Honda raises game with new Civic

The 10th generation Honda Civic has gone on sale here priced from €23,750.

A hugely important car for the brand, its development sucked up one third of Honda’s R&D budget.

The style is strong, quite aggressive looking both front and rear.

The new Civic is available with two turbocharged petrol engines, a 1.0- 3-cylinder with 127hp and a 4-cylinder 1.5 with 180hp which Honda says provides more power than its 1.8 petrol predecessor. A CVT automatic is available.

The 1.0 version is in Tax Band A3 of €190 p/1, and is offered in four grades; the 1.5 starts at €28,550, is available in three grades and is in Band B2 of €280 p/a. A 1.6 diesel will arrive later in the year. The Civic is the first Honda model in Europe to use the brand new turbo engines.

The new car is longer, wider and lower than the version it replaces, and also has a lower centre of gravity and a longer wheelbase.

Though overall lighter by some 16kg than the outgoing car, it is much stronger and the company claims it has better ride and handling characteristics.

You are linked to everything you need - contacts, entertainment and data.

The 478 litre boot capacity is class-leading.

The interior includes a 7-inch centre dash touchscreen to manage various functions as well as providing a screen for a rear view camera in higher grades. The driver’s instrumentation comprises another 7-inch configurable display which provides primary and secondary information.

Honda is big on safety and this is one of the safest cars around. Standard safety technologies include radar/camera operated collision mitigation, lane departure warning, a steering correction if the car is veering off the road, adaptive cruise control, and an automatic speed limit assistance.

At launch, we were able to drive, under expert instruction, using the Low Speed Following feature which was fitted to a LHD car specially there for the day.

The system can brake for you - if you get too close to the vehicle in front - and accelerate up to 30km/h and then slow down for you. It takes a while to put your trust in it, but for me it worked a treat. You just do the steering.

It brings the day of autonomous driving ever closer and is offered for the first time in this new Civic.