The current 8th generation Honda Civic is one of the most complete small family sedans I’ve ever driven. I had a few months ago spent an hour driving non stop the 1.8 liter version going round the same area, taking corners and bends as well as doing some 140-160km/h runs in it and came to this conclusion. It is one of the best RM120,000.00 car you can buy here in Malaysia and I have to nod in agreement at anyone who bought one.
If you got in one and sat in its driver’s seat, you’d firstly notice the 2 tiered dashboard. The digital speedometer above the rev-counter and the futuristic looks coupled with the blue backlit lights make it a joy to reach forward and grab its small leather wrapped steering wheel. This steering wheel is of the correct size and feels ergonomically correct. Its size is quite like the aftermarket MOMOs we buy for our rides (in days before the airbags) and a small wheel always looks better than any bus sized wheel.
In my opinion, it looks like a dashboard from a car born and bred in 2025 rather than one born in 2005-06. I don’t think you’d get bored of driving one throughout the 5-9 years of owning one. This futuristic fact and the fact that its made up of nice tactile switches and materials that feel good and feel that it’ll last makes it an even better buy compared to its competitors. Compare a Toyota “dull as dishwater” Altis’, Lancer “I’m a Galant, really that’s why I’m a little chubby” GT’s or a Nissan SillyFi's interior and you’d get my point. The Toyota and Nissan may have good build quality but they’re a little dull to look at (both interior and exterior). The Lancer looks good but uses plastic that feels really like hard cheap plastic for my tastes.
The 1.8liter VTEC is preppy enough with 140bhp and the 2.0 liter has about 155bhp to move a 1300kg body. This makes it pretty nimble for a car. It has a 5 speed autobox here in the country (as no one seems to like to drive manuals here) and the shifts are pretty smooth. No problems doing 160km/h cruises with either one actually. The handling is pretty decent. Its tail does assist the front in sharp corners without the feeling that you’d kill yourself pretty soon if you take it too fast. It isn’t as sharp on the initial turn like a Lancer GT, nor as grippy as one but it’s a car that’s decently sorted in the handling department. The problem with the Lancer GT is that it feels like a Galant, heavy and un-Lancer like actually. Put a decent driver in a Civic against a Lancer GT the only problem he’d have is keeping it on song and in the powerband (which is automatically adjusted in the Lancer due to its CVT box). I like it as it is preppy enough for my taste. Not to mention, I’d do some necessary mods to make it corner even better if I got one. It is a decent platform to start.
Then you get out of one, if you firstly entered the Civic with a bag over your head and didn’t notice the exterior you’d notice that its lines are extremely proportioned. You’d notice that it has such a long wheelbase for a sedan but the wheels are quite at each end of the car. This makes lots of interior space for 4 adults and luggage. The shape is a streamlined near single box cab forward design that also seems to move away from the normal family sedans we see. Yet subtle enough to not make it outdated after a few years on the road.
I’d say that this car is like its 5th generation brother, the EG Civic (above). A car revered till today for its looks, performance as well as build quality that so many people still drive it around KL today. Even modders and tuners are still refurbishing that model and using it for track day specials as well as road going monsters with 2.0VTEC engines with close to 300bhp from a normally aspirated engine in that lightweight pre-airbag, pedestrian safety and other politically correct regulation rubbish manufacturers have to engineer their cars to meet.
That Civic was ahead of its time and a trend-setter, much like the Mercedes W124s as I’ve written of earlier. And so is this current Civic. We’ll see many still driving them 15 years from today and it’ll still look fresh. That’s my prediction of the future.
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