C O V E R     S T O R Y

Tearing down a mountain hairpin at close to insane speeds, with the engine growling contentedly and the tires humming but not complaining.  A twist of the wheel to repoint the car, a prod of the throttle and away we went, fast and sure.  Can’t wait for the next curve.  Yes, we are talking about the Honda Civic here.  This wasn’t at all the Civic road test that I expected.  I thought we’d be driving along some straight, open roads with perhaps some bumpy surfaces thrown in to prove the car’s ride, and so on.  Instead, we followed a 38 km route, wrapped around Lake Caliraya and Laguna de Bay in Cavinti.  All twists and turns.  So much the better. 

Not that you’d expect this, looking at the car.  From the outside, you’d think that the old Civic was merely facelifted instead of changed for an all-new model.  Make no mistake, though: this 2001 model is all-new.   Almost everything that you can see, and indeed most parts that you can’t, have been rethought, repositioned, or outright replaced with something better.  Starting with that little device that’s the heart of all Hondas—the engine.  The lineup begins with an upgrade to the 1.5 sohc, still without a VTEC head, apparently for marketing reasons.  Horsepower was bumped up slightly to 110 ps/5800 rpm, from 105 ps/6400 rpm and torque to 138 Nm, from 136 Nm. 

The second unit is an all-new 1.6 sohc VTEC, featuring 3 cam settings instead of the previous 2.   This 3-stage VTEC uses different cam settings for the two intake valves per cylinder, for low, medium and high revs.  At low revs, one valve is opened with medium lift while the other is barely cracked open.  This promotes swirl in the combustion chamber, which generates higher torque.  At medium revs, both valves are made to follow the medium lift for good midrange response.  At high revs, the engine computer engages a third cam lobe that opens the valves sooner and for a longer duration.  This engine is good for 130 ps and 149 Nm, 5 ps and 1 Nm more than the old 1.6. 

We don’t get the US’ 1.7 unit, or Japan’s 1.8, which comes in a juicy DOHC flavor.  Or the new Type R’s 200-bhp 2 liter.  For now, that is; we can only hope that Honda just might decide to stoke our desires one or two years down the road.

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