Honda Launches Civic Sedan in India To Challenge Elantra, Altis, Octavia

After being absent for quite a few years, Honda launched the Civic sedan in India yesterday. Unlike the last time Honda had the car in the market, this time the maker will also offer the diesel version of Civic in India. The bookings for this all-new executive sedan are already underway and the deliveries will soon follow. Honda Civic has been launch at an ex-showroom price of Rs. 17.69 lakhs.

Faced with daunting rivals such as Hyundai Elantra, Skoda Octavia and Toyota Corolla Altis in the market, Honda Civic could get a tough time in the segment. Talking of mechanicals, the all-new Civic sedan will feature a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine rated to deliver 139 Bhp and 174 Nm. Honda has decided to ditch the manual transmission and will offer Civic only with the CVT auto transmission for the petrol model. Talking of the diesel model, it has a 1.6-litre EarthDreams (also seen on CR-V) that delivers an output of 118 Bhp and 300 Nm. Contrary to the petrol model, the diesel model will come only with a manual transmission. After gauging the demand, Honda may bring the auto transmission to diesel model as well.

Taking a detailed look at the variants of Honda Civic in India we find that the three trims of petrol model V, VX, and ZX are priced at Rs. 17.69 lakhs, Rs. 19.2 lakhs, and Rs. 20.99 lakhs respectively. As far as the diesel model is concerned, it is offered only in 2 trim levels – VX and ZX. While the VX model is priced at Rs. 20.49 lakhs, ZX model is available for Rs. 22.29 lakhs.

Taking a look at the competition we find that Hyundai Elantra’s base model begins at Rs. 13.81 lakhs, Skoda offers the base model of its Octavia at Rs. 15.99 lakhs whereas Toyota has priced its Corolla Altis at Rs. 15.7 lakhs.

Not to be bogged down by prices, all-new Civic boasts of the highest mileage in the segment with its engine offering the efficiency of 26.8 km/l. The petrol models on the other hand only offer a mileage of 16.5 km/l.

Honda offers its Civic in three trims, let’s take a detailed look at what kind of kit do these trims offer. Starting with the base V model we find that Honda has equipped it with 16-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, projector headlamps, LED DRL, LED tail lamps, LED cabin lights, electric ORVMs, as well as automatic driver and passenger windows. Step in the cabin and even the base model greets us with a 4-speaker 12.7cm infotainment system, controls on the steering, paddle shifters and remote engine start in petrol variant, AC vents for passengers, 4-airbags, stability assist, hill start assist, ABS+EBD, electronic parking brake, reverse camera with sensors and remote function for windows.

Coming to the mid trim -- VX -- of the Honda Civic we find beautiful ivory leather seats, driver seat with 8-direction power adjustment,  larger 17.7 cm infotainment system supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 17.7 cm instrument cluster screen, dual-zone climate control system, cruise control, all four powered windows with single touch function, automatically folding ORVMs, auto dimming inner mirror, 4-tweeters, leather wrapped steering wheel, multi-view reverse camera, ambient lighting, USB and HDMI ports as well.

Now moving on to the top ZX variant of the Honda Civic we find a bump in safety with 6 airbags and a lane watch camera. On the outside we have full LED auto headlamps, LED fog lamps, 17-inch alloy wheels, rain sensing wipers and electronic sunroof with remote function.

Honda has introduced the new Civic for existing customers who want to upgrade to a sedan from an upper segment. That being said, the price difference when compared to the rivals may prove to be a challenge for the all-new Civic.