Intro/Executive Summary: Got a chance to take out the euro Civic 2012 today, model was a 2.2 iDtec ES, very nice spec'd car considering it was the middle of the range and had a lot of the technology that my Type R GT has which was impressive. The car had a very nice ride and returned very good MPG with much improved interior cabin quality to rival the best in class.
The drive: Had the car alone for around an hour. It seemed very composed with little body roll, much improved suspension (see highlight below) and a willingness to progress; I believe the engine is the same as the outgoing model so no real dramas here. The only exception was the gearbox felt a bit of a let down, but then surprisingly the golf I drove today was also a bit non-descript; is this the way gear boxes are going?
Eco credentials: Now I was giving the car a good pacing to see how it preformed in the bends and over the various road surfaces but the car still returned a average MPG of 52 in a mixture of eco and normal modes.
Technology: As before this was the ES so middle range but I still had; day running LEDs, cruise control with speed limiter, electric mirrors (heated), auto lights and wipers, rear view camera (this was particularly cool I must say and made reverse parking a doddle), colour information/multimedia display, ipod connectivity, Bluetooth phone control, and dual zone climate control - biggest missing bit of tech was the push to start button now replaced by, again on the Golf now as well, a depress clutch and turn key system.
Highlight: Lovely ride quality which is amazingly compliant over some fairly nasty road surfaces, leading to a quiet and enjoyable drive. To qualify this my girlfriend had a 1.4 TSI - 61 plate - golf on loan today as her Polo had a faulty indicator (turns out it needed a software update...) and it was as good if not better in terms of ride quality and noise levels!
Anyway hope that was informative and useful - my final thoughts are that with the right engine and the gear box from the current Type R the next version of the icon could be an awesome hot hatch to rival some of the best. Now get on and make it Honda!
The drive: Had the car alone for around an hour. It seemed very composed with little body roll, much improved suspension (see highlight below) and a willingness to progress; I believe the engine is the same as the outgoing model so no real dramas here. The only exception was the gearbox felt a bit of a let down, but then surprisingly the golf I drove today was also a bit non-descript; is this the way gear boxes are going?
Eco credentials: Now I was giving the car a good pacing to see how it preformed in the bends and over the various road surfaces but the car still returned a average MPG of 52 in a mixture of eco and normal modes.
Technology: As before this was the ES so middle range but I still had; day running LEDs, cruise control with speed limiter, electric mirrors (heated), auto lights and wipers, rear view camera (this was particularly cool I must say and made reverse parking a doddle), colour information/multimedia display, ipod connectivity, Bluetooth phone control, and dual zone climate control - biggest missing bit of tech was the push to start button now replaced by, again on the Golf now as well, a depress clutch and turn key system.
Highlight: Lovely ride quality which is amazingly compliant over some fairly nasty road surfaces, leading to a quiet and enjoyable drive. To qualify this my girlfriend had a 1.4 TSI - 61 plate - golf on loan today as her Polo had a faulty indicator (turns out it needed a software update...) and it was as good if not better in terms of ride quality and noise levels!
Anyway hope that was informative and useful - my final thoughts are that with the right engine and the gear box from the current Type R the next version of the icon could be an awesome hot hatch to rival some of the best. Now get on and make it Honda!
