2010 honda Civic reviews

Honda Civic 2010

The Honda Civic has long been a bread and butter car for Honda, the typical C-Segment mainstream family hatch that would sell in strong numbers due to it’s reputation as a solid, dependable and practical runabout that fulfils the needs of a young family. But as we all know, once you have dropped the children at school and have no more bread and milk to pick up from the nearest supermarket, sometimes you like to have some fun. Which is why it has become important that mainstream cars have well balanced chassis and responsive steering all designed for an engaging and enjoyable drive, as demonstrated by Ford’s bestselling Focus, which showed that family hatchbacks can also be fun to drive. For other drivers they sometimes want to take it to the next level, and have a family car that is able to double up as a true performance toy for the weekends. That’s why the hot-hatch was spawned in the 70s, and has been such a popular sub-breed of family hatches ever since, with various GTi/RS/Sport variants of all the best selling Corollas/Golfs/Civics/Focus/Astras. New for the twenty-first century, welcome the Uk/European spec Civic Type R by Honda. Red H badges, a sporty bodykit and bigger, more aggressive 17 inch alloy wheels mark it out over standard Civics. Honda have removed sound deadening, added a sharp 6-speed gearbox, uprated the brakes and suspension, added sharper steering responses and thrown in a screaming 2.0 ’K20A’ i-VTEC engine. This served up a healthy 197bhp of revvy power which meant that the Type R could accelerate from 0-60mph in just 6.8 seconds and run on to 146mph. And that’s after dropping four passengers off and emptying the boot of a week’s shopping. Not bad at all. On the track the ’CTR’ really shines in dry conditions, with a well set-up chassis that can swing it’s backend out over tight corners and really responds well to the driver’s commands. It feels crisp and alive and is a pleasure to drive fast. The engine needs to be worked hard and revved but it rewards the driver by feeling so urgent and so willing that it is never a chore. Downsides? On the road the harder suspension set up means it is a bit jiggly on the motorway and the lack of sound deadening means it isn’t the quietest cruiser in the world, and in the wet weather it does often spin it’s tyres when applying the power, but for what it’s worth, the CTR is certainly one of the front-runners of the hot-hatch class and an excellent example of practicality and fun wrapped up in an affordable and desirable package.