Vehicle: 2006 Honda Civic DX-G sedan with 5-speed automatic transmission
Price as tested: CDN$19500

Handling: Even if the new Civic still suspended with MacPherson struct upfront and double wishbone in back, its dynamic abilities are night-and-day compares to previous car. This generation of Civic’s handling is as capable as anything else in its class. The turn-in is sharp and responsive. While you still find some safe understeer that is typical of econocar, its ugly head won’t showed up as early as its predecessor. The stiff chassis also makes a solid foundation for suspensions to hang its heads. Sadly, its electric power steering still doesn’t provide the right feedback even if its quite responsive. While its sharp enough for most drivers, I would prefer to have more driver feedback. In terms of ride quality, the outgoing car’s underdamping characteristics is a thing of history. The right damping characteristics of springs and shocks have made new Civic one of the best riding cars in its class. It rides like a luxury car instead of a bouncy poorly damped econocar of old. The biggest criticism has to do with its 15″ tires. As capable as Civic’s chassis, it needs some far superior tires because these would run out of limitations very soon as you pushed into a curve.

Performance: Along with poor handling/ride compromise, another criticism of outgoing car had to be lack of power. The new Civic finally got the performance it deserves. Its 1.8L 16-valver SOHC i-VTEC motor has to be considered as one of the sweetest engines in its class. With 140 horses and 128 lb/ft of torque, there is no storage of power thanks to its intelligence variable valve timing. Another real benefit of this motor is the sweet 5-speed automatic transmission. Not only does its willing to up and downshifts, its silky smoothness is totally unfound in any Civics before. Thanks to excellent gear ratio, we have clocked 2000rpm @ 120 km/h which is vey impressive for an econocar. In terms of refinement, this i-VTEC motor is equally impressive. Its both quiet at idle and in motion. The throttle response is smooth and quick. Just like another VTEC motor before, this motor never wants to take a break as you reach higher rpms. Its just a very willing motor from the bottom end right to the high rev range.

Brakes: Even with only front discs/rear drums and standard ABS, the Civic stops confidently under the rainy weather today. The stopping distances are short while the pedal feel is excellent. Unlike Civics of the past, the ABS won’t kicked in until absolutely necessary.

Interior: When you get inside new Civic’s interior, its hardly you would called it blend as its predecessor. The dual instrumentation gauges are hard to monitor as first glance, however, you would find it easy and logical as time goes by. That’s despite I prefer a real speedometer than those flashing numbers all around when accelerating. Due to its design limitations, the front windshield’s visibility is somewhat hard to detect during first time behind the wheel. The center console hosts a nice climate control and stereo that are controlled by four large knobs. You also got a nice little screen for stereo informations. The cloth seats are comfortable and supportive. On the other hand, the driving position is easily found with tilt steering column and adjustable seatback.

There are plenty of head and legrooms for rear seat passengers. Just like any econocars, you can seat 2 comfortably and 3 in a squeeze.

In terms of cargo space, you got 40/60 split fold-down rear seats and a wide opening despite of high liftover and instrusive trunk hinges. Since its an econocar, Honda has to cut corners somewhere.

Conclusion: While the outgoing Civic is an also-ran in econocar class, the new one is anything but. It got a sweet engine, a docile chassis, sharp handling and, finally, an interior that can no longer be dubbed as cheap. Best of all, the entire Civic line-up comes standard with ABS which is very impressive for a base one that only costs 16.5 grand.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2006 HONDA CIVIC DX-G SEDAN
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Performance: 4.5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 4.25/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4.5/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 4/5
Value-for-money: 4.5/5

Overall rating: 4.25/5