Honda unveils the BS6 diesel Civic
The diesel Civic is now BS6 compliant but, the bigger question is whether this car will perform well on the market as well as it does on the road?
Honda has recently launched the BS6 diesel version of their much-adored enthusiasts’ favorite Civic. Powering this sleek and beautiful car is a 1.6-litre i-DTEC turbo engine producing maximum power @ 118 BHP and peak torque @ 300 Nm mated to the same old 6-speed manual transmission. The fuel economy has gone a little low compared to its BS4 brother, a small dip of 2.9 kmpl. The BS6 compliant car received a price hike of just Rs 25000 which is really impressive.
No cosmetic changes have been made and the car is identical to the BS4 version which means it gets a chrome grille flanked by sleek LED headlamps with LED DRLs, C-shaped taillights, 17-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, and a coupe-like roofline. Even the feature list on the new Civic diesel is the same as before — a 7-inch touchscreen system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 7-inch TFT screen for the instrument panel, dual-zone climate control system, electric sunroof, push-button start/stop, key-less entry, 8-way powered driver seat, etc.
Coming to safety, it has all the bells and whistles which includes six airbags, ABS, EBD, speed alert system, reverse parking camera, cruise control, electric parking brake with auto hold, vehicle stability assist, agile handling assist, and hill start assist as standard while ZX trims also gets lane-watch camera and rain-sensing wipers.
With a minimal hike, the ex-showroom price of the two variants, the VX and ZX are Rs 20.75 lakhs and 22.35 lakhs respectively.
Is it a hit or a miss?
The general subset of people who buy this car are ones who want a luxury car or those who are true petrol-heads and want something fast and exciting to drive to their mundane jobs. Sadly, the Civic doesn’t really offer much to either.
If you talk about luxury, the Hyundai Elantra offers a lot more features than the Civic and that too while being cheaper. It also has an automatic gearbox which the Civic lacks and these are the two main reasons why CEO’s and CFO’s living in concrete jungles would wanna even consider buying these cars.
Coming to the other type, the enthusiast. People who really love cars and don’t just see it as a mode to commute. For them too, there is nothing tasty on the plate for them. The civic has a small 1.6 diesel engine which produces a rather shocking 120 BHP. Compare it to the Skoda Octavia and its laughable and frankly a rip off for a car costing over 20 lakh rupees.
So where does it stand? It’s a great looking car and with a great heritage, but is it enough for the people? Only time will tell.
