Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Robert Kah
Honda had two things to say this year in Frankfurt. One was that their new new hot hatch will have at least 280 hp and will arrive painfully late. The other announcement was that they have a new Civic that's more practical than you would ever imagine and you can buy right now.
The Civic Tourer is a really interesting exercise in engineering. It has been developed for European customers alone and has a pretty impressive load carrying capacity. With the rear seats folded flat, the luggage capacity is a massive 1,668 liters.
It's also quite efficient. When equipped with Honda's new Earth Dreams 1.6 diesel, it should return under 4 l/100km and emit 99 g/km of CO2. Honda has thankfully killed off the 2.2-liter diesel which was good but expensive to tax and own. The only other engine available with the Civic Tourer is going to be the 1.8-liter with intelligent VTEC technology.
From a design point of view, it's nothing to write home about. The front and rear doors have remained exactly the same to save money. The rear hath is also very similar to the one on the 5-door and inside, you get the same rear seats that fold down or up to create a tall loading area. This is great if you want to move a plant for example.
Even though it's basically the same Civic with a different boot, we still loved what we saw in Frankfurt because of the colors and the sharp wheels. Let's just hope it's cheap enough, because that's where Honda seems to stumble and fall.
The Tourer is their first Honda fitted with a new Adaptive Damper System (ADS). To ensure the system is cheaper than on a Volkswagen, they only changed the rear dampers, not the front ones.
It's also quite efficient. When equipped with Honda's new Earth Dreams 1.6 diesel, it should return under 4 l/100km and emit 99 g/km of CO2. Honda has thankfully killed off the 2.2-liter diesel which was good but expensive to tax and own. The only other engine available with the Civic Tourer is going to be the 1.8-liter with intelligent VTEC technology.
From a design point of view, it's nothing to write home about. The front and rear doors have remained exactly the same to save money. The rear hath is also very similar to the one on the 5-door and inside, you get the same rear seats that fold down or up to create a tall loading area. This is great if you want to move a plant for example.
Even though it's basically the same Civic with a different boot, we still loved what we saw in Frankfurt because of the colors and the sharp wheels. Let's just hope it's cheap enough, because that's where Honda seems to stumble and fall.
The Tourer is their first Honda fitted with a new Adaptive Damper System (ADS). To ensure the system is cheaper than on a Volkswagen, they only changed the rear dampers, not the front ones.
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