The new Honda Civic is expected to be revealed in the coming months carrying a £25,000 price.
What can we expect from Honda’s Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf rival?
Well, we can expect it to not get a dramatic restyle. Honda’s pictures show a car that’s very obviously a Civic without any dramatic styling changes compared to the current model.
It’s more like the current car has been given a nip and tuck, smoothing out some of its body creases and removing fussy details like the boot-lid spoiler and mock rear diffuser.
Changes made on the inside are more noticeable. It’ll be a lot more modern with a large digital display taking the place of analogue dials and an equally large screen handling all your infotainment needs.
Expect the infotainment to be more intuitive than it has been in the past and to come as standard with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which hook up to your phone automatically the minute you get in the car.
The other thing you’ll notice is the extra space. The new car’s wheelbase has stretched by 35mm and you can expect those extra millimetres to be felt most in the back where they’ll free up extra kneeroom. That bodes well because the current Civic is already one of the most spacious cars in its class, but suffers from tight rear headroom. Expect that to be addressed in the new model. The current car’s 478-litre boot is already generous, but it too should grow.
The biggest point of interest can be found under the new Honda Civic’s skin because it will only be available as a petrol-electric hybrid.
It’s likely to use the hybrid engine from the Honda H-RV SUV, which uses a 1.5-litre petrol engine that’s boosted by electricity to produce 131PS through a CVT automatic gearbox. It should be enough for 0-62mph in less than 10 seconds.
It should also allow the Honda to run on electric alone for brief periods in and out of town, making fuel economy of around 60mpg possible. A lot of the time, the Civic’s petrol engine will operate as a generator, only physically spinning the front wheels up at higher speeds when its extra power is needed.
You can expect the new Civic to be a very comfortable car to drive in town – with a silent motor and regenerative brakes that slow it automatically when you take your foot off the accelerator.
That being said, it should also be fun to drive on the open road. Honda says the new car’s chassis will be 20 per cent stiffer than the old model’s, which should give it more positive steering and better body control.
A car that’s cheaper to run, easier to live with, and also more fun? That does seem to be what Honda is offering. We’ll have more news in the coming months.
