Honda Civic - 10th/11th Generation

[FT-1]

More pictures and details

Honda has quietly revealed a preview of the 10th generation Civic in the New York Auto Show. Being a bright green coupe with a bodykit, it sort of reminded me of a modernised verison of this gem from the Burnout Series:

Hope it turns out to be a global car, imagine this with a Type R engine!

 

[chengman]

We are getting the 5 door hatch Type R in America. Its been confirmed.

 

[Omnis]

All these hondas are overstyled. They would look awesome if all the zigs and zags were toned down a bit. They look like Transformers.

 

[ImaRobot]

From the gas cap forward it looks like an Accord coupe.

 

[05XR8]

At least it has a wide stance.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Something looks off to me...

 

[titleguy1]

From that view, I think it actually looks an awful lot like a Nissan 370Z. That's subjective, of course.

 

[Grandea GTR]

Angles.
Angles (almost) everywhere.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

What a mess. The rear looks like an angry Decepticon face, the profile looks like a morphed Crosstour, and the front, with the black surrounding the headlights, looks like it already has one of those terrible aftermarket visors installed.

In fifteen years, we arrived here from this:

What happened Honda? What happened?

 

[R1600Turbo]

We are getting the 5 door hatch Type R in America. Its been confirmed.

Incorrect sir, we are getting the engine.

 

[ImaRobot]

Incorrect sir, we are getting the engine.

While I did read the article you posted, everything recent being posted is talking about Honda offering a Sedan, 5 door hatchback, and coupe as well as an Si, and Type-R Trim.

Unsure if that was for Honda in General, or Honda USA.

 

[1241Penguin]

That's real? I thought it was an April Fool's joke...

 

[R1600Turbo]

I've seen the hatchback stuff, but I honestly think most of it is just rumors unless Honda comes out and announced it themselves.

 

[Grandea GTR]

What a mess. The rear looks like an angry Decepticon face, the profile looks like a morphed Crosstour, and the front, with the black surrounding the headlights, looks like it already has one of those terrible aftermarket visors installed.

In fifteen years, we arrived here from this:

What happened Honda? What happened?

Simple isn't the style anymore.

 

[Keef]

All these hondas are overstyled. They would look awesome if all the zigs and zags were toned down a bit. They look like Transformers.

I can give it a pass for the robotic styling - it is Japanese after all - but I'm pretty tired of Civics looking so damn feminine. This concept is better than the past few but it still looks fragile.

 

[homeforsummer]

I'm pretty tired of Civics looking so damn feminine.

Haven't Civics often looked quite feminine? The EG generation that everyone seems to love in particular - they're tiny, curvy and have small, delicate details - the headlights, the split tailgate etc.

I'd say the Civic at the top there is about as masculine as Civics get. Has the sort of robotic look you mention, lots of slashes and swoops and aggression, and is painted in a colour that no woman is daft enough to ever splash across a car.

Not referring to you now Keef with this, but in general the Honda hypocrisy is getting a bit daft too.

Everyone: "We want interesting Hondas"
Honda: "Have this bright green crazily-styled Civic"
Everyone: "Why don't you make boring cars like you used to?"

Aside from the default "put a K20 in it" or "make another S2000 that looks and drives and feels exactly like the old S2000" response of everyone on the internet I've not yet seen a cohesive argument for what Honda should actually do to "turn itself around". For me, this Civic looks like a reasonable start to answering that question. As does the new NSX. And the Civic Type R. And, if it ever sells outside Japan, the S660.

 

[Tornado]

Are you questioning someone who owned a Del Sol about Honda femininity?

 

[chengman]

Incorrect sir, we are getting the engine.

I was watching the NYIAS live stream that Honda put up. We are getting the 5 door Type R hatch along with a Civic Sport trim that uses a 1.5 liter turbo four cylinder engine.

 

[Keef]

Haven't Civics often looked quite feminine? The EG generation that everyone seems to love in particular - they're tiny, curvy and have small, delicate details - the headlights, the split tailgate etc.

I'd say the Civic at the top there is about as masculine as Civics get. Has the sort of robotic look you mention, lots of slashes and swoops and aggression, and is painted in a colour that no woman is daft enough to ever splash across a car.

Not referring to you now Keef with this, but in general the Honda hypocrisy is getting a bit daft too.

Everyone: "We want interesting Hondas"
Honda: "Have this bright green crazily-styled Civic"
Everyone: "Why don't you make boring cars like you used to?"

Aside from the default "put a K20 in it" or "make another S2000 that looks and drives and feels exactly like the old S2000" response of everyone on the internet I've not yet seen a cohesive argument for what Honda should actually do to "turn itself around". For me, this Civic looks like a reasonable start to answering that question. As does the new NSX. And the Civic Type R. And, if it ever sells outside Japan, the S660.

Are you questioning someone who owned a Del Sol about Honda femininity?

The EG wasn't feminine at all. It was low, wide, has a powerful stance for an economy car which is apparent when lowered. It never tried to look sporty or to impress anybody. It just did what it did, like men do. The Del Sol was cutesy, I'll give you that, but in lowered and modified mode, Del Sols actually look pretty aggressive.

But these new Civics, ew. Thin, pointy headlights like an Asian girl squinting, a short little tiny hood that is hardly worth lifting, massive amount of glass, steeply raked windshields that look fragile, steeply raked greenhouses that look like it's trying really hard to look good, and the rear is just pathetic. Look at this:

That is the girliest little cutesy spaceship I've ever seen. Now look at this:

Not girly. The body of this car is bland and boring. The design is not trying to deliver any message whatsoever. It simply exists. Completely gender-neutral.

The new concept is basically the current Civic with ridiculous tail lights and trying even harder to look like it isn't based on the girliest and least interesting of economy cars.

 

[YSSMAN]

I was watching the NYIAS live stream that Honda put up. We are getting the 5 door Type R hatch along with a Civic Sport trim that uses a 1.5 liter turbo four cylinder engine.

The 1.5T Civic is exactly what we need. I'm not joking in the least. A cheap, fun, hatchback is the kind of car that'll get all the boys in the yard, and they'll turn to Toyota and say, "Damn right, it's better than yours." I'm 100% interested in the possibility of that car. Pennies shall be pinched in order to get one. Call it a Civic Si hatch, call it a Civic Shoebox Edition... I don't care... A 160 BHP Civic hatch for right around $22k is exactly what the market needs.

 

[chengman]

The 1.5T Civic is exactly what we need. I'm not joking in the least. A cheap, fun, hatchback is the kind of car that'll get all the boys in the yard, and they'll turn to Toyota and say, "Damn right, it's better than yours." I'm 100% interested in the possibility of that car. Pennies shall be pinched in order to get one. Call it a Civic Si hatch, call it a Civic Shoebox Edition... I don't care... A 160 BHP Civic hatch for right around $22k is exactly what the market needs.

So a Fiesta ST? I do hope we get IRS in the Civic instead of the torsion beam in the Fiesta. Should make it even more tail happy than the Fiesta, which may be bad. You know, because teenagers and tail happy equals me waiting until I'm 25 if I want a low insurance rate.

 

[Omnis]

I don't know why Honda can't make a car with 200 horsepower, some room for my ****, and a pricetag under 15 grand.

Make the interior out of soda bottles. I don't give a ****. Why can't we have fun cars that you don't have to worry so much about?

 

[homeforsummer]

The EG wasn't feminine at all. It was low, wide, has a powerful stance for an economy car which is apparent when lowered.

Using modified examples of cars to make a point? You are @Slash and I claim my $5.

I can see what you're getting at, but again - the EG is a tiny, curvy, relatively feminine car in standard form. Its lowness and wideness is entirely a symptom of its tininess compared to modern cars - it's like saying a classic Mini is low and wide, which it is, but only in relation to its length and overall proportions.

For the record, I like the EG Civic a lot, and if I were to point at an ethos a modern Civic should bring back, it's that one - lightweight, nimble, airy cabin (if rather useless for rear seat passengers), and emphasis on small engines for economy and speed rather than the 1.8s and 2.4s it has at the moment (or diesels, for those in the UK).

But let's remind ourselves of a standard car (and photos of one are jolly hard to find nowadays...):

Small, curvy, slim headlights, dainty door handles. And I know this was the 1990s, but they painted them colours like purple and teal, for pity's sake...

 

[chengman]

I don't know why Honda can't make a car with 200 horsepower, some room for my ****, and a pricetag under 15 grand.

Make the interior out of soda bottles. I don't give a ****. Why can't we have fun cars that you don't have to worry so much about?

Because 200hp for less than 15K is impossible to build without losing profit. You can barely get a base Honda fit for that money so 200hp? If you want the car to be unreliable and absolute crap, that's the only way it'll happen.

 

[Grandea GTR]

Because 200hp for less than 15K is impossible to build without losing profit. You can barely get a base Honda fit for that money so 200hp? If you want the car to be unreliable and absolute crap, that's the only way it'll happen.

The Kia Optima is able to generate 200 HP and costs $18k, and that's a midsize sedan. If Kia could pull off making a reliable, powerful, low-cost base model sedan, I feel that Honda has the potential to as well.

 

[chengman]

The Kia Optima is able to generate 200 HP and costs $18k, and that's a midsize sedan. If Kia could pull off making a reliable, powerful, low-cost base model sedan, I feel that Honda has the potential to as well.

There's a difference between making 200hp and making 200hp consistently. Run a B18B against the engine in the Corolla S. Which one will continue making the power over a 5 year period? Anyone can make a Prius make 200hp with the correct air to fuel ratio, but making 200hp for more than 5 minutes of track day? Not happening.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I love the EG. I had a heavily modified EG coupe for a while. Probably the best car I've ever owned. 9,000rpm every day. But I would never consider it masculine looking at all. If anything, it's simply androgynous. Like Pokemon. The problem with the newer generations of Civic is they, simply put, are poorly designed. Full stop.

There's a difference between making 200hp and making 200hp consistently. Run a B18B against the engine in the Corolla S. Which one will continue making the power over a 5 year period? Anyone can make a Prius make 200hp with the correct air to fuel ratio, but making 200hp for more than 5 minutes of track day? Not happening.

Wait....what?

If Ford can make a $23,000 Mustang with more than 300hp, I'm sure *somebody* could make a 200hp car for $15k. Just put a big dumb engine in a little dumb car.

Edit: When the Dodge Avenger was still for sale, you could get 283hp for $18k with the Pentastar V6. That's a lot of power for $18k

 

[05XR8]

All these new coupes are looking metrosexual. Veloster, this Civic coupe, Mrgane. It's just a revival of this:

 

[Grandea GTR]

There's a difference between making 200hp and making 200hp consistently. Run a B18B against the engine in the Corolla S. Which one will continue making the power over a 5 year period? Anyone can make a Prius make 200hp with the correct air to fuel ratio, but making 200hp for more than 5 minutes of track day? Not happening.

You just lost me. What?

 

[chengman]

I love the EG. I had a heavily modified EG coupe for a while. Probably the best car I've ever owned. 9,000rpm every day. But I would never consider it masculine looking at all. If anything, it's simply androgynous. Like Pokemon. The problem with the newer generations of Civic is they, simply put, are poorly designed. Full stop.



Wait....what?

If Ford can make a $23,000 Mustang with more than 300hp, I'm sure *somebody* could make a 200hp car for $15k. Just put a big dumb engine in a little dumb car.

Edit: When the Dodge Avenger was still for sale, you could get 283hp for $18k with the Pentastar V6. That's a lot of power for $18k

Have you ever driven a Dodge Avenger? I would rather daily drive a Reliant Robin than rent an Avenger. The engine in the Mustang is mechanically identical to the one in the MazdaSpeed 3&6 so the costs of R&D have been cut down by a significant amount. Oh and don't forget that Ford used to own Mazda so they literally had a decade of R&D by Mazda. Yeah sure you can have a $15k car make 200hp, just expect the car to have the build quality of a TVR that was built by Jeremy Clarkson whilst drunk on Bacardi 151.

You just lost me. What?

Just because you can make the power doesn't mean you should.