Civic a much wider look than it actually measures. The design also takes away some of the Honda blandness that can sometimes creep into the carmakers more recent designs. It is a very attractive vehicle. The trunk also gives you a wide opening with the lid up and plenty of room. The wheel package on this edition of the Civic actually gave the car a most attractive look and worked perfectly with the lines of the car.
The Honda interior is better than I expected. I had heard stories of stark expanses of grey plastic but when I got behind the wheel warm dark soft touch surfaces awaited me with four video screens that told me just about everything I need to know about the car…even how my foot was doing on the gas pedal by changing color alongside the speedometer. Seats were comfortable and supportive and rear legroom was better than average for the class with the seats in a middle position. Lots of high tech, most of it functional and easily deciphered. The navigation system was a bit hard to use logically but pairing a phone was easy as bing, bang, boom. I also love Honda’s blind spot camera...Honda Lane Watch…which shows you on a camera what is in your blind spot and gives you indication of when you can safely change lanes. It is something hopefully you will see on every car in the future!
Actually the only thing I didn’t like was the placement of the engine start and four way flasher buttons. The start button being located so far up behind the steering wheel while the hazard was right in the place where one would expect the start button. I turned the flashers on more than a few times while trying to start the car!
