At the recently concluded Frankfurt Motor Show, one of the launches that took the car lovers gathered there completely by storm was the new Civic from the house of Honda. The bold lines, the dynamic look and the aggressive stance has got the global press all agog. So the loaded question is, should India get all excited too, considering Honda is expected to launch the car here? The answer is no, because what was shown in Frankfurt was an European-spec car ? and a hatchback. And remember, Indians have a penchant for larger, booted cars.

So will India miss out then? Fortunately, it’s America to the rescue ? Honda has launched the Civic in coup? and sedan (saloon to us) form quite recently and when the Civic arrives in India, it will be the latter.

So where will this car fit in? At present, the two Honda cars seen on Indian roads are the City and the Accord. While the City sits in the Upper C segment, the Accord is well entrenched and indeed, is the benchmark in the D segment. The Civic will most probably be expected to sit pretty in that grey area connecting Upper C to Lower D ? that’s Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia country.

The Civic has been around for a very long time, since 1973 in fact. This was the car that made Honda’s low emission engine ? the CVCC or Compound Vortex Control Combustion ? famous several years ago. Since then, Honda has sold 16 million cars around the world and gone through seven generations of the car. The 2006 model will be the eighth generation car.

So what is the eighth generation Civic all about? Take its design for instance. The American version, though not a patch on the European car in terms of overall looks and sex appeal, is quite striking. Look at the car head on and those headlights slashed across the front end certainly have presence. Look at the profile of the car ? see that rear end? It certainly has some sporty pretensions ? a bit like a Chevy Camaro perhaps! Honda calls it a one-motion profile because of the windshield rake, minimal front and rear overhangs and reduced tyre to fender gap. The rear end is not too bad either ? a little heavy but passable for what is supposed to be a very nimble car.

The Civic Saloon has an overall length of 4490mm and measures 1752mm in width. Dimensionally, that slots the Civic in between the City, which measures 4310mm and 1690mm, and the Accord, which measures 4830mm and 1820mm respectively.

The new Civic is powered by a 1.8-litre i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine, which develops 140bhp at 6300 rpm and 128 lb-ft. torque at 4300 rpm. The Indian version will no doubt see a reduction in power (either fuel economy or poor fuel quality will be the excuse), which is a pity as one would have liked to see this one go up against the Skoda Octavia RS in a performance-related battle. The power is transferred to the wheels by either a five-speed automatic or a five-speed manual transmission. America also gets an Si coupe version with a 2.0-litre i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine developing 197bhp at a screaming 7800 rpm and a six-speed manual transmission with helical-type limited slip differential ? so now is the time to start that campaign for equal rights because one can be pretty sure that the two-litre will not be coming to India.

Ensuring the wheels stay in contact with the tarmac is a suspension system consisting of MacPherson struts at front and a compact multi-link double wishbone rear suspension.

Features that will be standard on the American spec cars (don’t expect all of these in the Indian version though) include front, front side and side curtain airbags, 4-channel Advanced Logic ABS with Electronic Brake Distribution, Standard Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System with Voice Recognition, drive-by-wire throttle control as well as a steering wheel with both tilt and telescoping functions.

The new Civic is big on safety. The body structure is designed to handle frontal collision energy via a number of load-bearing front frame structures and load-bearing channels that disperse energy away from the passenger area.

Moreover, the front airbags are of the dual-stage type. Passenger-side seatbelt reminders are featured too, but somehow, one cannot see Indians getting accustomed to this last feature ? remember when the Cielo was introduced and the company had to adjust the seatbelt warning system!

And what about the price? Well, if its going up against the Octavia-Corolla bunch, then expect the price to be in the region of Rs 10 to 12 lakh. Which sounds okay ? until one looks at the US price for the same car ? $14,560, which works out to Rs 7,28,000 (at Rs 50 to a dollar). Makes one think, doesn’t it!

Personally, if I had a choice, I’d rather have the European version, which is more practical and much better looking. But if wishes were cars, journalists would drive. Besides, Indians are not a practical lot by large when it comes to buying cars ? it’s all about mine being bigger than yours!

My first car

Saba Karim
media personality and ex-cricketer

nI’d already been playing cricket for some time, when I invested some of my hard-earned money in my first car — a green Maruti 800. Till then, I was driving around in a two-wheeler, so it gave me quite a kick to have my brand-new car sitting pretty in my garage.

The good part about the Maruti 800 was that being a small car, it was very easy to manoeuvre which is why even my wife would drive it. I installed a deck, and going for long drives to Dum Dum and Diamond Harbour, was something we did often.

The car was very close to my heart, and I can tell you, I was pretty sorry to let it go. But it was a non A/C version, and driving in the city’s muggy weather was too much of a hassle. I did toy with the idea of installing an air-conditioner in the car, but everyone said it simply wasn’t worth the effort. Which was when I went ahead and bought my second car — a Zen