Honda’s live YouTube concert and Civic reveal is streaming the world debut of the all-new sedan tonight — with shockingly advanced design, tech and cabin luxury upgrades.
The all-new look is quite distinctive and very sexy, particularly versus the current Civic. An all-new platform brings a lower hoodline, a more rear-mounted windshield, plus flying C-pillars out back that plunge into the trunk nicely. Out back, an aero-optimized octagon forms the main trunk and bumper shape, wearing striking LED light pipes around the top edges. Those lights are a great complement to the LED headlights, turn signals and DRLs in the new front lamps.
Below the chrome accent at the top of the nose, an all-new silver grill bar is a 3D piece of art. The actual shape has a twist of the surface, creating a flip of reflectivity that varies by its viewing angle. It is a very fetching look, even on this EX-L-spec model that is very much not an Si or Type R.
Down below that cool grille bar lives a nicely sculpted lower bumper and intake — presenting an impressive amount of sportiness versus any competitors. Not to mention premium-quality tech in plain, bright-lit view.
Inside, new touchscreens and smartphone integration are all about ease of use. New and luxurious-looking elements abound inside the cabin. All previous hard surfaces now appear to have layered soft-touch padding. A more defined center console also feels very grown-up for the compact sedan segment. A credibly premium drive position and much smaller dashboard than before helps visibility and sportiness at the wheel.
The LX and EX sedans shown so far run two engines: a new standard 2.0-liter four to a stick or CVT auto. An all-new 1.5-liter turbo four is an auto-only option — with the most non-Si Civic power ever. No numbers yet, but ballpark 180 or so and a similar amount of grunty, low-rev turbo torque.
2016 Honda Civic Sedan
Honda Debuts Dynamic New 10th Generation Civic Sedan for North America: The Most Ambitious Remake of Civic Ever
- Two new powertrains, including first Honda turbo engine in U.S.
- Available Honda Sensing™ technologies
- Compatible with Apple CarPlay®, the smarter, simpler way to use your iPhone in the car
- Also supports Android Auto™
- New styling includes significant use of LED lighting
- New platform and package yields largest cabin in compact class
Honda took to YouTube today to unveil an all-new, dynamically styled 10th-generation 2016 Civic Sedan, slated for sale in the U.S. this fall. With a more athletic stance and sportier driving position, the 2016 Civic Sedan is a new-from-the-ground-up design intended to recapture the sporty character of Civic while creating the world’s best compact car – setting a new benchmark in the mainstream compact class for fun-to-drive performance, safety performance and fuel efficiency, together with a new level of refinement.
Sporty Civic Design
The dramatic and sporty new Civic design is grounded in its more athletic stance and low and wide proportions. Compared to the current model, the 2016 Civic Sedan is nearly 2 inches wider and 1 inch lower with a 1.2-inch longer wheelbase, featuring a more compact and sporty front overhang, a longer, more aggressively sculpted hood and fastback-style tail.
Two All-new Engines
The 2016 Civic Sedan will feature two all-new, more powerful and fuel-efficient engines. Civic Sedan LX and EX trims will be powered by a 2.0-liter, 16-valve, DOHC i-VTEC™ 4-cylinder – the most powerful base engine ever offered on Civic – mated to either a 6-speed manual (LX trim) or continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). Civic Sedans in EX-T, EX-L trims and Touring trims will be powered by a 1.5-liter, direct-injected and turbocharged 16-valve DOHC inline-4, mated to a unique CVT, delivering a new level of responsiveness in this capacity class of turbocharged engine.
Advanced and Sporty New Body and Chassis
The 2016 Civic will set a new standard for dynamic handling, steering, ride quality and cabin quietness in the compact class, courtesy of its all new platform, featuring the most rigid and tightly sealed body and the most sophisticated chassis in Civic history.
2016 Honda Civic Sedan – Interior
Torsional rigidity of the new body is improved by 25 percent, aided in part by more intensive use of ultra-high-strength steel. Twelve percent of the unit body is made of ultra-high-strength steel, up from 1percent on the current model. Aerodynamic efficiency is improved by 12 percent to class-leading levels, in part through the use of full underbody covers—a Civic first. Despite its larger size, the new Civic unit body is 68 pounds lighter than before, while new body-sealing techniques result in a 58-percent reduction in cabin air leaks. Class-leading cabin quietness is further improved by the use of premium noise-reducing features, including a flush-mounted acoustic glass windshield, a more tightly sealed engine compartment and triple-sealed doors.
To achieve the Civic development team’s high targets for dynamic performance and refined ride quality, the new Civic Sedan utilizes hydraulic compliance bushings, a technology typically reserved for more expensive vehicles, aiding the isolation of road vibration. Additional new chassis technologies include variable gear ratio steering, beefier front and rear stabilizer bars and standard 4-wheel disc brakes, along with the application of new Agile Handling Assist brake-torque vectoring technology for more precise and agile cornering.
Spacious, Sophisticated and Advanced Cabin
The new Civic interior is designed to offer the most comfortable, sophisticated and premium-feeling cabin in the compact class. An additional 3.7 cubic feet of interior space translates into the largest cabin in the compact segment with 2 inches of added rear-seat legroom versus the outgoing model. In front, new ultra-thin front roof pillars enable class-leading forward visibility; and at the rear, trunk space has been increased by 2.6 cubic feet with a lower liftover height, larger opening and wider and taller cargo area. Civic Sedan EX and above trims will feature a 60/40 split and folding rear seat.
The 2016 Civic Sedan offers customers more premium features than ever before. New standard equipment includes automatic climate control – dual-zone on EX-L and higher trims; auto-up/down front power windows; an electronic parking brake with Brake Hold; Walk-Away auto door locks and an adjustable driver’s seat thigh support with 14 degrees of tilt (EX-L and above). All Civic Sedan models also feature a larger, reconfigurable new center console with up to 7.2 liters of secure storage space, approaching SUV levels of console utility.
The new Civic interior strikes a more premium tone with high-quality materials and high-contrast finishes. These include a new one-piece, soft-touch instrumental panel with molded stitching; more premium seat fabrics; a new full-color TFT center meter (EX and above trims); a center console with piano black finish and high-contrast sliver bezel; door inserts with live stitching; an LED shift indicator and LED overhead lighting; and for EX and higher trims, a leather shift boot. Upper grades offer even more premium features, including an 8-way power adjustable driver’s seat, 4-way power front passenger’s seat, heated front and rear seats and heated side mirrors.
Civic Manufacturing
Civic Sedans for the North American market will be produced at the company’s Greensburg, Indiana and Alliston, Ontario, Canada auto plants. The new Civic’s 2.0-liter and 1.5-liter turbo engines will be manufactured in Anna, Ohio, and the vehicle’s two automatic transmissions (CVTs) will be sourced from Honda plants in Russells Point, Ohio, and Celaya, Mexico.
The new Civic utilizes numerous new manufacturing processes and technologies to advance quality, efficiency and fun-to-drive performance – the result of new investment in Honda automobile and engine plants in North America. This includes the addition of the company’s innovative new inner-frame weld body construction process in both Indiana and Canada, a system first utilized for production of the 2015 Honda Fit. This new general weld system creates a more lightweight, rigid and strong body structure that helps enable the Civic’s class-leading fuel efficiency, outstanding safety performance and fun-to-drive experience.
About Civic
Civic is Honda’s best-selling car globally, the best-selling compact car in America with individual retail car buyers for the past eight years1 and the most popular car with U.S. millennials2. The first-generation Civic debuted in America in 1972, and Civic has played a leading role in advancing fuel efficiency, small-car safety performance, design, technology and fun-to-drive performance for nine generations. American car buyers have purchased more than 10 million Civics throughout its 43 years in the U.S. market, and Civic has been manufactured in North America since 1986, with cumulative production in North America exceeding nine million Civics.
http://automobiles.honda.com/10th-gen-civic/
Tom Burkart is the founder and managing editor of Car-Revs-Daily.com, an innovative and rapidly-expanding automotive news magazine.
He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank.
Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.