I have been always a Honda fans. I still have a 10-year old DC2 Honda Integra Type R in my stable. However it does not stop me from trying out new products from Honda. I always wish Honda would regain its past racy glory in the late 80s to mid 90s.
My test drive of the all new Honda Civic 1.8 was on the third day of Chinese New Year in the Wan Chai Showroom, 2006. Well, it has been more than 6 months ago. I went into the showroom with my wife and I was driving the Merecdes C240 there. I was filled with hope.
I was a bit surprised we were offered a test drive after spending 10 minutes checking the new Civic. I was wondering if the sale was not up to the expectation because there were stocks available for immediate delivery. Anyway I acccepted the invitation. The interior design felt very different and high tech. Sunroof (a bit small), electric leather chair (material and workmanship not bad), the nice instrument, stereo/air conditioner clusters (impressive) and the lovely designed leather-clad steering wheels got me excited. Everything else inside grew in size and was highlighted with a sense of solidity. All the switchgears were a class above what the Civic had been. In general it was a sweet surprise. My hope was mounting quickly in a way that Honda might have picked up what it left off in the late 1980s.
Just to let everyone know that back in early 1990s I had owned a EG9 (1.6L VTEC DOHC, 4-door) for a period of 4 years. And I was happy with the ownership. The engine was truly a jewel.
What caught me off guard when I open the short engine hood (you know the popular cab-forward design where the A-pillars were brought forward and mechanically connected to the front strut tower areas), was how small the 1.8L engine was and the big catalytic converter between the exhaust manifold and the radiator. I thought the catalytic convertor was a turbo-charger.
The 1.8L engine design was centered on fuel economy and low emission without sacrifice of power (140PS), torque (17.7kgf-M) and throttle response.
Once the car was on the move it was a mixed bag. The famed nimbleness of a Civic was all there but I could feel the drag of 1'200kg+ curb weight. However the throttle response was really a put-off. Drive-by-wire throttle control was never my cup of tea especially it was not well engineered. There simply was a sense of disconnection, despite the snappy response of engine and the efficient 5-speed autobox. Other people called it artificial. I didn't know how to call it, but I didn't like it because the engine ECU cared about emission than what I did with my right foot. So was my wife who was the passenger. The engine was also lacking the mid-end torque, for mild over-taking or quickening the pace. Any significant demand on acceleration would require a sure foot and a kickdown to 3500 - 4000 rpm. Give me a break, this was a 1.8L car, not 659cc!
Turn-in was quick and clean.There was plenty of traction and in fact a lot of tires (205/55R16) for a 1.8L family car. The rear suspesion was way too firm and didn't seem to work together with the excellent front. In some of the sharp corners the rear seemed to have a mind of its own. My wife went to sit at the back and complaint how firm and the amount of unnecessary vertical movement at the back. My suggestion was to reduce the tire size to 195/60R15 and reduce the firmness at the back. Otherwise the chassis was strong, stiff and solid, which was a big improvement over the softer ones that we had to deal with in the past, when Honda still offered us the 4-wheel double-wishbone at the 4 corners.
The decision was clear after 15 min of test drive. Sometimes I didn't know if Honda ever got it. Today's Honda, using its strong worldwide sales growth in the past 10 years as excuse, distants themselves from the hearts of the die-hard Honda fans, while its marketing arm kept telling us the spirit was still there. It wasn't, since the day they took the double-wishbone suspension away from Civic and Accord.
We would stick to the 8-year old Mercedes. The ride back home onboard the C240 (presently worth 40% of the brand new Civic in market value) , going through same stretch of the roads, proved exactly the point. The direct competitors of today's Honda Civic in Hong Kong in disguise, besides the obvious Corolla, Mazda 3, Sunny, Golf and what-have-you, are thereliable used cars from Europe built in the late 1990s, under the name of Mercedes and BMW. At least it is the case in Hong Kong.
You can find the spirit of Honda Civic today, but it is in an alternate form called Jazz or FIT.
