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2006 Honda Civic The Honda Civic is the best selling small car in the land. It's popular with everyone from economy-minded commuters, to growing families, to the new generation of hot rodders. And Honda designers expect this all-new 2006 Civic to easily maintain and even expand that popularity. Let's see if we agree. Year after year, the front drive Honda Civic is America's best selling compact car. Reasons include price, performance, interior room, quality, having both sedan and coupe body styles, and offering advanced powertrains, including natural gas and hybrid. For 2006 Honda continues the something for everyone approach with an all-new Civic lineup. Volume leader will continue to be the Civic 4-door sedan. Wheelbase has been stretched 3.2 inches to 106.3. That's just shy of the mid-size Accord. The longer, broader, and stiffer chassis is wrapped in almost futuristic sheet metal. The interior is also totally redesigned, with a unique split-level analog-digital gauge cluster that would look right at home in an experimental aircraft. Familiar trim grades are entry DX, popular LX, and fully loaded EX. All but the DX include cruise control, A/C, power windows, and CD/MP3 audio systems. Satellite radio and navigation are options.
All Civic sedans ride on a MacPherson strut front and double wishbone rear suspension. Most 4-door Civics use a larger 1.8-liter single-cam 4-cylinder with variable valve timing. It makes 140 horsepower, up 25 from last year's 1.7, and 128 pound-feet of torque. The 1.8 with the standard 5-speed manual has an EPA fuel economy rating of 30 city/38 highway. We extracted a fine 34 miles-per-gallon in mixed driving. The optional 5-speed automatic is actually rated a bit higher. Have a higher quest for miles per gallon? Then try the new Civic Hybrid. It mates a 1.3-liter 4 with Honda's latest Integrated Motor Assist, for a total output of 110 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque. Now capable of running at low speeds on electric power alone, EPA estimates for the Hybrid with its CVT tranny are 50 city/50 highway, which should make it very popular in the year of $3.00-per-gallon gasoline. Get behind the wheel, and you find a much more solid and sophisticated Civic sedan. The ride is almost luxury car smooth, though a soft front end does produce some push and roll in tight corners. The 1.8-liter engine pulls strongly, especially from 3,000 rpm, and the 5-speed manual shift effort is light if a little notchy. Overall, a much more refined, more advanced, and more powerful Civic. It's now more than just a compact Accord. But still with compact prices, ranging from $15,110 for the DX manual, to $21,110 for an EX automatic with navigation. Hybrid prices start at $22,400. The sportier half of the new Civic lineup is various grades of 2-door coupes, including the high performance Si. All coupes ride on their own 104.3 inch wheelbase, up 1.2-inches from last year. Coupe styling is decidedly racier than the 4-door, and makes the appealing Accord Coupe look positively tame.
Si track testing produced a 0-60 run of 7.2 seconds, with the quarter mile clocked at 15.6 seconds at 93 miles-per-hour. It revs quicker, pulls harder, and sounds better. Add in the firmer clutch and sharper gearbox, and this is one snappy Si. The same goes for handling, as the Si, with its standard 17-inch rims, precisely carves up corners with excellent balance. Even before tuners get their hands on it, the Si has best in class handling. If you would like to get your hands on a Civic Coupe, prices start at $14,910 for the basic DX. Si prices are not yet released, but expect them to start around $20,000. Interior measurements aside, the 8th generation 2006 Honda Civic lineup has the variety, style, performance, economy, and prices to easily maintain and, yes, expand its popularity to new heights.
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While looking bigger inside and feeling more spacious, we were surprised to find that overall interior space is actually down slightly for 2006. In fact we're not sure where the extra wheelbase went since front leg room is unchanged, and in the back it drops an inch and a half. The rear seat does fold but the cushions are split 60/40 only on the EX. Trunk space is also down, by 9/10th of a cubic foot, to a modest total of 12 even.
The interior sports the same two-tier dash as the sedan, but features spiffier trim. As expected the rear seat is child small, while cargo space is 11.5 cubic-feet, almost the same as the sedan. Power comes from either the 4-doors 140 horse 1.8-liter, or in high-performance Si trim, a more than willing 2.0-liter dual-cam variable-timing 4 with 197 horsepower and 139 pound-feet of torque. The Si drivetrain also dons a new 6-speed manual gearbox, with a limited slip differential. And it yields EPA mileage estimates of 22 city/31 highway. We saw 26 miles-per-gallon in our mixed and spirited test loop.