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.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
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This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a prepared course chosen to make the product look good. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday May 26, 2012
You do know that your father, or father-in-law, has been keeping a secret don’t you? Haven’t you noticed how his face lights up whenever you invite him and Mom over for a visit or to drive anywhere? Hasn’t this been happening more regularly since he bought that Honda Civic? Its conservative exterior led to a reputation as being an “old man’s car” and you dismissed it as such. Sucker. Given half a chance, they went rather well and handled nicely too. Now they are even better.
We told you about revised suspension and reduced weight in our launch report on the sedan versions a few months ago. Ride quality, handling and dynamic properties were fine-tuned to improve responsiveness, linearity and stability, making the new Civic even more fun to drive than previously. Gearboxes are smoother and quieter, while safety engineering has been updated as well.
“Great,” you say: “this is a hatchback version of the sedan, so what’s new?” Quite a bit. The cars are built on different platforms, with this one being 245 mm shorter on a wheelbase that’s truncated 80 mm. It’s 20 mm wider and height is much of a muchness, while front and rear tracks are about 10 mm wider. It also boasts 37 litres more boot space than the sedan. Oh, yes – this car is built at Swindon in the UK, while the sedan hails from Thailand.
For the present at least, you have a choice of two engines, three levels of trim and four models; namely a 1.8 i-VTEC petrol in Elegance or Executive levels with either six-speed manual or five-gear automatic transmission and a 2.2 i-DTEC diesel-powered Exclusive model in manual only.
Equipment levels are as expected, with entry-level Elegance versions weighing in with ABS, EBD and EBA, vehicle stability assistance, 16” alloy wheels, tyre deflation warning, six airbags, ISOFix child seat anchors, height-adjustable driver’s seat, trip computer, automatic climate control, electric windows front and rear, heated and powered outside mirrors and Honda’s famed lift-up rear seat cushions. You want entertainment, so how about an RDS radio with single-disc CD player, USB, auxiliary input and four speakers? An integrated alarm system with rolling code immobiliser, remote central locking with selective opening and autolock, take care of security.
Going upmarket to Executive level gets you 17” wheels with corresponding wider and lower-profiled tyres, front fog lights, smarter interior trim with heated leather seats and a leather-trimmed steering wheel, faux aluminium pedals, two more speakers, a rear armrest with extra cup holders, dual zone climate control and “one touch” windows that can be closed from outside, using the remote. There is also speed control, automatic lights and wipers, tilting and folding side mirrors and a reversing camera.
Going all the way to Exclusive level brings a panoramic glass sunroof, a premium sound system, HID headlights with automatic leveling and integrated washers, and front and rear parking assistance. Bluetooth hands-free, included with this model, is available optionally on Elegance and Executive versions.
The familiarisation session showed that the instrument layout is different from the one in the sedan, with main instruments placed in hooded binnacles and the digital speedometer in an almost heads-up position, where the slightest downward flick of one’s eyes brings it into view. The parking brake lever has been moved a touch to the left, making it easier to get at. Around at the back, the boot incorporates a 76-litre compartment under a panel, for stashing valuables.
Out on the road, the cars proved to be spacious, performed willingly and handled well – proof yet again that parents do know best.
The numbers
Prices range from R248 000 (1,8 Elegance manual) to R343 800 (2,2 Diesel Exclusive)
Engines:
1,8 i-VTEC: 1798 cc SOHC, 16-valve, four-cylinder
Power: 106 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 174 Nm at 4300 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 9,1 s (man) or 10,9 s (auto)
Maximum speed: 212 km/h/207 km/h (man/auto)
Average fuel consumption (Euro test): 6,1/6,5 l/100 km (man/auto)
2,2 i-DTEC: 2199 cc, four-cylinder, turbodiesel
Power: 110 kW at 4000 rpm
Torque: 350 Nm between 2000 and 2750 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,7 seconds
Maximum speed: 216 km/h
Average fuel consumption (Euro test): 4,7 l/100 km
Tank: 50 litres
Euro NCAP: 5 stars
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 5 years/90 000 km at 15 000 km intervals
To read our review of the 2012 Civic Hatch 1.8 Executive m/t 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