Honda Civic

Once the best-sellers and then abandoned, the Civic returns in its 10th generation avatar, complete with the diesel engine. Can it take the segment crown back from Toyota, Skoda and Hyundai?

- Sirish Chandran

THE HONDA CIVIC IS BACK!

Eight years after it bowed out, Honda’s longest running and best-selling nameplate is back in India, set to wade into a segment that has been dramatically altered by the onslaught of diesel engines and the overwhelming preference for SUVs. Everybody remembers the 8th generation Honda Civic — it had that wonderful 1.8-litre iVTEC engine that feasted on revs; it was low and sporty; it had a brilliant manual ’box; the cabin felt special with the steering wheel splitting the futuristic digital speedo from the rev counter; and it could not go over speed breakers without scraping its belly or carry more than two passengers without its dynamics going to hell. But what really killed it were the diesel engines in the Toyota Corolla Altis, Skoda Octavia and later the Hyundai Elantra. That and the fact that Honda decided to take on the mass market and refused to put time and effort into dieselising its more expensive cars and SUVs.

The past is the past. Honda seem to have realised the rub-off-value of cars like the Civic and CR-V on the rest of the range. And so after skipping an entire generation, the Honda Civic is back, and aims to right the wrongs of the past. This, the 10th generation Civic, no longer graunches on speed breakers, even with the entire Evo India photo and video crew piled in. It can enthusiastically trace the route of the legendary Nandi Hill Climb with said crew on board. And it has that all-important diesel engine.