Space age. Review on Honda Civic

Dear Friends,

This is not a 'review' in the real sense of the word. I saw the 06 Civic at the Honda Dealer in Chennai when I went to have my City serviced.

Man, I was blown away to say the least. So far I had only seen the pics on the Net and in magazines. I saw her in 2 colours, New Warm Silver and the Burgundy, though they might be named different for the Civic.

I was in the service bay when the 2 beauties rolled in. For a second I thought to myself, "what car is that ?? Holy crap, thats a Civic". It has been displayed at teh Auto Show and Iam sure quite a good number of us enthusiasts have already seen the car.

Ok, lemme give some details. The nose is long, like the Accord, forget City's stubby one. The headlights are narrow and mean and purposeful looking. I wouldnt call it "beautiful" or pleasing to the eyes, but it is very distinctive. There's a 'Korean' feel to it. The rear end seemed to be a little stubby for the larger profle of the car. Looked like she rear ended into a wall. And the tail light is short of being called beautiful. Again felt like a Korean designer put in his best effort. I feel it could have been better.

Overall, the car had a much more sportier look than the Accord, forget the City.

Iam sure we all know the most exciting part of the car is its dashboard. I must say it is nothing short of space age. The doors were locked, hence couldnt get into the seat. The layout of the control is purposeful, as in any Honda, but there is an added element of glamour, mostly absent in Hondas. I thought it looked very European. I noticed a 6 CD changer and an FM tuner among the usual controls. The entire layout had a slight orientation / tilt towards the driver, making it easier to turn on the AC or change the CD that is playing. This is again found in more expensive Euopean cars like BMW's and Volkswagen's. There is more than enough chrome accentuation on all the controls on the dash, giving the entire thing a really upmarket feel.

Then there is this unique display above the usual speedometer display. I coudlnt really what made up this smaller display, but we know it is the digital tacho. I feel it must be a really useful thing to only lower your eye to get a glimpse of the speed you are doing rather than bend your neck to look in between the steering spokes. This the driver is still able to keep his focus on the road.

Coming to the steering wheel, it is nothing like the day to day cars there are today. I thought it came out of a Bugatti Veyron. No, Iam serious, it is so modern with enuf chrome. It is 3 spoked form what I could see from outside the closed window. It seemed a little smallish to me, maybe its just the modern design that made it look smaller.

If you have seen the shifter on a S2000, then you are not far from the Civic's either. Well, I didnt mean the gears(the Civic was an automatic), but the extremely short shifter. The bottom of the gear knob almost touched the base it was mounted on. Sad, we dont have the manumatic yet on the Civic, not anywhere in the world. I dont see the need for rapid gear changes in an automatic, nevertheless the short shifter is a reminder of the Civic's sports DNA. It would make mush more sense on the manual. The handbrake is mounted adjacent to the gear shifter unlike in the city where it is between the front seats.

Overall space inside is above average, although I dont believe City owners should start to worry.

Tyres were 195/65 R15 spec. They looked very muscular, ready for some seriuous fun. Larger and accentuated wheel wells could have done justice to the immense presence of the tyres.

There a moonroof/sunroof version on offer in the 1.8 ltr in S.E Asia. Not so sure we have it here. We dont get the 2.0 ltr optional engine(read better torque) here either.

I guess the new Civic will give the Corollas, Optras and the Skodas a serious run for their money. In this category, the Civic offers the sporty image that no other does. I hope to sit behind the CIvics wheels soon. Will post more then.

All feedback welcome, folks