Honda does it.
Wednesday Jul 20 2011 -
Honda does it. The Vancouver Province. July 20, 2011. Bob McHugh
A completely redesigned 2012 Honda Civic has come out swinging in defence of its "Best-selling car in Canada" title. The wily ninth-generation compact car champ (13 consecutive years) has adjusted its marketing stance in order to get in some telling hits that should halt any challengers in their tracks. It opens with a series of stinging great value announcements, including a new base price of just $14,990 for the Civic DX. That's $2,000 below the 2010 list price for a comparable edition and comes with $600 worth of extra equipment. The great value hits keep coming throughout the entire new 2012 Civic lineup with savings as high as $3,590 on the new Si Sedan.
In addition to much-improved value, the new Civic scores with better fuel economy and a new Eco Assist feature that provides even greater fuel savings at the press of a button. There are enhancements to performance, ride and interior packaging, plus new interactive electronic technologies.
Civic comes in four completely redesigned 2012 models. In addition to the popular Civic Sedan, there's a two-door Civic Coupe, the performance-oriented Civic Si Coupe and Sedan and a new Civic Hybrid that will be released later this year.
A 1.8-litre (140-horsepower) that's been re-engineered to provide better fuel economy is the standard Civic engine. It's a refined version of the previous generation engine with reduced friction and improved emissions performance.
As before, it comes with a fivespeed manual (except EX-L) or an optional five-speed automatic transmission (except DX). Honda's reasoning for not upgrading to a sixspeed automatic was that the extra weight and cost didn't justify it.
The Si models come with a new, bigger and more powerful 2.4-litre engine (replaces 2.0-litre) that also touts improved fuel economy. It's the most powerful engine Honda has ever put in a Civic and it uses a high-performance version of the i-VTEC ("intelligent" valve-control) system plus a specially tuned highvolume intake manifold.
The new Si engine delivers peak power at 7,000 rpm compared to the previous Si engine's 7,800 rpm power peak. The increased displacement results in a substantial 22 per cent increase in peak torque - 170 lbs.ft at just 4,400 rpm.
The big change in Civic Hybrid will be a switch to a new lithium-ion battery that's more powerful, lighter and more compact than the current nickel-metal hydride battery. It's used to capture and store electricity for the upgraded 23-horsepower electric motor.
The Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system uses a gasoline engine as the primary power source and an electric motor provides additional power. A larger 1.5-litre gas engine will be connected to the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).
The Civic first arrived in Canada as a 1973 model and Honda has sold more than 1.6 million of them over the last 38 years. Equally impressive is the fact that Honda estimates that the majority of them, close to one million, are still on our roads.
Source: http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Honda+does/5129893/story.html