2017 Honda Civic Hatchback Gets Official: All Turbos, Manual Availability, Type R Promised
American Honda has wisely revealed studio images and announced a level of detail regarding its 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback. After pictures ( from an unfortunate angle) of the new car’s early shipment filtered to America last week, the tenth-generation’s third body style looks significantly better in Honda’s official shots.
Honda’s 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine will power all U.S.-bound Civic Hatchbacks across LX, Sport, EX, EX-L, and Sport Touring trims. The LX, Sport, and EX will be available with a six-speed manual transmission. Until now, the 1.5T upgrade in the tenth-gen Civic was linked exclusively to a continuously variable transmission.
Both the Sport and Sport Touring models add six horsepower, for a total of 180, to the 1.5T’s usual 174-horsepower output.
Honda revealed an aggressive but thinly veiled prototype version of the Civic Hatchback this past spring in Geneva. It’s clear that the hard points of the prototype are mirrored in the production car, including a bifurcated rear window and winglets at the roof and on the decklid. The Sport and Sport Touring models both feature the Geneva prototype’s center-mounted exhaust.
Honda furthered the promise of the first North American Civic Type R with the overnight reveal of Civic Hatchback imagery, as well. The Civic Hatchback, Honda confirmed, “will serve as the basis for the radical new Civic Type-R launching in the U.S. in 2017.”
Although the hatchback takes the place of the tenth-generation Civic’s third body style, following the North American-assembled sedan and coupe, the hatch makes its way across the Atlantic from Honda’s UK plant in Swindon, Wiltshire.
Sound familiar? American Honda last sourced a Civic from the Swindon plant when a two-door Si hatchback accompanied the markedly different North American seventh-generation Civic for a four-year run between 2002 and 2005.
Times have changed. The 2002 Honda Civic Si’s naturally aspirated 2.0-liter produced 160 horsepower. Like the rest of the auto industry, Honda is into turbochargers now, and the standard 2017 Civic Hatchback now produces an extra 14 ponies with 25-percent less displacement.
The 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback will arrive at U.S. dealers in September.
[Images: American Honda, Honda Europe]
More by Timothy Cain
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This is Honda's revenge on you fops for dumping on the looks of the crosstour and ZDX.
Good God, that rear fascia is hideous... So how much longer do we have to wait to find out how disappointing and ugly the new Si will be? Does Honda take such a tediously slow approach to new product rollouts because they know how much enthusiasts are going to be let down, or are they just that clueless? On the Honda forums, they're reading between the lines that the Sport Touring trim means the Si will be coupe/sedan only. I also saw a screenshot of some sort of internal Honda order page indicating the LX and Sport are the only trims available with the manual (no EX like the press release claims - I've seen this kind of error from their PR flunkies before). As with the Accord, I'm assuming that the base Sport will be an LX with wheels, fogs, upgraded exhaust and "sporty" upholstery, but with the same crap stereo, etc. That means if you want a stick shift hatchback, you have to go poverty spec or spend top dollar on the Type R (whenever it finally shows up) with what I can only assume will be an even more absurd body kit. I've come to expect nothing less from Honda.