The 1.6 litre diesel in the new British built Civic is the equal of benchmark diesels from VW and Peugeot for power, torque and quiet running.
Fire up the little motor and there's little of the usual diesel clatter. It's very refined and smooth. Honda engineers have worked magic on noise suppression, using something called " Active Noise Cancellation." Two microphones in the cabin capture low end drivetrain frequencies, feeding them into an amplifier which then sends a reverse audio signal to the door speakers, reducing the unwanted noise frequencies by 10 decibels.
Impressive technology in a car that costs under 27K !
The engine produces 88 kw and 300nm. Doesn't sound like much but the delivery is something else altogether.
When taking off from a standing start and engaging second gear, a giant hammer of torque hits from just over 1500 rpm up almost to the redline of 4,500, pushing you back in the seat leaving you marvelling at the sheer grunt of the engine.
Such is the volume of torque, that on a recent blast along winding roads in the Adelaide hills, only third gear was needed to despatch even the tightest of bends before rocketing out the other side on that big fat torque wave, the engine revelling when given a bootfull of throttle.
Handling is exemplary. The Civic stayed flat and poised like a sportscar.
Steering feel through the chunky fat rim of the leather clad steering wheel is excellent.
Having driven the Civic Type R with it's kidney bashing, rock hard suspension, the ride in the Civic diesel is like a Rolls Royce by comparison. It has just the right amount of compliance to easily cope with suburban ruts and bumps far better even, than some more expensive offerings.
On the move the diesel is silent on a steady throttle, only becoming slightly audible when pushed. You will get at least 1100 kilometres from a 50 litre tankful just around the suburbs, fuel consumption averaging around five litres per 100 kilometres in city driving. Expect even better consumption on the highway. There's no danger of misfuelling.
The Civic 's filler neck will only accept larger diesel fuel nozzles.
The Civic diesel is only offered in Australia with a 6 speed manual gearbox, which could hurt sales somewhat, with Australian drivers largely preferring autos to manuals.
As an example, Peugeot's first diesel cars were manual only and they sold very few. But when an auto option was imported they were snapped up. That said, because of the wide spread of torque of the Civic diesel, you can skip a couple of the lower gears for around town work, minimising the effort of shifting gears. The gear ratios themselves are quite tall. Fifth and sixth are really only suitable for the open road. You'll only need third or fourth for city driving.
The seats in the Civic are large, covered in a lovely soft material, supremely comfy, well padded and bolstered, and keep you in place well, when the going gets winding.
The dashboard is a two piece affair, with the digital only speedo housed in a sweeping curve above the lower part, which houses tachometer, fuel and temperature gauges.
Externally the Civic is real looker, stylish, and sleek. There's a reasonably generous boot, with a full sized spare tyre.
However the turn indicators at the rear are tiny and hard to see in daylight.
Rearward vision is hampered a bit by the split window design but it's far better than the rear blindspots in the CRZ driven prior to this test. The Civic diesel has a reversing camera for added safety.
Honda Civic sales in Australia for October 2013 are down about 400 on the same month the previous year, but year to date almost four thousand more were sold than in 2012.
There's no question Honda has delivered a quite outstanding performance diesel for its first offering in Australia.
I strongly recommend before buyers look at a Mazda 3,Toyota Corolla, or perhaps Hyundai i 30, a lengthy test drive of the Civic DTiS is a must.
Nice one Honda.
Peter Sellen
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