Test drive Honda Civic sedan 2006 - 2008 sedan

"Anime -style machine." Review Honda Civic 2.2i-Ctdi Exactive, 2007

If you think about it, you can easily guess why for his second direct report from Europe, our journalist, who has already been half a resident of Germany during this time, chose the Honda Civic diesel car. We understand the interest in this machine: the product of the Japanese company, which, meanwhile, is designed exclusively for Europeans, is it not curious to find out what it is? Moreover, in Japan this car is unlikely to appear the wrong buyer! So, get acquainted: a purely European hatchback developed and released by the Japanese company Honda.
 
Extraordinary key to victory
After meeting with the Honda Civic car, which will be discussed later, the conclusion suggests itself: if Civic has become so, then the usual Civic, which we are accustomed to, is not in serious demand, and problems arose with its sale. I will not judge how bright the first model of the Civic family possessed, but the fact that among the machines that have recently appeared in the market under the Honda brand, this car is different, I would say, a special artificiality of style is accurately.
At the same time, Honda Civic is useful in everyday life a car convenient to handle, and the Honda engine operates like a clock. If it was America, where the main promoted brand, and not compliance with the style, the question of being this machine is popular or not to be, would be decided to definitely be. Another thing is Europe. There are other approaches, and the competition among hatchbacks, frankly, is sharper.
In fact, everyone is good: both Volkswagen Golf, and Peugeot 206 & 207 and Renault Megan. And there are also Opel cars, and the Japanese companies Toyota and Suzuki are also trying their best. While in such an environment, Honda is simply forced to take some completely extraordinary steps. Personally, I would like the Civic car developers to continue, as in the good old time, to emphasize their participation in Formula 1 races in order to score points, both in the technical and design plan. This tactic, if anyone remembers, is called the maximum improved technology plus the most advanced design. At the same time, I understand that on this period of time, such a tactical plan is not so easy to implement.
 
But people who work in Honda in the European direction decided to move in a slightly different way. And then a new design technique appears, which I would call Super H-Tech Design, that is, the design of the era of super-high technologies. Super -high technologies - you need to notice, this is what is constantly played out in Japanese animated films, right? So, in relation to the Honda Civic car, the term design in the style of Japanese animation (Japanimation Design) is quite applicable. Why not!? You ask how exactly the machine that is made in the Japanimation style should differ? Well, firstly, an extraordinary form of the body (after all, this is not for a mass buyer, this is clear). And further, if we keep in mind that the animation is made so that the children look at it, the silhouette of the car should look completely childish, that is, as the children's hand would draw it. Japanese production films, by the way, have enough fans among adults in Europe. That's it, the circle is closed: adults, having seen enough of Japanese animation, look closely at the Honda Civic machine, which has a supervisor - high -tech appearance! Of course, this is a rather narrow path, and walk along it to achieve commercial success, is difficult, but it is possible. Moreover, in passing you can arouse interest and the fans of the already mentioned Formula 1, because they also need to ride on something, do they?
 
Auto looks like a concept
By the way, in a Japanese specialized magazine, I met the statement that the Honda Civic car has a decent appearance, and that it is supposedly quite suitable for sale in the domestic Japanese market. Of course, everyone can express their point of view and give forecasts, who argues. I just want to emphasize that in this case the Civic car should not be perceived as another Japanese model, but as a real European hatchback. If anyone doubts carefully peer into the appearance of this car and sit behind the wheel, or make a test trip, like me. And after that, it is decided whether or not such a machine find its buyer in Japan. Personally, it seems to me that Honda is unlikely to dare Honda on such a risky step. Yes, how can this be imagined that in the country where, figuratively speaking, they go crazy through cars like Corolla, can simultaneously be successful and a European -style Honda Civic car!? No, such an assumption is more like a joke. So it turns out that in Europe, both Civic model range is not easy, and in the Japanese market its prospects are very vague. Sometimes, however, you think: why not this machine appear in Japan!? And then, as you imagine the reaction of many and many Japanese to this multiplier project, you decide: no, let it go to Europe, otherwise Honda will understand the company!.
In a word, usually the driver chooses the car for himself, and here it turned out that this is Honda Civic hatchback choosing who to let him go to his wheel. Let's start with the appearance. If you look at the car on the side at right angles, you can replace that its silhouette seems to be outlined by one stroke of the designer's hand. Usually, so children are drawn. Try, ask a little boy to draw a passenger car from him something like that. See: the hood line, rising, passes into the roof line, without making any sharp bends. Indeed, the artist simply took and held a line with the words: now, the silhouette of a new car is ready. And then this line completely naturally passes into the rounded back. A little resembles a coconut, I remember something similar in the past, but not with the Honda machine, but on the other, Isuzu Piazza. That is, they just took that previous body and somewhat stung it.
No, well, however, where do not look, everywhere traces of the influence of artists of the multipliers even in the little things! Pay attention, for example, how the left and right front headlights are interconnected. Such a shiny decorative insert. But inside the lanterns there are also many plates of reflectors who play and shimmer in the light. Give an example from some animated film? Please, why not the sparkling eyes of the Robocop?
Or, pay attention to the door handles made in the shape of a shooter. Doesn't it seem that it is very similar to a peak suit on the cards? But this is not all: look at the car from behind, and you will definitely pay attention to exactly the same peaks on the left and right exhaust pipes. That is, it is precisely such a triangular shape that the decorative shanks of the muffler have. And if all these bizarre designer finds are collected together and see it is unsyted, then, right, what solidity, what maturity can we talk about here? One solid childishness, and nothing!
Inside the salon of revived pictures no less. The front panel has the shape of an ellipse, in the center of which the driver’s chair is located. And besides, the panel has two tiers: upper or outer and lower, it turns out internal. On the upper tier, in its middle part, a large digital speedometer rises, under it, already on the lower tier of no less tachometer. As you know, I did not have to sit behind the wheel of a drawn car, on which the hero of the animated films Evan Helion drives on the screen, but what I saw in the cinema is just one to one that can be seen in the Honda Civic salon, I will be you I assure you! When you look at the devices of the upper tier, the analog arrow of the tachometer still does not go out of sight, even if you focus all attention on the crystalline screen in the middle of the panel. Such is the design of devices of the digital technology! I will not say that personally it causes me a negative reaction, but you can imagine how many people will come, to put it mildly, in complete bewilderment at the sight of such a dashboard.
I will return again to the inner tier of the elliptical front panel. On both sides, you are surrounded by round massive air supply regulators to the salon, along with no less large and rounded deflectors. In a word, I counted so much unusual around myself that it is just right to name this panel conceptual, well, and at the same time, also call the car itself.
In a word, in the beginning I thought that this term Japanimation Design was simply a spectacular heading of all material as a whole, but then, studying more and more thoroughly, I realized that Honda was not joking that they were really carried away by Japanese animation!
 
 
All the best from a diesel engine and from a gasoline engine
Yes, but if you distract from the design of Civic, and turn to its technical features, it turns out that everything in it is most selected for European standards for hatchback. In a word, appearance is one thing, and technical filling is completely different.
And why not, if the body is made on the basis of a long -proven Honda Fit car, its length 4250 mm. In width, however, it looks much more spacious. No, in fact, if adults are sitting ahead and behind, then they dare to assure you, they will feel quite comfortable. And you should not forget about a roomy trunk. Why roomy? Imagine an ordinary 12-button box with a half-liter coca of cola. So, there will be as many as 8 such boxes in the trunk of the car, no less.
The car’s move is soft, in the sense that the body, if swinging, does it very gently. And the handling also does not cause any complaints. I performed turns several times, without pressing the brake pedal, trying to cope with the machine only with the help of the steering wheel and pressing the accelerator at the right time. And nothing, I must say, the car stuck wheels to the road and took it out where necessary. Despite all its considerable height and this is 1460 mm, the car did not roll to one at all.
What interested me the most was a diesel engine. In general, for Europeans, this diesel is not in a novelty- the same motor is put on Honda CR-V and Honda Accord cars, its working volume is 2.2 liters, it has 4 cylinders and it is equipped with a turbine. However, in this case, the perfectly calculated FIT platform helps him in the most direct way, so the impressions of his work are the most positive.
His maximum turns are not very high only 4500 per minute, but the engine’s reaction is simply wonderful. And the torque is such that, for example, at 2000 rpm, it allows the machine to develop powerful traction, and if you need to sharply increase the speed, does this without suffocating.
But diesel he is diesel, with all its features. Although the fact that, moving in the 6th gear and supporting 2000 rpm, you can immediately force the car to go to a sharp acceleration without tension, frankly, it turned out to be a surprise to me in a sense. I can’t, of course, say that his sound accompaniment was completely impeccable (after all, diesel), but the distinct rook was heard only at idle. When it came to increased speed, it didn’t bother me at all, I sometimes forgot that I was managing a diesel engine.
I got the impression that this engine has absorbed all the best that gasoline and diesel could have. I also believe that he would have suitable for Japanese roads, why not?
By the way, this engine is interesting in that for Honda, the traditional diesel engine was a weak place. Moreover, this slack appeared long before the time when the company was headed by the president of Mr. Kawamoto. And all because the engineers tried to make it, as they say, one to one with a gasoline engine. This is bad, or good, but one thing is undoubted: as a result of this approach, the current Honda diesel diesel has incorporated many advantages of a gasoline engine. As they say, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. Is this not direct evidence that everything ultimately changes for the better.
This was the CIVIC machine: outside - as if a frame from a Japanese animated film, but you’ll get inside the cabin, but you’ll get behind the wheel - and that's all, no child, a mature, solid hatchback with a diesel engine. And why did it suddenly decide that this car was not suitable for Japan?
Technical characteristics of the Honda Civic 2.2i-Ctdi Exactive:
Length 4245 mm x width 1765 mm x height 1460 mm.
Wheel base: 2620 mm.
Machine weight: 1422 kg.
Drive: on the front wheels
Engine: 2.2 - liter, 4 -cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, DOHC gas distribution mechanism, developed power of 140 hp. at 4000 rpm, the largest torque is 34.7 kg/m 2000 rpm. (in Western European performance).
 

Source: Webcg.net