When you’re onto a good thing, change is never easy. With the current-generation Civic, Honda has been onto a very good thing for

The Civic Sedan's modern design has held up well. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

a very long time — the Civic has been the number-one selling car in Canada for 13 years, and was the fourth bestselling passenger car in the U.S. in 2010, beaten only by its larger sibling the Accord and by Toyota’s Camry and Corolla/Matrix. So it’s hardly surprising that Honda has extended its normal four-year model cycle and bought the current Civic forward into 2011 essentially unchanged, despite the fact it was introduced five years ago.

The current Civic was considered quite a radical design when it was introduced in 2006, and it has held up well in the intervening years. The impressive sales numbers likely help in this regard — when a car becomes as ubiquitous as the Civic, it tends to define the design landscape by default. But the angular, wedge-like shape still looks contemporary if perhaps a little plain, the split-level dash, though not to everyone’s taste, still looks futuristic with its digital speedo, and the packaging is still impressive, fitting a decent amount of passenger and trunk space into a compact silhouette.

Honda will be debuting a

The Canadian-built Civic sedan remains one of Canada's best selling vehicles. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

redesigned Civic for 2012, and for the outgoing model’s 2011 swansong the only changes are to trim levels, with SE trim replacing the Sport trim, the elimination of an automatic option on the base DX trim, the elimination of a manual transmission on the high-end EX-L trim, and the elimination of the DX-A trim. I was given a Dyno Blue Pearl sedan to try out for a week, decked out in the new SE trim and with the optional automatic transmission, and it was the automotive equivalent of slipping into a favourite pair of jeans — comfortable, good fitting and suitable for most any occasion.

Puzzling out the pricing and options is always a bit confusing, but in a nutshell the SE is the midlevel trim, stickered at a suggested retail price of $19,580, plus $1,395 delivery charges. The next lower DX-G model carries a suggested retail price of $18,580,

Honda's innovative instrument panel remains one of the most information-rich in the industry. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

while the base DX is priced at $14,990 but doesn’t get air conditioning or alloy wheels (which both the DX-G and SE do). The top-end EX-L sells for $23,880 and gets leather upholstery, heated front seats, stability assist, included automatic transmission and premium audio, among other features.

All three of the lower trim levels share the same 160-watt four-speaker audio system with MP3/WMA compatibility, but the SE also gets a USB plug (it doesn’t, however, get the steering wheel mounted audio controls, which are reserved for the EX-L, Hybrid and Si). The SE also gets 16-inch alloy wheels instead of 15-inch, disc brakes in the rear instead of drums, body-coloured door handles and mirrors, an exhaust tip finisher, heated door mirrors, power moonroof, variable intermittent wipers rather than two-speed, exterior temperature indicator, map lights, auto up/down on the driver’s power window, remote entry system with

The Civic remains a roomy and comfortable compact sedan. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

electronic trunk release, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, silver contrast stitching on a black cloth interior, 60/40 folding rear seatback and a rear seat centre armrest. If you’re thinking that this is a lot of additional features for $1,000 over the DX-G, I’d have to agree — for my money the moonroof, leather-wrapped wheel and USB plug alone are worth the price of admission.

Under the hood, all Civics apart from the Hybrid and Si share the same 1.8L, 16-valve SOHC, i-VTEC inline-4 engine, which is a perfectly respectable little powerplant, if perhaps not the most enthusiastic performer out there. Especially when hooked up to an automatic transmission, I found it a little lacklustre off the line, but once the revs built up it moves things along willingly enough, and 100km/h rolls around in about 9.7 seconds. On the balance however, given that the automatic is a $1,200 option I’d definitely go with the manual transmission and a sportier driving experience.

Inside, I was quite enamoured with the SE’s seats,

Rear seat roominess is good and 60/40 split-folding seatbacks offer good flexibility. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

which feature black cloth seating surfaces, microsuede bolsters and classy, understated silver contrast stitching. They not only look good, but were perfectly comfy just like that aforementioned favourite pair of jeans. It’s just a shame that Honda put the parking brake lever far forward where it can dig into the driver’s knee — hopefully the designers will take care of this quirk in the 2012 model. The Civic’s back seat, while never accused of being overly spacious, offers adequate room for two (three in a pinch) and elicited no complaints from my teenage kids. Good enough! The rest of the interior is well executed, and while there is a fair amount of hard plastic around, it is decent looking and well-fitted, and there are some touches that bump the interior up a notch, like the soft-touch upper door panels and good-quality headliner. The glass power moonroof in the SE is a real treat, letting the light in on grey days but including a sliding shade for when you want to keep the sun out.

On the road, the Civic offers no real surprises.

Trunk space is good for the compact class. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

The ride is fairly firmly damped, but not harsh. The cabin is generally quiet, though on some road surfaces tire noise can be a bit intrusive. The steering is light and the handling reasonably crisp, with the limits of adhesion clearly telegraphed by progressive understeer. The brake pedal also has a light feel — indeed I’d actually prefer a little more weight as I found the brakes a bit grabby at low speeds. But overall, for puttering around town or cruising along the highway the Civic’s ride and handling is entirely unremarkably in the best possible sense of the word. It gets the job done and you get a pleasant ride — and a safe ride too, thanks to Honda’s traditionally careful attention to the safety front: All Civics come equipped with anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution, active front seat head restraints, dual front, side and side curtain airbags, and Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering body structure, which in acknowledgement of the number of pickups, SUVs and other tall

A new Civic is on the way, but the current model nevertheless remains as one of the best compact sedans available. (Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press)

vehicles on the road is designed to minimize the consequences of a collision between vehicles of mismatched height. One safety feature that’s missing on the lower trim levels is stability assist/traction control, which is only included on the EX-L.

The compact sedan market is fiercely competitive, particularly in Canada, with the Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Jetta, Mazda3, Kia Forte, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze, Subaru Impreza, Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantra, and several others duking it out in the same segment. Most of them do one thing or another better than the Civic — there are better handling cars in its class, more powerful cars, cars with more style, cars with better warranties (the Civic has a three-year/60,000km limited warranty and five-year/100,000km powertrain warranty) and cars that get better fuel economy than the Civic’s city/highway rating of 7.4 / 5.4 L/100km with the manual transmission, but few, if any of the competition manage to mix all the elements together quite so well as the Civic. It provides a compelling blend of economy, reliability, style and value that makes it a true car for the masses. In a sense, the Civic’s carefully crafted compromise is also its biggest weakness: it is competent by almost every measure, but doesn’t really stand out in any department — there’s nothing about it that screams, “This is the car to have!” But then, there’s nothing that cries out “deal breaker” either, and when you’re trying to please a mass market that’s an important winning attribute — and no mean feat.

Interior

Exterior

Mechanical

Safety

Dimensions

Misc

(J003) Standard Metallic Paint

(J005) Standard Gloss Paint