Honda Civic Petrol

Honda’s new 130bhp, 1.8-litre motor comes with even finer valve control and high tech, ‘cracked’ connecting rods that are re-joined directly on the crank, thus doing away with heavy pins. Improving on the famous VTEC system, this new engine allows for greater valve overlap and valve lift, which in turn provides for improved high engine speed performance. Honda has added a new technology called VTC (or Variable Timing Control) to this single cam, 16-valve motor. A 100kph comes up in 9.5 seconds. While this is quick, we were mildly disappointed that the Civic was not quicker; its performance doesn’t reflect the quantum leap the car has taken in many other areas.

The Honda engine is very refined and almost silent at idle and is less audible and buzzy once the motor get spinning quickly.  The Civic’s i-Vtec unit loves being revved. It is smooth and blessed with an amazingly enthusiastic top-end and a whole lot of punch. The best part, however, is that the Civic seems to enjoy being driven flat out — 0-150kph in 21 seconds, that’s just sweet. The Civic’s motor hasn’t got as much urgency in the lower part of the powerband . Throttle responses are quite flat until around 3500rpm, and this means you often feel the need to execute a downshift. Luckily its gearbox is light, slick and direct.

The Civic's autobox uses a five speed box that shifts with minimal lag. Paddle-shifters add to the sporty charm of the Civic and the sport mode improves matters by holding on to a gear when tearing around a corner.

The Civic's smooth motor manages to return 9.1 kmpl in the confines of the city. It manages a respectable 13.2kmpl out on the highway which is just a bit lower than the segment benchmark. The automatic variant returns 8.1kmpl in the city and 11.9kmpl on the highway.