Honda Civic review - Ride and Handling |
The Honda lies low, its got McPherson strut linkages , Coil Spring with Torsion Bar doing duty at the front and Double - wishbone, Coil spring with Torsion Bar suspension at the rear. Sounds familiar right, but the setup has a high Castor and high trail, which are basically the angle the suspension makes with the neutral axes. This may not sound like much, but the work put in by the engineers at Honda makes this car not only ultra-stable at high speed in a straight line, but also ensure smooth, silken smooth handling and razor sharp cornering and believe you me; zero roll. This has much to do with the relatively low stance of the civic. We didn't scrape any bumps, with four adults inside the car. Perhaps, you won't have a problem either.
Some might find the brakes, which are ventilated discs up front and solid discs at the rear a bit inadequate, but we pushed the 195/65 R15 tubeless tires very hard, there were no signs of complaining. Perhaps a tire upgrade to 205/65 R15 will add much more to the already wonderful dynamics of the Civic.
I run out of words to say as far as the Civic's handling goes, especially because she is extremely well mannered. Turn her into a sharp one and you'll realise that there's so much more speed left in her. The one thing that truly truly impressed yours truly on this car was the steering, although electric assisted just like the Honda City ZX; has far more feel and is very communicative. You know exactly where the front tyres are and how much grip is on offer. The 195/65 R15 (tubeless) tyres do work well, but an upgrade to a 205/65 or a 215/60 could really help the looks of the car along with even more grip. The need for which might just be felt by the over-enthusiastic driver.
Verdict
we have not tested the Toyota corolla yet, and don't plan to for the time being as we are yet to finish off the small car segment. But, industry sources expect a new corolla in another 2 months, I promise a review then.
Since we are short on that, I'll tell you what you should buy this car for. Its got an awesome engine, power from which gets harnessed every screaming horse of it via an extremely clever auto box or a nice and positive to use manual. Buy it for the best interiors I've seen so far in the class, buy it for the beautiful cornering and straight line stability.
Warning : Don't buy the car if you are not going to be driving it, you'll miss much in life
Design and interior comments and comments on the Engine and transmission with the star of the show, the paddle shift gearbox. |
![Honda Civic exterior](javascript:openwin("largephoto.asp?imagename=civicext1.jpg&imagetitle=Honda Civic Exterior"))
![Honda Civic exterior](javascript:openwin("largephoto.asp?imagename=civicfrnt1.jpg&imagetitle=Honda Civic Exterior"))
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![click to enlarge](javascript:openwin("largephoto.asp?imagename=civicfrnt1.jpg&imagetitle=Honda Civic exterior")){kind=link}