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| On the road The new Honda Civic: more sporty and more compact! Presented for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show, this aerodynamic Civic revives the avant-garde style that made Honda famous.
The Civic is Honda's most popular car: since its launch in 1972, 16 million have been sold in 160 countries, and it alone accounts for one third of the Japanese manufacturer's total sales worldwide! Built at Honda's European factory in Swindon, Great Britain, this eighth generation Civic takes up the essential ideas of the concept car exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2005. It was designed first and foremost for young, well-off Europeans who are sensitive to driving pleasure. Honda has therefore wished to make it radically different from previous models. Aesthetically, first of all, the new Civic has an impressive look with a plunging nose, banner light units, and rear door handles integrated in the door pillars... More aggressive, the new Civic also looks more compact, being shorter (4,250 mm as opposed to 4,285 mm) and, above all, lower (1,460 mm as opposed to 1,495 mm): so no more raised roof panel (Fiat Stilo style) which some found disconcerting! As one Honda manager explains: "We simply realised that customers have no use for all that headroom. Having 10 or 14 cm above your head serves absolutely no purpose... except for filling the boot up to the roof every 10 years!" So a return to good sense, and also to the aerodynamics that had been Honda's trademark for a long time! More compact and lighter (1,170 kg), the Civic will therefore offer appreciable manoeuvrability in town.
Honda has, however, decided to increase the width by 65 mm (1,760 mm as opposed to 1,695 mm) and widen the front and rear tracks by 34 and 45 mm respectively. The result is superior balance and road-holding and, above all, a more spacious interior. What's more, the new Civic proves to be very practical. The rear seats can be folded down to free up a perfectly flat storage space. Thanks to the centrally-mounted fuel tank, the boot now offers a volume of 485 litres for luggage. As regards interior design, you will appreciate the futuristic aspect of the dashboard which, with its concentric forms, still has something of the good old Honda Civic and Prelude about it! Above all, Honda has equipped the new Civic with the Dual Link system. This system displays essential driving information (the car's speed, for example) on a screen in the upper part of the dashboard, while other information is available in the lower part. This layout allows the driver to concentrate on what is happening on the road, while being able to access essential information.
On the mechanical side, there is a choice of three engines: an 83 hp (61 kW) 1.4 litre petrol, a 140 hp (103 kW) 1.8 litre petrol or a 140 hp (103 kW) 2.2 litre diesel engine. These three engines are coupled with a manual 6-speed gearbox. All the variants of the Civic are equipped with ABS for optimal braking performance, and EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), a system that adjusts the brake force applied to the four wheels in order to obtain maximum efficiency and greater stability. All versions of the Civic are also equipped with the VSA (Vehicle Stability Assist) system, designed to help the driver keep control of the car in bends, when accelerating and during sudden manoeuvres, by applying exactly the right amount of brake force to the front or rear wheels.
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