Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Next Generation Honda Civic: My Take

There's been alot of talk about when the next generation Honda Civic is to come about, will it be a 2011 or a 2012 FMC? Regardless whether this 9th Generation Civic's official debut year, here are a few things suggestions that I think could be (and some that should) realistically done....

-Keep the size of the vehicle to where it is now, the roof line is good, great size trunk, and the flat rear floor really makes the rear seats spacious for almost anyone.
-Aerodynamics are good, but there's got to be a way to see that front hood, even just by a little bit, there are a few people that can't get past it.
-I haven't had any complaints with regards to power (fine line between more power and gas mileage), so I say hang onto the 1.8L but increase the hp to 148-150.
-Make Bluetooth standard on all trims. (Safety for Everyone....)
-Every generation of Civic has had some kind of unique change, be it the flat rear floor in the 01-05's, the heads up display in the 06-current, what are we going to do this time? I say, if there's a way to make the rear seats fold up like the FIT (yeah, I know the gas tank issue), that could go a long way to differentiate the vehicle from its competitors.
-Honda is going to be deadly once they figure out that people want heated seats (especially in the northern states and here in Canada!), 3 words - Cloth Heated Seats.
-Vehicle Stability Assist on all trim levels (fortifying the 'Safety for Everyone' slogan). The competitors are starting to use that one against us (even though I am not the biggest fan of this feature).
-XM Satellite Radio should be available.
-Navigation Systems should be available.
-The 5 speed Automatic Transmission is fine, please stay away from the CVT's. (google CVT reliablity issues....)
-Keep the heads up display, just update it.
-Have a performance upgrade kit (chip, intake, etc.) option for the Si model to go from (200-210hp range to the 240-250 range) regardless of price, people pay crazy money for the Mazda Speed and the Subaru WRX's....
-Power Seat available on the Leather models.
-Manual height adjustment on the passenger side (pipe dreamin' here....).
-Change tray on the left side of the steering wheel like in the 01-05's, not just some open square.
-Projector lenses on the front for upper models (or all). More upscale in appearance.
-Do not stray too far from the overall lines of the current model, it is a very good looking car (KIA seems to agree....ah, ah, ah-choo-Forte!!!!).
-Put a digital compass on the dash, much like the Accord's.
Anyway, that's all I can think of for now, if you have any ideas, please, put them down in the comments section - maybe Honda's listening!

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