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Honda Civic gets new features and face-lift in three formats
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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Massive house-size machines at an automotive assembly plant in the heartland of Ohio manhandled the steel skeleton of a new compact sedan like it was nothing more than a featherweight pillow.
Proceeding through the vast factory on a series of automated conveyors, the car came together with doors and windows added, along with seats for five and finely crafted interior appointments, plus components of a low-clipped prow featuring smoothly rounded corners and bold new reflector headlights separated by bright chrome grille.
Eventually, quality control inspectors examined the completed product before checking it off as one of some 800 flowing out of the plant each day.
From Ohio, the new car moves to market -- either overland to distributors and dealers across the United States or by seaworthy cargo ships which deliver to 55 foreign countries.
Ironically, this car that's built in Ohio and ends up in foreign markets happens to be the revamped new subcompact Civic by Honda of Japan.
And, as the ultimate irony, Japan becomes the primary foreign market that receives these American-made Hondas.
The dramatic revisions for Civic, which traces back in Honda lore to a 1972 introduction, represent a development program of four years that produced the sixth generation of models configured as sedan, coupe and hatchback.
Civic's new hatchback comes out of a Honda factory in Canada, and Civic sedans and coupes come together at Honda's Ohio production facilities, with 92 percent of components manufactured in North America, including engines.
This categorizes Civic as a domestic vehicle built with American labor -- 2,100 work at the East Liberty Assembly Plant where Honda will make 250,000 in a year's time and export 40,000 from Ohio to the world.
For years now, Civic set the pace for the subcompact class due to the quality of the product, its pleasant road manners and an impressive content of comfort features.
For the 1996 upgrade, Civic goes several steps further in terms of quality, performance and comfort, and it looks dramatically revised as well.
Civic's new exterior design appears contemporary and stylish, but vaguely similar to Honda's larger Accord.
All new Civics share a low nose highlighted by those bold headlights.
Inside, an expanded passenger compartment ringed by tall glass increases headroom for riders.
The hatchback, stretched more than four inches longer than before, provides more room for people and also increases cargo space. In addition, a new steeply raked hatch door makes this Civic look more like a classy European design than the typical Japanese.
Two hatchback models, CX and DX, stock a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder aluminum alloy engine generating 106 hp. The two models differ mainly in comfort and appearance items.
The sedan, with four passenger doors and a more formal outward appearance, supplies a surprising amount of room for riders on the inside, with increases of front and rear space for heads and legs.
Three sedan models use the 106 hp plant in DX and LX trim, while EX gets Honda's efficient VTEC edition with output boosted to 127 hp. Also, the range of conveniences increases with upgrades in trim.
The coupe, sleek with only two doors and a smooth swoop from roof to tail, emerges exclusively from Honda's Ohio plant and offers the same overall length as Civic's sedan so passengers don't compromise for legroom.
Three coupe models -- DX, HX and EX -- carry different engines and vary the appointments, with DX netting the base 106 hp motor and EX with the VTEC at 127 hp, but new HX gains a highly efficient new lean-burn 115 hp VTEC variation to score as Honda's fuel-economy leader at 45 mpg.
In addition, the Civic HX coupe will offer by mid-year an amazing new continuously variable transmission (CVT) which approaches a manual shifter's fuel economy but delivers virtually undetectable shift transitions.
On rural routes running though Ohio's rolling corn country near the East Liberty Honda plant, pre-production hatchback, sedan and coupe editions of Civic were sampled in models which included three engines and manual 5-speed or automatic 4-speed transmission plus CVT.
All Civics now contain sophisticated mechanicals with Honda's lively dual wishbone independent suspension, and all save the CX manual-shift hatchback apply power assistance to the crisp rack and pinion steering setup.
All also feel agile and animated, even when equipped with the base engine.
Increases in structural rigidity, when combined with new engine mounts plus noise and vibration-damping materials added throughout the body of these Hondas have resulted in noteworthy decreases in measurements for noise, vibration and harshness. Then wind noise was diminished through aerodynamic streamlining of the exterior shell.
Net effect: When driving at highway speed, riders may converse in normal voice without distractions from annoying mechanical or wind noises -- the quietness of new Civic rivals that of far more expensive cars.
Spend a day in these subcompacts as I did recently and another impression quickly surfaces. The passenger cabin with generous room for legs and shoulders when combined with all that window glass makes Civic seem like a much larger car than it actually measures.
It doesn't feel cramped as a typical small car does.
Another important positive impression concerned the precise and exacting way all of Civic's knobs and levers, handles and buttons operate. Everything's tight, exacting and good -- conveying to me the image of quality.
Of course, Honda long ago built its considerable reputation for providing an array of perks on the inside of cars which worked well and felt right.
As to the safety angle, equipment upgrades range from dual airbags and crumple zones designed in front and rear frames to steel door beams and optional anti-lock brakes.
Despite the many improvements for new Civic, Honda pared developmental costs by 30 percent and brings the 1996 issues to market at prices rivaling those of 1995 models.
1996 HONDA CIVIC SERIES
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| Vehicle Specifications: |
| 1996 HONDA CIVIC SERIES Specs |
| Description: |
Subcompact sedan, coupe, hatchback |
| Model Options: |
Subcompact sedan, coupe, hatchback |
| Wheelbase: |
103.2 inches |
| Overall Length: |
Sedan: 175.1 inches
Coupe: 175.1 inches
Hatch: 164.5 inches
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| Engine Size: |
SOHC 1.6-L I-4 16v
SOHC 1.6-L I-4 16v VTECE
SOHC 1.6-L I-4 16v VTEC
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| Transmission: |
Manual/5, Auto/4 |
| Drive: |
Front |
| Braking: |
Power disc/drum/opt. ABS |
| Airbags: |
2 |
| Gas Mileage: |
Hatch CX: 33/38 mpg
Coupe HX: 39/45 mpg
Sedan EX: 30/36 mpg |
| Price: |
$ 10,900 to $ 19,000 |
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