The Honda Civic performs well on the moose test

Honda’s have always been known to be more agile than Toyota’s, with a more direct and playful driving style. This is now confirmed in the road test where the eleventh generation Civic achieves a very respectable result. Despite its generous dimensions for the category (4.55m long and 1.81m wide), the car’s reactions were sound and predictable.

The Japanese compact ended the exercise with a top speed of 77 kph. The steering was particularly responsive and the grip was equally strong. Understeer, which is typical of a front-wheel drive car, is limited and the same applies to roll, which is well controlled despite the relatively high weight of the Civic (1,517 kg). The driver therefore has the impression of driving a car that is much lighter than it seems.

The ESP is not too intrusive and allows the car to balance itself naturally, which is obviously a significant plus in terms of driving pleasure. At higher speeds, however, the Civic could not help but hit the cones in the second lane due to its large size. In the slalom test, the Japanese car did well with a time of 24.3 seconds.

Its Sport mode allowed it to benefit from a start-up boost that enabled it to gain precious tenths of a second. In addition to a different management of the CVT, the Sport mode also simulates gear changes via the speakers even though the transmission does not really have any gears. In addition to this, the tyres on the test Civic are Michelin Pilot Sport 4s in 235/40 R18.

There is no doubt that the result would have been inferior if the car had been equipped with the basic 17-inch tyres. As a reminder, the eleventh generation Honda Civic has been on the market since 2021. It has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine combined with an electric motor for a total output of 184 PS and 315 Nm of torque. As a full hybrid, the car does not need to be recharged and can be driven fully electric for a few kilometers.