Why is the new civic a failure?

[SpartanG]

I really think honda went the way of toyota, as others have stated. Remember when Toyota still made sports cars? I don't know about you guys, but in my books, the Supra has attained legend status. After that, the toyota lineup died out and became stale as a decade old piece of bread.

Remember when Honda stopped production on the s2k? I don't know the specifics, but that was the last true sports they've made for a while.

Now, toyota is attempting to show they make cars worth buying with the ft86. Perhaps a few years down the road, honda will also come back with their own rwd sports car.

Just my 2 cents

About hoarding old cars: Remember, reusing the old is more environmentally friendly than buying the new! so buy all the old sports cars you want, and claim you're saving the environment. it's true.

 

[Eric.]

I expected a new Civic to come out with a small displacement bump (2.2 maybe) and be making around 215hp. If they would put direct injection on it, they could have the best of both worlds...

I want to drive a new one. I'm betting it feels a lot like mine does now, but with a stupid-high VTEC crossover to be gimmicky.

 

[homeforsummer]

Magazines, in North America at least, are usually biased towards the manufacturers who'll dish out the most money, ie BMW, Porsche, and General Motors (Motor Trend in particular shares the bed with GM) That doesn't mean however their opinions are garbage, it means not to take what you read for gospel, and take everything with a grain of salt.

Magazines in the UK don't tend to be like that, and BMWs still win most tests.

I'm talking design wise, to drive, I'm sure a lot of them are way better than the E46.

Meh. E46 was one of the least pleasing on the eye 3-Series shapes so far IMO. Too soft, and apparently most versions weren't even that great to drive. Funnily enough I've got plenty of mags in which the E46 wasn't winning group tests...

But a lot of magazines are very biased as someone else has said. I know Car n' Driver loves BMW, and Motortrend with GM.

As above, doesn't happen in the UK. People claim it does, but then they also complain that Mercedes, Audis, Jaguars etc are given favourable treatment too. Since you can't give everyone favourable treatment, one can only assume that they're simply recommending the cars that are actually best.

 

[NLxAROSA]

It's only dead in Japan. Everywhere else, it's still going strong.

The IMA version is going strong over here, but only because you get huge tax refunds because it's a hybrid. Any other version of the Civic (or any Honda for that matter) is hardly selling. Although it's not a bad car, the competition over here is simply better (and cheaper on top).

 

[niky]

RE: Bimmers: Indeed... BMWs nowadays still rock the "driving" portion of the test... obviously you're not going to get the same joy out of a 530 or a 320 as you would out of a Miata, but they're still at the sharp end of the pack when it comes to engaging the senses on a drive. Any car that will willingly try to kill you when you switch the traction control off (as a fellow journo found out with the new 5) is still a joy to fling around.

Wouldn't buy the pug-ugly new 1, though. Ew. Someone gave that thing a facelift that wouldn't look out of place on a Cheshire Cat.

I expected a new Civic to come out with a small displacement bump (2.2 maybe) and be making around 215hp. If they would put direct injection on it, they could have the best of both worlds...

I want to drive a new one. I'm betting it feels a lot like mine does now, but with a stupid-high VTEC crossover to be gimmicky.

Probably not... if anything, the extra displacement will make the cam changeover even less noticeable than it is, already.

 

[CMvan46]

Because it used to be this:

And became this:

Simple reason for that, it's now a family car not a sporty little car.

throw in the fact that the Civic is dead outside the US, or so I heard, and they don't feel like trying anymore. they're probably focusing more on the Fit/Jazz.

Ummm no. Best selling car in Canada 13 years running. Dealership I work at would strongly object too. First SI we got sold in 1 hour, second one sold before it got off the truck...I'm serious.

Times have changed and so has the car. They are aiming for a new target group and does your average family or grandma care about how much extra horsepower it's got? Nope. Do they care about MPG or L/100 km? Yep. Do they care about safety ratings, reliability, and resale value? Yep. All those have improved with this civic and just because some journalists don't like the power in it or some guys on a racing forum don't like how it's changed doesn't make it a bad car.

 

[Sniffs]

I've got the hint allready, guys. i got the impression from American media that the fit/Jazz replaced the civic completely outside the US .

the Canuk got it right on the nose. the civic moved up into the equivelant "mid sized sedan" market in the US, shoved up there by fit, which is taking its spot as the zippy little thing

however, they guy from dayton is ALSO right. american small cars were so crap for so long, that's all most americans expect out of them.

Civic has moved on, and I rarely see anything Accord-like around here that's not the coupe.

the ironic bit was, when I heard this "civic turned into a crappy Appliance", it was from Consumer Reports which is so firmly in bed with Honda that I stoped reading it.

 

[Pupik]

One could argue Car & Driver has a fascination with Honda, too. The Fit hasn't been off the Ten Best list since day one, and the Accord has only been off the list...maybe four times since 1983.

I guess the Civic is just trying to chase lost Accord sales due to thinning bank accounts. I think I was just a little disappointed to hear the Si version wasn't exactly a leaps-and-bounds improvement, what with the nondescript new body and mostly the same motor. But I really doubt that makes it a failure; Civics have been simple cars since day one, and that's the formula Honda's staying with.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Still looks better than what VW did with the American Jetta.

Any Honda is better than a VW. Especially stateside.

 

[niky]

It's hard to argue against Honda. They do some stuff wrong... but as appliances, they work. Despite my disappointment with the economy of the new 5-speed AT in the Fit, there is still no other small car that does so much with so little space.

It's not the be-all and end-all of subcompact fun, anymore, now that Mazda has finally ditched the aging Demio for a Mazda2 deserving of the name and the Fiesta has ridden into second place behind it... (UK and Asian spec Fiestas handle much better than US ones, apparently) yet the Fit still falls on the fun-to-drive side. Would I rate it ten-best beside all the newer, fancier cars? (Including the new Accent?) Why yes, yes I would.

The Accord is still impressive. Though the new 6 drives better and has an interior that is just as nice (though smaller) and the Sonata is just as nice, nowadays.

The Civic? I don't know about calling it a sudden, abject failure... because the EP was worse and the FD was better but fundamentally flawed from a comfort perspective. Thus, suddenly proclaiming that this is the tipping point is a bit of short-sightedness.

 

[JJ72]

Hm the Civic is pretty dead here too.

Of course there are some hardcores who bought FD2s for R34 GTR money.

But most boyracers moved onto GTis and such.

for entry level eco-boxes the Jazz, Echo and Mazda took over, and a large chunk of the market also goes to real boxes like the Cube, Kia soul and whatever other make are having.