Honda Civic 1.8 i-VTEC EX review

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Honda Civic 1.8 i-VTEC EX Road Test

Test date 17 January 2006 Price as tested £18,710

For Interior space, fuel consumption, grip levels

Against Ride quality, engine lacks torque,

These days we are so used to each new generation of car being a slightly bigger, more rounded version of its predecessor – think Golf, think Focus, think almost anything you like, in fact – that when one comes along that does not subscribe to this convention, the lips purse, the brows furrow and many in this business make wise and doom-laden prophecies about its future.

Even so, Honda appears not so much to be going out on a limb with the new Civic as standing on one leg on the end of a small twig while waving two fingers in the general direction of the automotive establishment. When your average punter is 58 years old, it remains to be seen whether such a radical approach is brave or foolhardy.

We don’t know any better than you which side of this precarious balance the Civic will fall but we can tell you whether or not this brave hatch deserves to succeed.

The Civic arrives with just five doors – for now – and three engines. Petrol power comes in either 1.4- or 1.8-litre form, while the growing band of diesel converts will march in the direction of Honda’s excellent 2.2-litre powerplant. All versions come with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard and are built in Swindon, as will be the much-anticipated Type-R version when it arrives in the autumn.

Prices start from £12,685 for the basic 1.4 S, and progress through SE, ES and EX trim levels to reach a ceiling of £18,100 for the diesel EX. The car you see here is also an EX, but the £16,600 1.8-litre petrol version. This might seem steep, particularly as discounts will be harder to score than on many rivals but, as we shall see, there are many reasons to think it more than worth the premium.