The Civic choice

Five years ago, my ride was a black Honda City Type Z VTi. Its peppy 1.5-liter engine wasn’t quite the jaw-dropping, much vaunted B16s of the day (more famously found in the Civic SiRs), but the Type Z’s lighter frame allowed it a great measure of agility and sprightliness for its 115 hp. Its classy rear light assembly punctuated subdued design and stylish curves which in turn effectively hid an ability to explode from the gate, so to speak. This understated performance was among a wealth of reasons why I chose the Type Z City.

In fact, I’d still pick a Type Z anytime over the City’s present iteration – which, truth be told, brings to mind the Kia Pride sedans of yesteryear. It look just appears too… forced. And to be middle of the road isn’t something you’d expect from Honda.

Thankfully, the bland City is an aberration in the Honda tradition. The present lineup is certainly comprised of well-designed vehicles, although I read somewhere that the CR-V had apparently been bitten by the ugly bug, but that’s another story altogether.

The Civic, by its very name, has always been the worthy standard bearer of the Honda stable – epitomizing the strengths of the brand while inevitably affording a glimpse into its thinking. It is to Honda what the Corolla is to Toyota – a dependable seller that is reasonably aspirational, yet not overly so.

The public certainly sat up and took notice of the new Civic. With some exceptions, there were oohs and aahs all around. No doubt, the Civic wanted to make a solid impact, owing to its very radical departure from its predecessor. One would believe it took cues from the shortened snout of the new City, and sported a sleek and mean-looking fascia with upward-sweeping headlights. The ample tail lights have embraced the vaunted Euro-styling cues with lots of circular design elements. Make no mistake about it, this Civic means business, and it’s willing to through the road less traveled to prove it.

But for the obsessive-compulsive, we just have to be 100 percent sure, of course. So I constantly agonized over which car to get despite my knee-jerk bias for the new Honda. I looked at every manufacturer’s product in my price range (P800-P880,000). Reviews that I read suggested the Civic, my colleagues at the office said Civic, my girlfriend Joyce said Civic. But I was willing to go through the motions of considering everything just so that I wouldn’t have any regrets later on. After all, it isn’t every day (or even every year) someone like me buys a new set of wheels.

Again, based on my experience with the Honda brand, I was seriously considering a Civic. I didn’t want the City, and I was sure I would look cramped in the Jazz. Besides, the Civic also came with a tasty entry level 1.8 that went for just under P800K when it first came out. Suddenly, the 1.8 was the new 1.6. And the 1.6 is now today’s 1.3. The competition didn’t come close.

However, when I heard Toyota was ready to come out with its new Corolla Altis, I told myself any smart buyer worth his salt would wait and compare. Again, the goal was not to have any regrets and self-flagellation later on.

And so Orlando Bloom introduced to all and sundry the new Altis. It was all-new, yes, but I thought the design looked like the old Altis on steroids. It was muscular to a fault.

To be fair, there was a measure of appeal in the new Corolla, but I expected more imagination; perhaps a little more bravery. Hey, the Corolla brand shouldn’t be a pushover. Toyota should be able to dare every darned thing it could think of. Crucially too, Toyota made the error of offering it in 1.6, with the entry-level, manual transmission model starts at P774K. Today, you just add P36,000 and get the entry-level 1.8 Civic. The 1.8 variant only comes in the most expensive Altis to the tune of P1.035 million. Compare that to the premium 2.0 Civic at P1.145 million. Go figure.

And so I opted for a handsome black 1.8S – the higher 1.8 variant that costs just a little higher than the entry level and yet piles on some thoughtful niceties like a bigger rim, passenger-side airbag (along with one for the driver), and couple of fog lamps, to name a few. I just thought Honda could have done better by arming its 1.8 engine with DOHC that comes standard in the new Altis. Alas, only the 2.0S-L Civic came with that nicety.

Still, I knew I wanted the Civic, and wouldn’t settle for anything less. I also knew I wanted manual transmission so I could squeeze every iota of power from the gears. I had shunned matics for the better part of my driving years, and I always look for the unbeatable power on demand that stick shifts afford.

When my Civic was delivered at work, it was spiffy clean and gleaming in the sunlight. It was in proud, eye-catching Nighthawk Black like my past City, and admittedly got stares even as it sat in the building driveway. When I sat down and gave it a whirl, I was punished for being heavy on the gas. The Civic jolted forward, almost eager to gobble up the vehicle ahead of it. The 1.8 wields an ample 140 horsepower, and it can be made to jackrabbit to high speed without much prodding – provided you can even get that digital speedometer up to decent speed on EDSA.

The futuristic, two-tiered instrumentation cluster is centered around the handsome analog tachometer. The digital speedometer, temperature, and fuel gauges remind one of the Ford Telstar a lifetime ago, albeit more tastefully done. The adjustable blue-purple hues of the display always remain on; you might mistakenly think your night lamps areon when they’re not. So green-tinged indicators thoughtfully come to life to confirm they are so.

In city driving, the Civic gulps down a liter of gas for every eight kilometers. Not bad for a 1.8 even as you consider how insane the traffic situation is. I know for a fact that some 1.6s consume more gas than my Civic.

Honda says the 1.8 can top 195 kilometers per hour. For mortals and normal driving folks, we will still get to enjoy the agility and sure-footed performance of this mean-looking machine even on such mundane applications as smoking that vehicle who cut you off. Incidentally, the 1.8S variant comes with yummy 16-inch rims on 205/55 Yokohamas, further enhancing the sporty profile and gait of this handsome car.

Perhaps the only palpable drawback to the Civic is its ubiquity on the road. But you can find solace in the fact that you can be darn sure those not in Civics surely wish they were in one. To quote my balikbayan cousin John Paul who plopped down the passenger seat: “Whoa.”