HONDA CIVIC Hatchback 2011 on

having owed an 8th gen civic for 3 years i can compare these 2 cars, my 8th gen civic was 1.8 i EX vtec petrol ...

the main improvement for me in the new civic is defo the ride quality, the car has grown up and is now very refined, the car has gone from being a in your face teenager to a sensible adult, this may not be a good thing for some people because for me they have under styled the car, no push start button no triangle exhausts, no 50's fridge door handles,but i think if your a true civic fan you will love the improvements in the car, around town the car gets 40 mpg with 20 quid road tax, for me the 2.2 idtec has slight lag on take off compared to the 1.8 ivtec, the big diesel delivers smooth effortless power once the turbo is spinning, its quite and very smooth on the road with plenty of grip, es model is well spec up infact it has more then my old 8th gen ex model, ipod and usb in arm rest, colour changing dash , display your own wallpaper, stereo improved sound, stop start and eco drive,over all i would say this is the best family car on the road today..

bad points for me...

wing mirrors to small

boot lip to high

no sunglasses case

storage in front of gear knob gone?

hand brake moved closer to passenger? why

no lumber support

I have owned the car for almost 2 months now, have driven 3,500 miles and I absolutely love it.

It may have lost some of the exterior features that made the old model stand out, but it has definitely been improved in other areas.

The ride quality has been improved significantly compared to the previous model ( I have owned the previous model) so it's no longer as stiff. However, at the same time, there is still very little body roll when cornering.

I had the chance to test drive the 1.8L petrol and I can honestly say that the 2.2L diesel one is definitely the better engine. The car is much more responsive. Some people say that considering the car's size and the trend of downsizing the 2.2L diesel is an overkill for this car, but I like it, especially when overtaking.

On a combined cycle with ECON mode OFF I have been averaging 43 mpg.

The dashboard ergonomics/layout has also been improved. You can control the a/c without even taking the hand off the shift stick.

The split rear window wasn't really a problem for me in the previous model and it's even less of a problem in this one.

The car has plenty of space.

The only complaint I have is that you cannot cycle through the trip computer items (average consumption, range, average speed, elapsed time) while the car is moving. That is, in order to change the display from average consumption, for example, to range you need to stop the car. While I understand the safety reasons behind disabling some of the menu items while the car is moving, I find it strange that the Honda people thought that adjusting the clock or looking into the maintenance menu while driving does not present the same safety risk as changing the trip computer item that is being displayed. It really is very impractical - you are on a long drive on the highway and your display is set to average consumption or speed, and as your gas tank is approaching empty you want to switch to range so that you can see how much further you can drive before you need to stop for refueling...but here's the catch..you cannot do that without stopping.

the car drives superb, very comefortable, nice new styling inside, however the older model does look better. the rear of the car is still a issue, i dont understand why honda did not sort this out, they had 6 years to come up with something!

running is superb as you will expect with all japanese cars. used daily for urban driving, averages just over 40mpg.