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Riley Coleman with a 2016 Lunar Silver Metallic Civic EX
Today we were fortunate to drive one of the first 2016 Civic Sedans to roll off the trucks in Toronto.
We met with Riley Coleman at Honda Downtown, who was just as eager as we were to get out in the new 2016. The first FC2 Civic Honda Downtown received was a Lunar Silver Metallic EX.
When we wheeled it outside and sat in the drivers seat and hit play for the first time, one thing was abundantly clear, this guy's a Honda (go figure). The 2.0 sounds eerily similar to the outgoing 1.8, perhaps a touch quieter due to the Civics new construction.
Looking out from the cockpit the most noticeable thing to us was presence. The Civic now has presence on the road and you can tell from behind the wheel. You can see the fender arches peeking up just over the dash line, the lower seating gives you a sense of sportiness compared to the mini-van sight lines on the '15s.
Pressing the 2.0 go pedal was just as familiar. No one is home until you find 2,500 RPM, then the party starts. You still get the magnificent sound and fury of VTEC opening up and from a roll on it will poke you to 100 kph with relative ease.
Highway merging will not be an event by any stretch.
The chassis was extremely compliant and solid. We chucked it into a medium downhill right hander at 80 kph with minimal roll. The lower CG is not just marketing magic, you can actually feel it as the car keeps itself relatively level. Granted that's also a function of the stiffened suspension. But stiff isn't even a good word for it, because yes it's stiffer then last year, but its not an overtly stiff suspension.
The electric steering was somewhat light for our preferences, but that's not to say there's no feel to it. We found steering inputs required more emphasis, not effort, emphasis than the Mazda 3.
We enjoyed the Civic most in sport mode, it's quite lovely how it keeps the revs on boil for a few seconds longer. Downshifts are slightly more noticeable in Sport mode, but nothing that you would really notice if you're not looking for it. Overall the transmission is smooth. Honda has done excellent work dialling out most of the negativity associated with CVT's. Again it's the type of thing you only notice because you're looking for it.
Overall we were big fans of the 2.0, except after driving the CVT we couldn't help but wonder how much more enjoyable the 6 shooter could be, but that's just personal preference.
We will be driving the FC1 Turbo and FC2 with the 6MT as soon as Riley lets us know they've hit the lot! If you're in the Toronto area drop by Honda Downtown at 47 Eastern Ave. or give Riley a call at 416-799-3092.
