MARKHAM: Honda has revealed the most fun-to-drive and technologically advanced Civic Sedan in the model’s nearly 50-year history.
The all-new 2022 Honda Civic boasts a clean, modern design paired with a hightech, human-centered interior, and equipped with advanced active and passive safety systems.
Previewed in November 2020 in prototype form, the 11thgeneration Civic continues the tradition of innovation, design leadership and class-leading driving dynamics.
Civic is Honda’s longest-running automotive nameplate, the best-selling car in Canada for 23 straight years, with Canadians purchasing more than 2.2 million Civics since 1973. Civic is also the number 1 selling model in North America – car or light truck – with first-time buyers, Millennials, Gen Z and multicultural customers, since the launch of the 10th-gen model in 2015.
Dave Jamieson, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing, Honda Canada said: “We’re confident the all-new 11th-generation Honda Civic will continue to be popular with Canadians with its best-in-class features, classleading performance and new, modern and sporty styling.”
Man Maximum
Machine Minimum
In designing the 11th-generation Civic, Honda stylists and engineers sought to create a car that would be a “breath of fresh air” in the segment by revisiting timeless design concepts of previous-generation Civics. They focused on the original Honda design approach of “Man-Maximum, Machine-Minimum” (or “M/M”), which uses technology and design to serve the needs of the driver and passengers. The styling of the 2022 Civic manifests these timeless design concepts in a fresh and exhilarating new way. A “thin and light” body design with a low hood and front fenders, and a low horizontal beltline grounds the body, accentuates the wheels and tires, and enables an expansive, airy greenhouse.
Exterior Design
Key to the new Civic’s upscale styling was moving the bottom of the windshield pillars rearward by 50 mm, which elongates its hood for a premium silhouette. This also visually connects the pillar to the front wheel hub, a subtle design element that emphasizes its wheels and tires for a stable, planted stance. A low beltline with horizontal windowsills and door-mounted side mirrors improve visibility while maintaining the clean lines of the exterior. A sharp shoulder character line carves a gentle arc from the front fender to the taillights, giving continuity to the design. The Civic Sedan will be available in eight exterior colours, three of which are new: Meteorite Gray Metallic, Sonic Gray Pearl and all-new Civic-exclusive Morning Mist Blue Metallic.
Interior Design
Honda’s outstanding interior packaging results in ample head, leg, shoulder and hip room for all passengers. A feeling of spaciousness is immediately felt and shared by all Civic occupants, thanks to the low, flat beltline and uncluttered design throughout its cabin. The pulled-back Apillars, low hood, flat dashboard and hidden windshield wipers enable a windshield with clearly defined corners for a panoramic view.
The low cowl is the same height as the door sills for an uninterrupted and harmonious flow that extends from the dash all the way to the rear doors. A striking metal honeycomb mesh accent stretches from door to door across the dash. It serves both form and function, creating a dramatic visual dividing line between the audio, information displays and the climate controls, while the intricate flow-through design conceals the air vents that would otherwise mar the uncluttered and harmonious look of the dash.
Driver-Focused Tech
Technology has also been smartly integrated with the M/M approach. For the first time, all Civic trims have either a partial or full (Touring) digital instrument display while gaining notably larger standard and available touchscreens. LX, EX and Sport grades are equipped with a 7-inch colou LCD instrument display similar to that found in Accord. An alldigital speedometer and tachometer are on the left side of the instrument panel, while a physical speedometer dial occupies the right side.
Civic Touring also debuts an all-new 9-inch HD colour touchscreen, which builds upon the foundation laid by the Display Audio system in Honda models such as Accord, Odyssey, Pilot and Passport. The new touchscreen is the largest ever in any Honda-brand vehicle, and features a physical volume knob, large, easy-to-recognize icons, and a simplified navigation structure with fewer embedded menus. On the left are hard buttons for Home and Back functions. Touring trims also feature the first use of Bose audio in a Civic. With Bose Centerpoint 2 and Bose SurroundStage digital signal processing.
Stiffer Body
The 11th-generation Civic body structure is the most rigid in Civic history, with an 8 percent improvement in torsional rigidity and 13 percent improvement in bending rigidity versus the previous generation. The stiffer structure supports improvements in ride, handling and NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). Like the outgoing Civic, two 4-cylinder engines will be available for the 2022 model: A naturally aspirated 2.0-litre or a turbocharged 1.5-litre. Both are paired with an updated continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) uniquely tuned for each engine.
Fun and Comfort
Civic’s suspension has been carefully tuned to take maximum advantage of the stiffer body structure and additional 35 mm of wheelbase for a smoother ride, while improving the benchmark sporty handling for which Civic has long been recognized. The front MacPherson struts feature new low-friction ball joints and front damper mount bearings to improve steering feel and self-centering, and the spring and damper alignment has been optimized to minimize operational friction.
Safety Performance
In a world’s first application, both driver and passenger frontal airbags in the 2022 Civic are designed to better reduce conditions associated with brain injury by better controlling head motions in certain types of crashes. Similar in intent to the passenger front airbag technology featured in the 2021 Acura TLX and 2022 Acura MDX, these all-new airbag designs attempt to address the recently recognized issue of severe brain trauma associated
with angled frontal collisions.
The new front driver’s airbag uses an innovative donut-shaped structure to cradle and hold the head to reduce rotation. The passenger-side front airbag uses a three-chamber design to achieve a similar result, with two outer chambers designed to cradle and control head rotation. Honda Sensing® has been enhanced with expanded driver-assistive functionality. Traffic Jam Assist, and the new camera-based system improves on existing functionality, such as more natural brake application and quicker reactions when using Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). -CNW