The Honda Civic is dead as we know it. Honda has killed off their leading volume leader in the Untied States and no one is here to mourn its passing except me. The Civic nameplate lives on and the new for 2006 car that carries the Civic name is a fine car, but the Civic spirit is dead and gone. The Civic has morphed through innumerable changes since it was introduced in 1973 just in time to win the hearts and minds of the American automobile public as the first Gas Crisis struck in the Fall of '73. The original intent of the first Honda Civic has prevailed through all the model changes until the latest and largest version of the Honda Civic hit the US dealerships. The newest Civic has grown in size just as the girth of the Average American has grown over the decades and the larger, pudgier Civic is tailored to fit an audience that needs a skoosch more room to fit into its jeans.
It is not necessarily a bad thing that Honda has moved the Civic product line up a notch in the greater automotive food chain; the new car is well built, fuel efficient and handsome in an econo-box sort of way. In size and features, the new Civic is moving into territory that the Honda Accord has occupied since that nameplate debuted in the US in the late 1970's. The taller, wider cabin of the new Civic will hold four American-sized adults comfortably while the trunk will happily swallow their luggage. The fit and finish of the body and interior is Honda traditional: outstanding. The Honda drive train is Swiss watch smooth and quiet while delivering a jump in horsepower and squeezing even more mileage out of each gallon of gas than year's outstanding gas economy performance. So what is not to like about the new Civic?
Size and weight, to start with. The new Civic now tips the scales on the hefty side of 2900 pounds. What once was delivered at 2400 pounds now hauls a quarter of a ton of extra poundage. The extra weight delivers greater rigidity, a quieter and more comfortable ride and greater comfort features that were only available on top line luxury vehicles only a few years ago. Again, getting all these improvements is not a bad thing for the majority of car consumers who seek the Civic's legendary reliability and fuel economy in such an affordable package.
It is the car enthusiast market that is being shortchanged by the new Honda Civic. The Honda Civic, until outed by The Fast and the Furious movies, was the stealth performance car of choice for the new age gear head. Until the general public was woken from its ignorance of Honda's engineering and performance potential from such small packages by the laughably bad street racer movies, the Honda Civic was the car of choice for the modern Hot Rodder because it combined a small package with a high performance potential. Light weight, simple design and easily accessible mechanical bits (meaning that the average Home Mechanic could easily repair or improve his car) spawned the Sport Compact Car movement.
The new Civic in not light as we have covered, nor will it be easy for the average Home Mechanic to work on. Serious racing teams with not-for-the-street lightweight body materials can address the weight issue. But the At Home Mechanic will be stymied in his attempt to add power increasing aftermarket parts onto the new Civic due the compact design of the new car's engine compartment packaging. The engine every Civic up to the 2005 model year left the entire engine exposed when the hood was opened, the New Civic's steeply sloping windshield caused the underlying dashboard to project far forward and cover most of the engine compartment. While routine service points are still easily accessible in the new car, the tight spaces left by the new design dictates that the engine will need to be removed from below the vehicle for major service and improvement. This will definitely make an impact on the casual home hobbyist who would like do his own major work on the car.
Honda has a reason for moving the Honda Civic upscale in size and appointments while making the car that much more difficult for non-factory mechanics to work on it. The dealerships make the majority of their profits from the service bays, so anything that forces the owners to return for service is a plus for them. And Honda plans to fill the vacuum left by the Civic's departure for the next step up on the automotive evolutionary chain with an entirely new-to-the-US model called the Honda Jazz overseas and to be called the Honda Fit in the American market. Smaller, lighter, cheaper and less powerful than the Civic, the Fit will fit nicely into the current Honda lineup when it is introduced into this market next spring (allowing plenty of time for Honda dealerships to empty their inventory of smaller 2005 civic models lingering on their lots).
The good news for enthusiasts is that the Fit will swallow the Civic's bigger and more powerful drive train into its engine compartment and the tradition of packing a powerful punch in a small Honda will be continued by enthusiasts looking for a small package to propel with Honda power.