Honda CIVIC 5-DOOR
The
Honda Civic Five-Door is a car that stands out in the discerning family sector. Vanessa discovers the personality beneath the bonnet...
Built to a Western formula here in the UK at Swindon, the Honda Civic five-door is a car tailored for European tastes. I was certainly impressed with the overall appearance and performance of my test car. The roominess and handling qualities make the Civic Five-Door a car I would be glad to own.
The interior is spacious and comfortable - but perhaps not quite roomy enough to steal sales from the larger Mondeos and Vectras. It would certainly win my vote over other hatchbacks. The driving position is exemplary, the sweet-shifting gearbox and careful dashboard design distinctly favourable. The boot is a family dream, large and easily accessible, even with your hands full.
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And the car is comfortable, even if it were fully loaded with three adults, two children and half the toyshop. The one-box dome-shaped profile with its short nose and large glass area gives a very shrunken-People Carrier feel. Its the same inside, where the dashboard-mounted gearlever frees up floorspace and can enable parents to walk through and sort out the warring kids in the rear if need be. As for space, well theres significantly more than youd find in an ordinary family hatch, due to dimensions that make it 130mm longer and 15mm higher than a class-leader like Fords Focus.
Hardly surprising then, that the cabin boasts a useful amount of extra room. Compare it once more with a Focus and youll find 30mm more headroom and (perhaps more surprisingly given that its 15mm narrower) 145mm more cabin width. Rear
seat passenger legroom is especially impressive, even for the middle seat occupant who for once, can stretch his or her legs out in comfort.
The version I borrowed for the day, the 1.4 SE, needed a bit more revving than I had expected, but it's a satisfactory workhorse for all that. Where the 1.4 really scores, of course, is at the filling station, where it's economical enough to take on other people's diesels in this growing sector of the market - over 40mpg is a realistic average. All models enjoy power steering, so handling is never terribly tricky. The car responds well out on the road, even at higher speeds.
Fuel costs apart, where
Honda has really set out to make the Civic five-door differ noticeably from the competition is in specification. To charm out the chequebooks, included as standard on every model are luxury features you won't expect to find at prices that start at £11,125. Equipment levels depend on your choice between either S, SE or Executive trim levels but pride of place at the top of the range goes to the 2.0-litre 160bhp Type-S hot hatch. Whichever model you choose however, you should find it pretty well specified.
Theres ABS, twin front airbags, a CD Player and electric windows included on every model and the option of automatic transmission on most of the 1.6-litre variants. As far as running costs are concerned, significant reductions are being claimed and theres the usual three year comprehensive warranty to consider. Not that youre likely to need it.
Build quality a traditionally strong Honda trait is as usual exemplary: even the gaps between the body panels have been halved.
The Honda Civic five-door is a great car for taking on a picnic, dashing round town or powering down the motorway for a business appointment. Yes, I would happily make room in my drive for one.
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