Honda Reveals Longer, Lower, Wider 2016 Civic, Now in Turbo Flavor

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Honda broadcasted Wednesday night its all-new, 10th-generation Civic that’s longer, lower and wider than the current model and looks nothing like the cheap car I drove through college.

The 2016 Honda Civic will sport a 2-liter or 1.5-liter turbocharged engine up front, leather seats in the middle and fastback styling at the rear for a full about-face from its current model. Most models will be mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission, although a six-speed manual will be available at the base, LX trim with the naturally aspirated 2-liter mill. Honda will also offer a sportier Civic Si, ahead of a Type R model — which will be the first time that model will be sold in the U.S.

The car is two inches wider, one inch lower and its wheelbase is 1.2 inches longer than the outgoing model. Honda didn’t say how much the car would cost when it goes on sale later this year.

Up front, the car sports a grille that looks familiar (Acura via Honda Accord) and “boomerang” tail lamps in the back. The Civic Coupe, which will be unveiled later, is likely to carry most of the fastback styling from the sedan.

Starting with the LX and EX models, Honda will stuff a 2-liter four up front, and offer a manual transmission only on the base LX trim. EX-T, EX-L and Touring trims will receive the 1.5-liter turbocharged four with direct injection mated to a CVT. Honda didn’t specify the output of either mill, but the force-fed four will probably range between 170 horsepower and 180 horsepower.

According to Honda, the incoming Civic will be 25 percent stiffer and 68 pounds lighter than the outgoing model. A revised multi-link suspension is mounted to a new rear subframe and brake-assisted torque vectoring will help improve handling. The Civic will also sport hydraulic bushings to improve road manners.

Inside, the car will add 3.7 cubes of interior space thanks to a slightly stretched wheelbase, including two additional inches of rear legroom. Honda added more space in the trunk, which now accommodates 14.3 cubic feet of cargo.

The Civic can also be had with leather hides, dual-zone climate control, a 7-inch touchscreen and all the tach you can handle.



Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments
Join the conversation
8 of 123 comments
  • APaGttH APaGttH on Sep 17, 2015

    LOVE. Really love everything about this. Fantastic looking car inside and out.

  • Wmba Wmba on Sep 17, 2015

    So Honda finally managed to bless the proletariat with a couple of DOHC engines on mainline Civics. They took the Accord Hybrid 2.0 liter, removed the Atkinson gubbins and Voila! 158 hp instead of 141. I'm looking forward to trying both kinds, because this last Civic since 2006 is a complete yawn to drive. Maybe things will improve, but it's a bit unlikely. As for the people who long for SLA suspension, I have to laugh. Those old Hondas had about 4 inches of suspension travel as per usual Honda practice. Any old piece of cr*p suspension works for that limited travel, and as BMW, Porsche and everyone else showed, Macpherson strut is perfectly fine for really fast cars let alone pedestrian Hondas. People get these strange ideas in their heads and never let it go as if it were some absolute truth. Lack of technical training is the culprit in my opinion. Might as well believe in astrological signs and magic.

    • See 5 previous
    • WheelMcCoy WheelMcCoy on Sep 18, 2015

      @calgarytek "Incorrect. You can have a high hood/high cowl double wishbone design by changing the attachment point of the strut from the lower control arm to the upper control arm." I'm not saying you can't build or engineer double wishbones on a vehicle with a high hood and cowl. I'm saying a low hood and cowl was desirable and double wishbones made it possible... something struts could not do. Now that pedestrian safety regs raised the hood and cowl, one advantage of double wishbones has been negated.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
Next