What's the news?
Honda is expanding its Civic range with the introduction of a four-door saloon (or sedan depending on your preferred parlance) to its range. It joins the five-door hatchback, which includes the high-performance Civic Type R, though the saloon isn't earmarked to get the same treatment.
Exterior
There is more to the four-door Civic than merely a stuck-on boot at the rear. It gets the same bonnet and front doors as the hatchback, but the bumpers at either end are different, and everything rearwards of the front doors changes slightly. The addition of a bigger boot adds to the car's length and hence it has a noticeably different look to that of the hatchback, which some may find more appealing. Boot space measures in at 519 litres, compared to the 478 litres offered by the hatchback.
Interior
Honda lifts the interior wholesale from the hatchback, and that's no bad thing. All models get Honda's 'Sensing' suite of driver assistance systems that include Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keep Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control. Mid-level models get a seven-inch touchscreen display that also features smartphone connectivity via Bluetooth, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, while higher grade versions also include a wireless charging pad.
Mechanicals
The Civic Sedan will be available with either the 1.0-litre i-VTEC turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine or 1.6-litre i-DTEC turbocharged four-cylinder diesel. Both come with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, and the choice of an automatic CVT or nine-speed auto in the petrol and diesel respectively. With emissions of 91g/km, the manual i-DTEC diesel falls into Band A2 (€180 per annum), while the automatic is one band higher. The petrol version is classed in Band A3 (€190 per annum) for both the automatic and manual models.
Anything else?
Pricing for the Civic Sedan starts at €24,750 for the manual 1.0 i-VTEC in 'Smart' specification, with the automatic transmission carrying a €1,600 premium. For the diesel, pricing starts at €26,550 in the same 'Smart' spec, with a €2,000 jump to the nine-speed automatic.