Passion for small cars currently serves as the main highlight in the US. In August this year, the Honda Civic has been regarded as the top-selling compact sedan across the continent.
The trend is continuing as the highly-regarded Japanese company introduces the turbo-charged Civic with a six-speed manual transmission. The unit will be available on the mid-level EX-T coupe and sedan.
It has been a long time since the last Honda hatchback landed in the American auto market. The two door-Civic Si is perhaps the last compact car to hit the road back in 2003. The new 2017 Civic comes in both four and two-door models. Its engine will feature a 174-hp 1.5-liter turbocharged system. There will be five trim levels, namely, the base LX, the Sport, the EX, the EX-L and the Sport Touring. It must be noted that the Sport and the Sport Touring variants are unique to the hatchback and present an exhaust setup that propels the horsepower to 180.
The Civic's look is quite alluring given the bumpers' great faux intakes and vents. It also unveils a sharp roofline to go with its neat C-shaped tail lights. According to Honda, the hatchback offers the largest cargo-carrying capacity in the competitive set. Based on estimates, the vehicle can go 31mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway in the CVT variant with a lower figure for the manual transmission.
In terms of safety gear, the Honda Sensing system features the lane-keeping assist, the adaptive cruise control, the forward-collision warning and the automated emergency braking. Thrown in the mix is the availability of the Apple CarPlay and the Android Auto.
The 2017 Honda hatchback is 16 kilograms lighter than the previous models. Its torsional stiffness has been improved by 52 percent. Meanwhile, management states that the Type R of the new Civic, which provides a mature design look, is predicted to come out in September next year.
