Mild-Mannered Redesign Lands in a Tough Neighborhood

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MULTIPLE BIRTHS A few members of the ever-growing Civic family: From left, EX-L sedan, Civic Hybrid, EX coupe and Si coupe." data-mediaviewer-credit="" itemprop="url" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2011/09/25/automobiles/25CIVIC1/25CIVIC1-jumbo.jpg"/>

NOW is not the time for Honda to rest the updated 2012 Civic on its ancestors’ laurels. The compact car market is stacked.

Hyundai redesigned the Elantra for 2011, and it’s better in every way except where it was already ahead — it is still keenly priced and covered by a 10-year powertrain warranty.

The new Kia Forte can’t be taken for granted, the Mazda 3 is slick, Subaru has a nice niche with its all-wheel-drive Impreza and Volkswagen has re-engineered the Jetta for American mass consumption. Then there is Ford’s all-new Focus, a huge leap forward, and even Chevrolet, burdened with a 50-year legacy of wretched small cars, is booking big sales with its pretty good Cruze.

It’s a tough crowd, and half-efforts and skin-deep revisions aren’t likely to be enough to rise to the top.

But that’s exactly what Honda has delivered with the somewhat-new ninth-generation Civic. The car is, for the most part, a mild revamping of the eighth-generation coupes and sedans that went on sale for the 2006 model year. Most of the mechanical elements carry over in a new shell that’s even less visually interesting than before.

Maybe this isn’t a surprise. Most of Honda’s recent new products haven’t been inspired designs, and in August, Consumer Reports pointedly left the 2012 Civic LX off its list of recommended cars.

The Civic is still a good car — it’s a Honda, after all — but it is not the gold standard that the Civic had long been. And it’s no longer the car to which every other member of its class must be compared.

I tested three 2012 Civics: the mainstream $19,425 LX and the up-market $24,225 EX-L sedans (the L is for leather), both equipped with automatic transmissions, along with the performance-oriented $24,655 Si coupe that comes only with a manual gearbox. I skipped the DX stripper model and the version fueled by natural gas. The expansive Civic line also includes the higher-mileage HF and Hybrid sedans.

Because of the tsunami that struck Japan in March, availability of some parts for the 2012 Civics has been restricted. According to Jon Fitzsimmons, a Honda spokesman, though most Civics sold here are assembled in Indiana and Ontario, production has not yet fully recovered.

In silhouette, the new Civic sedan doesn’t look much different from the outgoing model, though the wheelbase has shrunk 1.2 inches, to 105.1 inches. Honda says the percentage of high-strength steel in the structure has increased to 55 percent, from 50 percent, resulting in a 7 percent drop in body weight and a 10 percent increase in “static and dynamic” rigidity.

What’s disappointing is the anonymous, blunter nose and a tail that appears to have been ripped off the hind end of a 2001 Toyota Camry and then shrunk in the wash. The 2006 Civic still looks newer than the 2012 redesign.

The basic interior design also updates what the 2006 model established. As before, the dashboard is divided into two tiers with a tachometer ahead of the steering wheel and a digital speedometer one level higher.

The new elements include an information screen to the right of the speedometer, and Eco Assist bar graphics alongside the speedometer that light, on the LX and EX, in gradient shades of color to represent how environmentally conscious your driving style is. It’s easy to glow indulgent blue or righteous green; the challenge is to maintain an even shade of turquoise. On the hotter Civic Si, the Eco Assist bars shine red and stay red.

The Civic’s seats, no matter the trim level, are well shaped, nicely padded and perfectly upholstered — paragons of seating virtue. And the leather on the EX-L is tufted on the seats, as in an old Buick Park Avenue.

The steering wheel is the perfect diameter, and there are audio, information-display and cruise-control switches fitted neatly into its spokes. The ergonomics are just about perfect, with intuitive ventilation controls, big cup holders and plenty of receptacles for flotsam.

Beyond all that, the cabin isn’t just roomy — Honda claims a 1.6-inch increase in rear legroom — it feels roomy, too.

There are, however, too many hard plastic panels on the dashboard and doors. Certain switches, most prominently the single knob that’s charged with doing too much to control the standard audio system, feel cheap to the touch and don’t operate with, well, Honda-like precision. The Civic has taken a step back in tactile satisfaction.

In previous-generation Civics a small LED was embedded in the overhead console to light the shifter. That’s just gone. Honda took some weight out of the interior materials, and it shows in both the quality and the features.

The LX and EX-L are both powered by a carryover 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine with a single overhead cam and 16 valves. Enhanced by Honda’s signature i-VTEC variable valve timing system, the 140-horsepower engine is easygoing, though it lacks leading-edge direct-injection technology and its output is modest for the class.

More disappointing, the engine comes hooked only to 5-speed transmissions — manual or automatic in the LX, automatic only in the EX. In contrast, the Hyundai Elantra’s 1.8-liter 4 pumps out 148 horsepower and its manual and automatic transmissions each have 6 forward gears.

According to testing by Car and Driver magazine, the Civic EX sedan will run from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in 9 seconds flat. The 2011 Hyundai Elantra Limited performs that feat in 8.6 seconds. Beyond that, while the Environmental Protection Agency rates the Civic at a solid 28 miles per gallon in city driving and 39 m.p.g. on the highway, the Elantra does a bit better, at 29/40 m.p.g.

Both the engine and the 5-speed automatic operate almost inaudibly in the EX-L. In the LX, though, which has less sound-deadening material, mechanical noise intrudes. It’s not an altogether unpleasant sound, but it’s noticeable.

Press a big green button on the EX or LX and the car goes into Econ mode: the action of the electronic throttle is slowed, the automatic transmission’s software is altered to keep revs down and the climate control system restrains itself from power-sucking extremes. For most drivers most of the time, puttering around in Econ makes little noticeable difference — until you try to accelerate to freeway speeds.

What is annoying in the LX is tire noise. Compared with the LX, the EX models get additional blankets of sound insulation on the rear wheel wells and use thicker material in the doors, in addition to the extra shushing on the firewall. So while the drone of the EX’s P205/55R16 all-season radials is subdued on most road surfaces, the LX’s P195/65R15 all-season radials roar like a Kraft Foods factory grinding out Maxwell House. That’s not good in a car that costs nearly $20,000.

According to Honda, the LX and EX suspension systems are tuned identically save for the different wheels and tires. But the LX’s ride motions seem more sudden, jarring and stiffer.

Honda says there is only about a one-pound difference between the weight of each of the LX’s 15-inch steel wheel and tire combinations and the EX’s 16-inch alloy wheel and tire assemblies. And while the LX and EX tires differ in size, in general construction and specification they’re close. Probably it’s the LX’s additional noise that makes it seem to ride rougher — it’s messing with my brain.

The difference in tires doesn’t make much difference in how the two Civic sedans handle. The electric power steering in both is among the best in the class, the all-independent suspension is tenacious, the antilock brakes work well and the stability and traction control systems are unobtrusive.

If only the transmission had a nice overdrive sixth gear for cruising and five more closely spaced cogs beneath it for squirting through urban traffic. You know, like the Hyundai Elantra’s.

Atop the sound deadening, the EX gets things like a fold-down armrest in the middle of the back seat, heated side mirrors, two more speakers, some additional power outlets and a power moonroof, so it’s worth the additional $1,850 over the LX (before adding leather).

But as a value proposition, both the Civic LX and the EX pale in comparison with the more powerful, more frugal, better warranted, and similarly priced Elantra GLS and Limited. Particularly now that, according to Auto Lease Guide, the Hondas and Hyundais are likely to retain their values similarly.

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The 2012 Civic Si is a different beast altogether, whether as a coupe or a sedan. In looks, the two-door body is more changed than the four-door: more streamlined, more heavily sculptured and likely to be more polarizing among potential buyers.

But the Si’s big change is the engine: the 197-horsepower 2-liter 4 used in 2006-11 Si models has been swapped for a 201-horse version of Honda’s 2.4-liter 4 similar to the one in the Acura TSX.

The extra displacement of the new engine brings with it a big gain in low-end and midrange torque — the old Si made its 139 pound-feet of peak torque at 6,100 r.p.m., while the new Si’s peak of 170 pound-feet comes at 4,400 r.p.m. But that extra torque carries a price.

One of the great joys of the previous Si is that it could be revved to 8,000 every time the driver wanted to merge into traffic without attracting every cop within 30 miles. And it made a wonderful, wailing induction noise as the i-VTEC system transitioned to more aggressive high-r.p.m. cam profiles, making a sound like a Formula One engine hitting its stride. The new Si’s engine revs only to 7,000 r.p.m. and it doesn’t sound special at all.

Of course Honda can point to cries from reviewers and previous Si owners for more torque, but what they really wanted was both more torque and the high-revving thrills of the 2-liter engine. There’s now a “sequential rev limit indicator” that tells the driver when the engine is approaching its redline. That’s a poor substitute for the old Si’s glorious growl.

Fortunately the new Si still gets Honda’s great short-throw 6-speed transmission, fantastic front bucket seats, and a suspension that gets instant responses from the 215/45R17 Michelin all-season performance tires. And yes, it’s an easier car to live with in traffic and it gets slightly better fuel economy than the outgoing Si (31 vs. 29 m.p.g. on the highway).

And, according to Car and Driver, it’s quicker, running from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in 6.3 seconds compared with the old car’s 6.7 seconds. I just want all that alongside the eager, bratty personality of the old Si.

And, incidentally, Hyundai offers no version of the Elantra comparable to the Civic Si. But there are much quicker turbocharged alternatives available in the Mazdaspeed 3 and Subaru WRX.

My family has owned four Civics over the last 20 years. Every month I pay $347.66 on my daily driver, a Civic Si sedan I bought new back in 2008. With this new, indifferent Civic, alongside the hulking second-generation Pilot sport utility; the Insight, a cut-rate Prius clone; and virtually all of the current Acura models, Honda seems intent on eradicating its own distinctiveness.

Where is the Honda that built the sophisticated Prelude sporty coupe, the intuitive S2000 roadster, the overachieving Integra Type R and the world-beating NSX supercar? The Honda where keeping things simple also meant better quality, thoughtful detailing, exquisite engineering and delightful mechanical operation?

I want that Honda back.

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