SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in The Witness Motoring on Wednesday August 8, 2012
You get those who lead and those who follow. Honda usually leads. During the ‘fifties the company set the motorcycling world at war by fitting plastic mudguards over the front wheels of its bikes. The British Iron vs. Jap Plastic controversy raged for years. Soichiro Honda stuck it out, reasoning that the front ‘guard is the part most susceptible to little bumps and scrapes that plastic can shrug off. Said fender is also likely to be destroyed when, not if, its owner takes a tumble, so why not make it cheap to replace?
We know what happened to British Iron, so we won’t reopen that old debate. Fast forward to 2010 when Asimo, Honda’s cute little robot, obeyed his first command transmitted by human thought. Be impressed or be afraid, it’s up to you.
Moving on, Honda hatchbacks and sedans are not simply reshaped versions of the same body. Since the previous generation, they have been built on different platforms, explaining why the five-door is 245mm shorter on a wheelbase measuring 80mm less. It is marginally taller and 20mm wider than the sedan with wheel tracks respectively 29- and 10mm broader. It has more luggage space too – 477 litres that can expand to 1210, rather than 440 litres that don’t.
In typical Honda fashion, its cars don’t look quite the same as competitors do, inside or out. Apart from “magic seats” – rear seat cushions that can be lifted to accommodate oddly shaped objects – the dash layout is different. Three cowled, analogue dials look after temperature, revolutions and fuel, while the speedo is bold, digital and housed in a sweeping curve above them, almost like a heads-up display. A large green button labelled “Eco” is placed off to the right. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that its function is to reduce the effect of heavy right feet and encourage drivers to proceed economically.
Using it is a matter of taste, because its softening effect on throttle response makes the car feel lazy. Whatever you decide, the message continues as an indicator strip around the perimeter of the rev. counter morphs from green to blue as your driving style changes from economical to wasteful. Relax; the line doesn’t ever turn red. We checked, so that you don’t need to.
A mini spoiler with built-in brake lighting sweeps across the rear window to manage airflow over the top of the car. Seen from inside, it’s obtrusive at first, but like screaming children or barking dogs, you eventually tune it out.
The boot, as its litreage suggests, is big. It loads at mid-thigh height and is about 20cm deep. Four lashing rings and a net help to keep the groceries from sliding and the spare is a space saver. As mentioned earlier, seatbacks fold in the usual way to open the space to larger loads. Although the rear seat area is fitted with three belts and as many head restraints, occupancy is best reserved for shorter passengers.
Accommodations are otherwise very classy and comfortable, dressed in leather and well fitted and finished, although the dash might be criticised for being somewhat “busy.” The car felt solid and unbreakable, while the overall driving experience was very pleasant. Its positive and smooth six-speed manual gearbox was a joy to use and steering was direct with good feedback. Despite Honda’s best attempts to put fun back into motoring, Civics still have a bit of a “Dad’s car” image, although this one can be hustled along quite enthusiastically when wickedness takes over.
Dad has the last laugh though as, in a recent United Kingdom survey, Honda was judged the most reliable used car brand for the seventh time. Innovation and reliability sounds like a winning combination.
The numbers
Price: R270 000
Engine: 1798cc, i-VTEC, four-cylinder
Power: 104 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 174 Nm at 4300 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,1 seconds
Maximum speed: 212 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: 7,8 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals. Time not stated. Check with dealer.
To see our launch report and more technical detail, click here
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8