Triple Threat

Thirty-three years ago, Honda, a Japanese company known for its nearly flawless motorcycles, brought a boxy little economy car called the Civic to the United States. It was tinny as well as tiny compared to the gas-guzzling monsters we were building and, presumably, craving in 1973, but as the first emission controls choked the life out of our big, unsophisticated engines, we soon appreciated its economy and efficiency.

Since then, generations of us have watched passing generations of Civics, from the 1973 to 1979 models to the 1980–83 batch, the 1984–87s, 1988–91s, my favorite 1992–95s, the 1996–2000s, and the just-departed 2001-05s. Honda added Accords, minivans, SUVs, upscale Acura models, and even a pickup truck, but now it’s 2006, and the eighth-generation Civic has emerged.

The best Civic ever is arguably the best car of 2006, considering escalating fuel prices, diminishing fuel supplies, and the gas-guzzling monsters we’re still building and, presumably, craving. The 2006 Civic is actually three distinctly different cars: the sedan and coupe, the Hybrid, and the Si coupe. While still compact, Civics have grown incrementally and are now longer than the once-roomy 1985 Accord intermediate sedan, which means Civics can be family sedans, compact commuters, high-tech fuel-efficiency vehicles, racy sports coupes, and combinations of all those.

The new Civic shape has a wind-cheating front end, tapering to a radically sloped windshield, for a stylish look that also incorporates Honda’s newly intensified safety focus. Civic’s structural design is 35 percent stiffer than previous models and distributes impact to a perimeter frame made from higher strength steel. The Civic aced all the safety tests, including the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s frontal-offset and side-impact crash tests for 2006 models, and was the only compact joining the Ford Five Hundred (and companion Mercury Montego), Saab 9-3, and Subaru Legacy to win “gold” awards as the safest vehicles.

Inside the Civic, the dashboard is tiered away from occupants for increased spaciousness. Gauges are split on the tiers. A large tachometer is readily visible through the steering wheel. A digital speedometer and fuel and temperature gauges are layered above the steering wheel, and you can easily see them with a quick glance or even peripheral vision while looking down the sloping hood at the road ahead.

The “normal” Civic comes in three models, which are all four-door sedans: the basic DX, midrange LX, and the top-line EX. The EX is powered by a 1.8–liter, single-overhead-camshaft four-cylinder engine with 140 horsepower and 128 foot-pounds of torque, drive-by-wire throttle control. Both the manual and automatic transmissions are five-speeds, with the automatic geared for strong low-end punch. EPA fuel-economy estimates are 30 miles per gallon in the city and 40 on the highway; I got 37.5 miles per gallon on combined city/highway driving—and an astonishing 42 on a freeway tankful.

The Civic Hybrid looks the same as the regular sedan, but its fourth-generation Panasonic battery-electric system has been reduced 12 percent in size and its power increased by 25 percent. Rival Prius’s gas engine’s main purpose is to charge the battery pack so the car can run mostly on its electric motor, but the Civic still counts on its refined 1.3–liter i–VTEC four cylinder, with 93 horsepower on its own. Operating through a continuously variable transmission, it’s not a drag racer, but delivers 110 horsepower almost silently, accelerates adequately for most purposes, and achieves EPA estimates of forty-nine miles per gallon in the city and fifty-one on the road. On the new car, the gas engine can deactivate all four cylinders at moderate cruising to run as a “full” hybrid, but by retaining its conventional twelve-volt battery, the new Civic Hybrid gas engine remains driveable even if the battery pack/electric motor experiences a rare failure.