Sacramento,
California – I’ve been saying for years that the venerable Honda Civic is a
universal car, one that pleases on so many levels that no prospective buyer is
immune to its charms.
I can cite
numerous cases of religiously “buy American” parents who opted to get their child a Honda Civic
when he/she went off to college.
Why? It’s affordable, it tends to run forever with
few problems, it’s well-equipped and gas mileage is excellent.
That’s pretty
convincing, right. Maybe that explains
why the Civic entered its TENTH generation with some tpleasing weaks and major
improvements for the 2016 model year.
My tester was
the 2016 Civic 1.5T Touring sedan starting at $26,500. No extras needed beyond the $835 destination
and handling charge.
For that
amount of money, the tested Civic was loaded up with leather-trimmed seats,
leather-wrapped steering wheel/shift knob, a cockpit-rockin’ audio system with
10 speakers, heated front/rear seats, a driver’s eight-way power seat, a
navigation system and an electric parking brake.
Throw in the
extensive safety systems and exterior goodies such as LED front/rear lights and
rain-sensing windshield wipers, and you’re looking at a motor vehicle that
probably should cost $35,000.
Feeling good
about saving that much coin on this relatively high-end Touring edition? Wait, there's more. On the
tester, fuel mileage came in at 31 miles per gallon in the city and 42 mpg on
the highway. Those numbers will leave a
few gas stations in the dust.
Interior room
is good, although large adults in the backseat area might feel a bit squeezed.
Beyond this, the latest Civic looks good and is fun to drive.
The tester was
sporty and sleek in profile, and it looked sharp riding on 17-inch alloy wheels
and wearing Cosmic Blue Metallic paint.
The Honda sedan was
decidedly peppy with a 1.5-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine (174
horsepower) doing the chores. Matched to
a continuously variable transmission, the power plant moved the Civic around with
ease. Accelerations were strong. Steering was effortless.
Body rigidity
was improved by Honda engineers, and it showed in the tester, which sawed off
high-speed corners with barely a wiggle felt in the driver’s seat. Four-wheel disc brakes stopped the Civic sedan on
a dime.
Somehow, Honda
has managed to make an A-grade car even better, a talent that likely translates
to many motorists buying Civics for generations to come.
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