The first time I sat in the Civic my eyes popped and jaw hit the carpet at the sight of the digital speedo, the two level instrumentation and all the snazzy bits in the cabin. Even now, after spending so much time with the car the cabin never fails to make me smile. The driving position is just what I like – a low-set seat, the small steering wheel ideally positioned thanks to it being rake and reach adjustable, the slick gearbox that falls perfectly to hand and that handbrake that makes you feel you’re in a rally car. If you ask me, just getting prospective buyers to sit in the Civic is enough to sell the car; I mean after all the sci-fi stuff here who would want to go back to an analogue speedo? Not I!
And it never fails to impress passengers. Tell anybody you’re driving a Civic and they instantly want to check it out. Sit them in the car, turn on the ignition and unless s/he is totally desensitised you’ll be treated to oohs and aahs that’ll raise eyebrows of passers-by.
The Civic’s great fun to drive too – I love to ‘scream’ an engine and the Civic’s VTEC-engine encourages such hooliganism. It’s great for short drives, drives from home to office, from Mumbai to Pune. But then took her on a 2000km road trip to Chikmaglur to cover the INRC and after a while ‘screaming’ the engine irritated both my wife and I. When you’re spending long hours on the road you need an engine that’s strong at the bottom and mid-range, strong enough to pull overtaking moves without having to drop a couple of gears and scream it. The Civic on the other hand needs to be revved to eke out all its performance and even when the engine is ‘screamed’, performance isn’t neck-snapping; with all the noise you’d expect a good kick in the back which isn’t forthcoming. That’s not to say she isn’t quick – we got to Chikmaglur in just over eight hours from Pune – and weren’t tired out in the least.
Another drawback is the suspension that’s too soft. Fully loaded there is no travel left in the suspension and she bottoms out over any and every depression. Two-up and she bounces over bumps, that planted feel we’ve got accustomed to from big cars missing from the equation. Overall the suspension feels very fragile and especially when driven over broken state highways those heart-stopping thumps occur too frequently. She’s also very low and grounds out on most speed-breakers; in fact I can’t drive her out of my in-laws’ society with five on board lest she scrape her belly.
Sirish Chandran
