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The dash and center console are still conventional but now
look more mature. Soft-feel
aircon and ventilation knobs, borrowed from the CR-V but improved in
feel, are now mounted in a vertical array near the driver.
Beside the vent switches are a 1-din radio and a tray.
All are in an area bulged outward to be nearer to the driver.
Center console now has a cardholder, two small cubbies and a
lidded cup holder. The
instruments are the usual four gauges, with slightly enlarged diameters
and more easily-read fonts. Well, we could hardly wait to spin those gauges to life,
particularly the left hand gauge which turned red at 6800 rpm.
We settled into a teal LXi M/T and started her up.
As ever, launching the car is intuitively easy, the clutch soft
and easily modulated. The
gearshift is smooth and clicks into each gear with precision, but not
quite up to the Accord’s joy-to-shift manual.
The 1.5’s real life begins at 3000 rpm, and the engine is only
too happy to rev. Being a
non-VTEC, the engine doesn’t change its noise to race-engine sweet,
but it’s acceptably smooth. The
engine had no problem accelerating the 1103-kg car even on uphill
stretches, with four persons on board.
Next we sampled an automatic VTi.
The 3-stage VTEC has more brawn at lower rpm than before.
Pity that the transition to the high-lift settings doesn’t
produce quite the same surge and ripping-air sound anymore, but the
wider range of settings does make for a more relaxed engine.
A relaxed VTEC?! We
can’t wait for the DOHC!
The automatic transmissions are smooth as silk; only the
dip in the tach needle will tell you that the gearbox has shifted up.
However, the autobox is still not as responsive as the
mind-reading Toyota Echo’s, which downshifts at the slightest prod of
the throttle or the merest uphill grade. The Civic’s still needs a firm planting of the gas pedal to
produce a downshift, and it doesn’t hold gear as much as we’d like
it to. As an in-town
device, though, it can’t be faulted.
If we had any lingering doubts that the Civic is all-new inside and out, our blasts up and down the mountain roads soon wiped them out. The car is quite a revelation to drive. The steering is excellent, not just tracking precisely, but communicating! If the previous car’s steering was Marcel Marceau, this one was Robin Williams—talking incessantly and entertainingly about the road surface and grip level. Double wishbone fans, have no fear: the retuned steering makes up for whatever feel and handling was lost in the transition to struts. |
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