Car and Driver: 2016 Honda Civic Coupe 1.5T CVT

An engaging coupe from the one-time maker of engaging coupes.

• By TONY QUIROGA
• Photography By SEAN C. RICE

Instrumented Test

From the May 2016 issue

The old Civic coupe is a minivan. Not literally. But after driving the new one, last year’s model feels—there’s no nice way to put this—like a gigantic Cheerio depository.

Gone are the thick and distant A-pillars, and the busy two-tier instrument panel is also out, replaced by a big tachometer front and center with a digital speedo inside. Honda moved the hip point—where your glutes hit the seat—way down. As you sit closer to the ground, the narrower A-pillars and the simple and elegant dashboard work to erase that old minivan feeling. The mom jeans are off; the Civic is back to being a car, a very good one.

Taut suspension tuning means body motions are quickly damped, and the steering is alive. There’s a Volkswagen GTI–like eagerness to the turn-in, complemented by excellent cornering stability. Skidpad grip is an unimpressive 0.83 g, mostly due to the all-season rubber, but every bit of that grip is accessible and easy to modulate. A firm brake pedal provides the right amount of initial bite, although the brakes did exhibit slight fade at the track. In testing, the sixth successive stop from 70 mph measured 10 feet more than the first stop, but the pedal pressure remained constant and secure.

A new structure lies under the new skin. Honda claims it’s 25 percent stiffer than before. The structure dispatches big jolts with the brief tuung! of a tightly tuned tom-tom. Its predecessor had a hollow and weedier structure that couldn’t adequately suppress the engine or the ­suspension. Tire noise is still intrusive on concrete freeways, but the engine seems farther away now, and there’s virtually no wind noise. You don’t hear much at 70 mph, just 67 decibels of tire and mechanical hum, a five-decibel improvement over the old coupe.

Honda claims that the coupe’s unibody is 76 pounds lighter than before, and it may be. But with all the pieces attached and a new turbocharged 1.5-liter four, this car weighs 2882 pounds, or 31 more than the last coupe we tested. That slight weight gain is more than offset by the engine, which makes 31 more horsepower and 33 more pound-feet of torque than the old 1.8-liter. Acceleration to 60 mph takes 6.6 seconds, a full two seconds quicker than before.

At this point, Honda’s CVT automatic is the sole transmission for the 1.5-liter turbo. A big serving of turbo torque starts below 2000 rpm and keeps the CVT from having to zing into the higher revs in normal driving. In drive or sport mode, the transmission “shifts” virtual gears and the changing revs eliminate the unrelenting high-rpm wail characteristic of CVTs. In low mode, the CVT does hold the engine near the redline from about 40 mph until the governor engages at 125 mph. We achieved the quickest acceleration times with the transmission in low. Stepping through the fake gears added a couple of tenths to zero-to-60 runs. And unlike the previous car’s CVT, there isn’t any way to select or hold “gears” if you wish to shift for yourself.

For now, manual enthusiasts have to settle for the naturally aspirated 158-hp 2.0-liter. Paired with the manual, the 2.0-liter has the rev-happy character of Honda engines past. But the easy torque and the extra horsepower of the turbo engine is seductive, so you may want to wait until later this year when Honda will offer a six-speed manual with the 1.5-liter turbo four.

In our hands, the EX-L with the 1.5-liter returned 29 mpg. EPA estimates are forthcoming, but we are told by Honda to expect an improvement: 31 city and 41 highway.  (US numbers).

In addition to the old alien-spacecraft console, designers wisely threw out every other aspect of the previous ­generation. Material quality is hugely improved and the electric parking brake allows for a cavernous center console, but we’d still like to have a volume knob instead of having to swipe the border of the touchscreen. The seat cushions are Porsche firm, but some riders might find the lumbar support excessive.

Much of the exterior seems to have been designed to highlight the Civic’s 1.8-inch-wider body. A chrome nose ring sits just above knee height, and the rear fenders flare out below the pinched-in rear window. The wheelbase has grown by 3.1 inches to 106.3, but the overall length is down an inch. Along with the added width, the longer wheelbase shortens overhangs and yields an assertive stance. The rear end is perhaps the oddest part of the styling, bulging outward in a way that may conjure up images of a robot with a full diaper.

The Civic coupe is a return to form for Honda. But as good as the Civic is, we would wait for the turbo to hook up with the manual before signing any forms.

Source (with more pictures);
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2016-honda-civic-ex-l-coupe-test-review

Car and Driver: 2016 Honda Civic 2.0L - First Drive Review

Linear power and an available six-speed stick give the base model its own appeal.

by Steve Siler of www.caranddriver.com

 

First Drive Review

Here’s a question we don’t ask ourselves very often: Is more power better? Yet that’s something we pondered during the launch of the all-new, 10th-generation Honda Civic, at which we drove both the new base 2.0-liter engine and the more powerful 1.5-liter turbocharged four. At the end of the day, there was no clear-cut answer as to which version is best. What was abundantly clear, however, is that the base engine isn’t bad.

Nor is the rest of the 2016 Civic, but we’ll get to that. The all-new 2.0-liter engine is offered only in the entry-level LX model and in the one-rung-up EX. It is said by Honda to both weigh less and have reduced internal friction compared with last year’s 1.8-liter, while kicking out an additional 15 horsepower and 9 lb-ft of torque. The totals are now 158 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 138 lb-ft at 4200 rpm. In true Honda i-VTEC fashion, power builds in a linear crescendo, with no lumpiness or lag. Just as sweet is the 2.0-liter’s rorty Honda sound—that’s pure sound, without synthesizing or amplification—which permeates the Civic’s well-insulated cabin with every full-tilt run up to the engine’s 6700-rpm redline.
And rev it hard we did, since it’s none too quick—expect a zero-to-60-mph time in the low-eight-second range. We just clocked the turbocharged 2016 Civic at 6.8 seconds to 60, with its 174 horsepower and 162 lb-ft of torque. The 2.0-liter also has an old-school Honda charm that the 1.5-liter’s standard CVT automatic dulls a bit; if character counts, the 2.0-liter makes a case for itself.

There’s Still a Stick
The other reason to respect the base Civic is that it offers a manual transmission (like last year, though, it’s restricted to the price-leading LX). Honda representatives have told us that we can expect more Civics—including the 1.5-liter turbo—to offer a stick shift in the future, but that development resources for now are focused on bringing out the other Civic variants yet to appear, including the coupe, the four-door hatchback, the Si, and the Type R. While the new six-speed gearbox doesn’t feel quite as sweet as the one in the 2016 Accord Sport, it’s far from sloppy, with clearly defined gates and short throws, and it's paired with a nicely progressive clutch.

It certainly beats the CVT, which is optional on the LX and standard on EX models and above. The lack of any form of manual ratio selection—via paddles, shift lever, or otherwise—seems a bit of an oversight on Honda’s part, although a Sport mode keeps the engine whirring closer to its power peak if you’re feeling frisky. (And no, it’s not the same CVT that has recently been recalled in the 2014 and 2015 Civic and Fit.)

Like other Civics, the base model turns in quickly and rotates with heroically little front-end push, although all of the models we drove would benefit from more tire grip. Other than 16-inch wheels and 215/55-series tires versus 17-inch wheels with 50-series tires, there is little that separates the chassis of 2.0-liter cars from their turbocharged brethren. They do weigh some 150 pounds less, however, much of which comes off the front axle for somewhat improved front-to-rear weight distribution (59.6/40.4 for the 2.0-liter compared with 61.3/38.7 for the 1.5-liter). The Civic 2.0 also has a refreshing sense of lightness and sharpness, the slight dead spot in the steering notwithstanding.
Designers, Arise!
As for the rest of the 2016 Civic, the improvements cannot be understated. Its design is sleek and fastback-like, with a large, severely raked greenhouse that no longer includes frumpy front quarter-windows. The front fenders feature bulges over the wheel arches, and the body overall has plenty of sculpting. The rear-three-quarter view is the most distinctive, owing to the standard C-shaped LED taillamps, tapering windows, and sunken backlight. This is a highly styled automobile. After years of sleepy aesthetics from Honda, we can now consider the automaker’s design team to be fully awake.

The cabin environs seem simultaneously more modern and more intimate, thanks to the wide dashboard design, one-inch-lower front hip point, and taller two-tiered center console that cossets the front passengers. An old Honda trait has returned in the form of the remarkably low windshield cowl, which has dropped 1.6 inches and allows an expansive view of the road ahead.

Civic pricing starts at $19,475 for the LX and $21,875 for the better-equipped EX, with prices for the turbo models rising from there. But even at the LX level, the Civic is no stripper, with its standard digital speedometer, automatic climate control, comfortable cloth seats, electronic parking brake, automatic headlamps, and more. Opting for the EX yields a full digital dashboard, Honda’s nifty LaneWatch camera system, remote engine starting, a power sunroof, heated mirrors, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, alloy wheels (versus steelies with wheel covers), and the aforementioned CVT. The EX also brings Honda’s annoying flat-panel “Display Audio” system that begs for a volume knob; thankfully, the Civic’s new steering-wheel-mounted audio controls help minimize the use of said touch screen.

We offer more opinions about the Civic’s newfound goodness (and some of its shortcomings) in our instrumented test of the top-dog Touring model, which comes with many more gadgets and gizmos, as well as the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine. Whether that engine is the more desirable of the two is debatable, but our positive experience with the 2.0-liter models suggests that Honda has once again taken up the cause of building basic transportation that doesn’t feel basic.

Source;
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2016-honda-civic-20l-first-drive-review