The Honda Civic gets a minor make over

I’ve always been a big fan of the Honda Civic, its reliability, style and flexibility always impressed me. When Honda released the 2001 Civic I was pretty disappointed, it was ugly and I found it very difficult to like. The only model I did like was the Type R but, it had to be in black, the normal Civics’ just looked too tall.

I was much more impressed with the 2006 model; the hatchbacks looked so futuristic with the headlight design and triangular exhaust. This was definitely my kind of Civic, the Hybrid saloon also looks nice, and the fact that it was a normal looking Hybrid impressed me more.

The current model Civic has been around for nearly five years now so is due a facelift before the all new Civic is unveiled for 2012. The changes aren’t massive, subtle cosmetic changes have been made to the styling including the Type R style front grill now being standard throughout the range.

The entry level model has been upgraded to include 16 inch alloys as standard, that model also now comes with colour coded side skirts as standard. The entry level 1.4 S now looks better equipped and harder to distinguish as the entry level spec. All 2011 models now come with more colour options too.

Interior changes have been made to make the inside feel more up market and bring the Civic in line with its competitors, the SE and ES models now get half Alcantara interior; Si models get a half leather/half Alcantara interior with heated front seats.

With the new face lifted model due out soon I might look around for a used Honda in London, last time I checked a used one still costs about £7,000.