Honda has gambled heavily on the eighth generation of its breadwinner, with an all-new radical Civic unashamedly moving upmarket. The press release starts with "Your Granny Wouldn^t Like It" and Honda may well be right.

The new Civic^s exterior is bold from any angle. At the front, the headlamps blend into a glazed panel, giving the Civic the face of a concept car. In profile, the Civic is distinctively wedge shaped, with the cab forward. Look closely and you^ll see a lot of attention to detail: the front door handles would not look out of place on the set of Star Wars, and the rears blend into the window ahead of a noticeably chunky C-pillar. The alloys on the car in these images help to disguise the size of the Civic, but in fact the new car is both shorter and lower (by 35mm in each case) than the outgoing Civic, but a significant 65mm wider. The wheelbase has been lengthened too, giving the new car a more ^four-square^ stance. This should aid stability, and Honda has also adopted torsion beam rear suspension (as fitted to its key rival, the Ford Focus) in a bid to sharpen up the car^s handling. The new Civic is billed as a "Premium Sports Compact."

A major benefit of the new rear suspension design is its compact size. That, and the repositioning of the fuel tank below the front seats, has freed up an exceptional volume at the rear of the car for luggage. Honda has also built extra flexibility into the new Civic from the start with what it calls ^Magic^ seats that apparently fold out of the way in one easy motion. These seats are standard in the rear of all models across the range, as is climate control, Vehicle Stability Assist, a trip computer, front, side and curtain airbags, and a rake and reach adjustable steering wheel.

There has been no mention of a Type-R version as yet, but it is likely to come on stream later in 2006 along with a Europe-only three-door hatch. At launch, buyers have three engine options. There are 1.4-litre and 1.8-litre petrol units (82 and 138bhp respectively), both managing well in excess of 40mpg on the Combined Cycle and less than 150g/km CO2 emissions. The only diesel option is the fantastic 2.2-litre i-CDTi engine currently available in the Accord. This powerplant pushes out an identical 138bhp to the 1.8, but produces 251lb.ft of torque to the petrol unit^s 128lb.ft. The peak power is produced at a more relaxed 4000rpm too indicating that this engine is a more relaxed partner and the pick of the bunch. This model manages a claimed 55.4mpg and 135g/km of CO2 emissions. In a class first, all engines are fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, with the option of a six-speed automatic.

Prices have not yet been announced for the UK market, but we expect the Civic to be on a par with the Ford Focus. Hopefully the three-door version will debut at the Frankfurt Show next month. We^ll be there to sit in the futuristic interior ahead of driving the car for ourselves early in 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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