I was on leave today and have been thinking how to kill boredom. At around 10AM I called up Whitefield Honda and asked for two test drive appointments - for Civic and ANHC respectively. I wanted to share the test driving experience of the Civic first mainly because:
I did the Corolla Altis test drive(read my Altis review titled'The most practical option in the C+ segment') was hardly two days back and I wanted to compare them here without forgetting what I have in mind.
There is nothing really great to talk about ANHC(trying to trigger a controversy here as a precursor to the ANHC review) except for what has been repeated 100 times.
Now let me try to be different with this review. I will try to be short(I have a habit of going on and on when I write or blog)
The car
The test drive vehicle that I got was a 1.8 S MT that had done 30, 600kms. Just to remind you, since last month Honda Civic is available in three variants in manual transmission+ an auto transmission version and a sports version as well. Basically Civic 1.8E MT competes with Altis 1.8J, 1.8S(relaunched) with 1.8G and 1.8V with 1.8GL. Corolla, has come up with a sports version recently, but it's not anything closer to what we all consider'sporty'.
The driving experience
The first thing I noticed while getting into the car was the rather low seating position(reminded me of BMWs that I have travelled in but not driven yet). Even after adjusting the seat height well, I wasn't able to see any part of the hood - well, I am no Arnold Schwarzenegger but not a dwarf either. I wasn't quite comfortable with that part till I started taking it forward.
The 1.8L VTEC that drives the Civic is an excellent responsive piece. I felt that within first gear itself and before I realized I was cruising at 100Kmph. It was fun to take it to that levels on an empty ring road. The pedals were extremely sporty and much more conveniently positioned than that of the Altis. My first real test was jamming the brakes from around 90Kmph. Man, the brakes were extremely good though the 30K done car had almost bald stock tyres. However, just before it came to standstill there was a real bad thuds from the ABS. The Honda lady(Product Manager - Civic) who accompanied me and my wife told me that it's a problem with that vehicle alone and I believe her. I thought I could stop from 90 to 0 in around two seconds.
I took the car ahead with A/C on and there was no notable drag. The engine was still smooth and responsive. Three things that I really liked about driving the Civic are(1) excellent hydrollic power steering for a driver's car - makes you feel safe at higher speeds(2) Excellent gearbox with right ratios and(3) right sized and well positioned pedals.
As for the overall drivability in terms of response, power delivery and cornering dynamics I thought Civic scores well above the Altis. The turning radius is slightly more than that of Altis, but you hardly feel it.
I tried my best to test the ground clearance of the car on two speedbreakers. Unfortunately, I could not experience that part in the ring road. However, I believe the other drivers that the chassis may be really too low.
The interiors
The console looks fresh and all controls are almost always accessible. However, I did not like the array of buttons at the bottom that included the A/C button. I was always searching for these buttons during the drive. Rest all fine and I particularly liked the reclinable front armrest which is handy for drivers of all heights. Backseat is special on a Civic, because of the very wide armrest that which has audio controls on it. This is a difference from Altis G variant. The seating position again, is very low. Somehow, I got a feeling that in order to provide enough headroom they had to place it very very low.
A lot of people have talked great about the Civic interiors but for me it looked more like a speedboat:) especially with the two tyre steering colum console making a contour similar to that. It symbolizes a pure driver's car.
As for the overall two-tone color scheme, I thought the front passenger and driver will never notice the beige parts. It is more for the rear passengers. Overall, the plastic materials used are of good quality but I thought I have seen better plastics on Civic abroad. The seat fabric was probably a shade better in quality as compared to that of the Altis G.
However, overall, the vehicle looked exceptionally good after 2.5 years of tussling with its first time drivers. There was no screaches or bad sound from any angle whatsoever(except for the ABS problem I mentioned)
Basic Comparison - Civic 1.8 S MT v/s Altis 1.8 G
1) Engine: Civic is far superior and a pleasure to drive
2) Interiors: My personal thinking is that Altis is more practical and orthodox whereas Civic is more jazzy
3) Steering, pedals, gearbox and overall drivability: Civic is better here
4) Brakes: Both are equally good
5) Interiors: I liked both of them, though with different purposes. Fabric of Civic was a bit better
6) Exterior looks: Civic's sporty stance looked better
7) Reliability: Both scores a 5/5 here
*What Civic S has that Altis G doesn't?
*1) Reclinable front armrest and slideopen storage underneath that
2) Very wide rear armrest with audio controls
3) Wipers operate in opposite directions
4) Great steering
*What Altis G has that Civic S doesn't?
*1) Turn indicators on the ORVM(Not even an option)
2) Fog lamps(Pay 18K more if you want them in Civic)
3) 60:40 rear seat folding
4) Dual glovebox in front of the front passenger
5) 475L of boot space
6) Auto anti-glare night mirrors
7) More color options, Honda discontinued several colors of late(like light blue, purple)
*Bottomline
Civic 1.8 S costs 11.73 Lakhs** ex-showroom Bangalore and the Altis G is available at 10.98 Lakhs - we are talking about a difference of 75, 000 here with a lot of feature reduction in the S variant of Civic. However, if you go for the top variants of both, Civic may make more sense.
.So the verdict is.
Pick a Honda Civic S if you want to feel sporty and need more power delivery based on your driving style. At the same time, think about the roads where you are driving. Overall it is meant for the young and the daring(I would have gone for a Civic if I was 10 years younger) Corolla Altis is more of a family and an executive car with decent power, a lots of good features and something that makes you feel at home while you get into a totally different mindset while entering a Civic.
As for me, I would pick an Altis G.
