The Civic is an extremely important model to enthusiasts. Consequently we inherently have very high expectations from any variant that is tagged with the label 'sporty'. However, I always judge the performance of any car with proper considerations given to its design objective. In something as serious as passing judgement on a car's performance, making the effort to first understand its design objectives and then setting the right expectations is important to giving a balanced and fair review. Practically all cars will feature compromises and often a perculiar characteristic will become logical once one takes in consideration the intended target and usage. In the case of this K20A Civic, Honda engineers told me it's designed for 'performance with luxury'. So while I need to evaluate this Civic from the standard of an all out performance car, I must also be mindful that some aspects of its performance might be intentionally compromised for 'luxury'. I think is the best and fairest way to review this K20A Civic's performance.
The first thing I usually do after I take 'delivery' of a car from Honda is to gather impressions from general driving around town and the highways. Coming out from the Honda office building, I get onto a busy main road with plenty of slow moving traffic as well as several traffic lights. Then it's onto a major and often very packed highway. Driving in these conditions, the K20A's wide power band made its presence felt. When a car has good low-end torque, we can feel it most in stop and go, slow-moving 'sprint and brake', and moderately moving but heavily packed traffic conditions. Good torque makes itself felt by the eagerness of the car to shoot forward when we squeeze the pedal - the 'throttle response', i.e. how much pickup we get from varying amounts of throttle. If the car will only move to heavy throttle input, we label it 'sluggish' because psychologically we tie the pressure we put on the gas pedal to how much effort the engine takes to move the car. So if the car shoots forward to light stabs on the throttle, then we feel that the engine is 'powerful'.
'Powerful' is how the K20A Civic feels in normal driving conditions. It shoots forward nicely when we squeeze the throttle. Say the traffic is moving lazily along and finally the guy in front who have been dilly-dallying swerves off. Now a nice gap opens up to the next car quite a distance up ahead. The K20A Civic is 'powerful' enough to let me quickly eat up the gap before any other cars can make a move to cut in. Coming out from the Honda office, it is located on a side road and at the junction to the main road, I have to sprint across 2 lanes because I want to get on to the other side. Gaps in the on-coming traffic will be small and far in between because there are no traffic lights or junctions before and after, so traffic tends to spread out evenly and will be coming up at some speed, maybe as high as 70-80kph. In that circumstance, all I needed was maybe 4 or 5 car lengths of gap to get across with space to spare. When departuring from toll-gates, something Malaysians have more or less gotten used to doing several times a day, I can decide where to place the K20A Civic amongst the general accelerating traffic up ahead and then proceed to do so at will. In the process I can even slalom around slower moving vehicles without much concern if someone might be charging up faster behind me because there will usually be none. And all these without having to apply full throttle !
Coming to WOT runs, an engine that have good low-end or mid-range torque which gives a good initial 'pull' may not necessarily have 'stamina', i.e. the ability to sustain it's pull all the way to the redline without the initial pick-up tapering off. Honda enthusiasts used to Honda's legendary DOHC VTEC engines of the past are especially fussy about this ability. We are used to our VTEC engines pulling and pulling like there's no tomorrow and we tend to develop driving styles that exploits this ability - overtaking several cars in a go for e.g. Merging from a slow entry link into a fast moving highway is one situation which 'showcases' the desirability of this ability in a car. Under such situations, I would seek out a suitable gap in the incoming traffic and then go WOT match their speed. This will allow me to merge smoothly and effortlessly without disrupting the traffic flow. Instead of doing this however, some simply swerves out and then proceeds at their own pace and expect the traffic behind to slow down to accomodate. While traffic rules requires the rear coming traffic must slow down to accomodate, the thing is the incoming traffic might well be cruising steadily at 90-100kph all the while and suddenly this car cuts out into its path and struggles to pick-up speed to match them. So there will be a lot of heavy braking involved and this will have a chain effect all the way back. I think this is a very risky behaviour and I have seen more than one incident where accidents have resulted due to such bad driving moves. This is why standing start accelerations are important to enthusiasts and most of us actually enjoys the thrill making a WOT dash to pick up speed and merge into the incoming rear traffic (often even out-accelerating them).
While the K20A Civic responses eagerly to light prods at the throttle, the amount of pick-up does not increase linearly to throttle pressure. It tapers off quite a lot after half throttle. As a result, in WOT runs, the K20A Civic does not produce a strong push to the back. In this aspect, the 2.4l Accord actually had a better 'shove in the back' feeling despite its 200kg heavier bodyweight. This could well be due to the extra 400cc of displacement in the engine though I would say it's more because the K24A is tuned to deliver very good low-end at the detriment of its high-end. The K20A on this Civic however is tuned to deliver a flat and very consistent torque across the rpm range. So the engine does not deliver a strong shove at WOT but instead pulls steadily and consistently until the red-line and with a nice discernible surge coming in after 4800rpm. This is the satisfying VTEC-like pull that we all love and this acceleration is accompanied by a very nice VTEC roar as well. So good news then, the K20A on this Civic works very much like the DOHC VTEC engines of old !
Personally, my biggest expectation from a 'sporty' car is on its acceleration ability. I have a sort of a 'point and shoot' style of driving. When I want to overtake the car in front of me, I just look patiently for a clear space, point the car and ram the throttle. The amount of acceleration I can muster means the overtaking manuevre will be over in a few short seconds and I don't have to worry if another car might swerve out and block my path or if I run out of road. Even if the guy in front decides to be nasty and picks up speed, he usually can't cut me off because he just won't be fast enough. When merging from a slow moving entry point into a fast moving highway, I want to be able to do so casually and without any drama.
So in this sense, for any car that is tagged as 'sporty', I would expect it to allow me to do these to some degree. Certainly I do not expect to make a big fuss just to overtake a car cruising at 60kph. Of all the cars in Honda Malaysia's local line-up, only the Accord 3.0l V6 VTEC allowed me to drive in a roughly similar manner. The 2.4l Accord and now this K20A Civic allows it to some degree too. With both these cars, I can drive in the 'point and shoot' manner but I still need to exercise caution to avoid cars that might decide to swerve out into my path or that I'll run out of road because I took too long. One sad thing was the ES-Civic do not seem to command the respect that the Civic used to. While previous generation Civics were respected as fast cars, the couple of times that I was genuinely in a hurry, few cars bothered to give way to a charging ES-Civic that looms up quickly in their rear view mirror. And the biggest blow to my pride (or rather the Civic's pride) was when this 850cc Kancil (very popular local 'K-car' slightly bigger than the size of a Mini Minor) fitted with a loud exhaust actually decided to have a 'go' at me, by swerving aside and then attempting to out-drag me to the next traffic lights ! I showed it a clean pair of heels of course and I think the driver saw the red 2.0l iVTEC badge and then realised his mistake but still the fact that he decided to give it a go when it was clearly a Honda Civic that is bugging him to give way was not a good show of level of regard the general road users now have for the Civic.
The gear ratios of the 2.0l Civic has been the subject of much discussion amongst the more technically oriented enthusiasts. As discussed previously, the gear ratios are distributed rather strangely. 1st, 2nd & 3rd are high and set relatively far apart while the ratios for 3rd, 4th and 5th are rather low, below 1.0 and with values very near each other. It is only after actually driving the K20A Civic for a good deal of time that the rationale Honda engineers used to derive the gear ratios will become apparent. The key to understanding the rationale again lies in the design objective for the 2.0l Civic, i.e. performance with luxury. In this case, after extensive driving and careful observation of the Civic's performance, it became clear that the 5 gears in the K20A Civic's gearbox is more or less divided into 2 distinct 'sets'.
The first set is gears 1, 2 and 3. These 3 gears are clearly designed for hard driving around town, for rapid pick-up and for overtaking cars. Coupled with the very high final drive ratio, 1st and 2nd gear gives the K20A Civic a strong performance especially for WOT charges in the slower moving traffic conditions of town driving. The large gaps between these 3 gears also mean gear-shifts, eventhough smooth are very obvious because of the large change in pick-up as well as the loudness of the engine. The thing is 'luxury' or not, these things will not be of any concern when all we care about is being as fast as possible. 3rd gear is such that by the time we reach the engine's redline of around 7000rpm, the K20A Civic would be charging at suicidal speeds for town and actually even highway driving as well. So 1st, 2nd, and at the most 3rd would be what we will be using when we want to go as fast a possible in town driving or in slower moving traffic or in twisty roads.
The second set of gears are 3rd, 4th and 5th, what many people calls the 'overdrive' gears. This set is clearly set for high-speed cruising along expressways or easy light throttle driving around town. The main characteristic now is the relatively low ratios and consequently the gaps between each gear is very small too. This lets the engine spin along quietly at low rpms and there is very little change in engine rpm or relative change in acceleration between the gears. The idea would be to make the already smooth gearshifts almost imperceptible and to accentuate the 'luxurious' aspect of the driving. So when cruising lazily in 5th on the highway for e.g. and there's a little bit of urgency in overtaking the car in front, a small squeeze of the throttle will cause a downshift to 4th. This gear change is practically imperceptible but once in 4th, the car will have a slightly better pick-up. Once the overtaking is completed, ease back on the throttle and the gearbox shifts up to 5th and again this is again practically imperceptible since the engine revs hardly changes and there's practically no change in the engine sound as well. So the whole thing gets done with minimal fuss and the driver sits blissfully relaxed behind the steering wheel all the time. But because of the very high final drive ratio, high speed cruising is still effortless and the K20A Civic will thunder down the expressways at breakneck speeds. 160kph comes without any sense of effort and indeed one needs to be mindful because even 200kph arrives without any drama at all.
I am quite confident this is the reason for the rather unusual selection of the individual gear ratios and the final drive ratio. And as if to emphasize these 2 distinct sets of gears, the gearbox on the K20A Civic has a 'D' gate (for 5 gears driving) and a 'D3' gate (for 3 gears driving). So I think the idea of the Honda engineers is for K20A Civic drivers to engage D3 if they want to drive very fast but to get back into D5 for a relaxed 'luxurious' cruising.
|
|
Now to the area of handling. The front and rear suspensions have very different settings. The front suspension is very stiff and the rear relatively soft. As a set, the suspension offers controlled compressions with a strong rebound. This is fine on relaxed cruising on good condition roads but on roads with undulations which dips and rises like a roller coaster, the car can feel like a boat on rough water as it floats and rocks along the uneven surface. The suspension actually feels like it's too soft and the rear is also very lively. As a result eventhough the car's basic character when cornering at the limits is mild understeer, when doing high-speed driving along twisty and bumpy roads the overly lively rear causes the rear tyres too unload too much and the tail might come loose and swing around, causing the car to 'over'-steer. The lively rear is felt more by the back passenger than by the two in the front. I don't know if this might also be due to the heavier front bias on the car, with the heavier K20A engine. Honda engineers did not cater for the extra weight in the front except through the setting of the suspension - the spring rate and shock rates only and also an adjustment of the anti-roll bars. In this aspect, fast driving in uneven twisties on the K20A Civic is constrained quite a lot by the limited handling ability. In fact, I feel the 1.7l version actually has a better, sportier suspension and feels and drives faster on uneven twisty roads !
But things are very different on under favourable road conditions however. I had the unique opportunity to take the K20A Civic for two laps on the Sepang F1 Circuit and here the K20A Civic really impressed me with its speed. Despite being handicapped by the stock tyres, the K20A Civic still negotiated turns 1 & 2 at 50kph without feeling as if it'll roll over its side. At the two long straights, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to exceed 160kph just after passing the 200m braking marker. And all these was with two adults in the car and with the air-conditioning switched on though with a near empty tank. My friend who is a regular on the SIC, went alone and with the air-cond off and he told me he exceeded 165kph at the 150m marker. For a 1260kg car using an auto gearbox and with 'only' 155ps, I thought the K20A Civic showed itself very well indeed.
This 'jekyl and hyde' handling character of the K20A Civic had me baffled for a long time. Honda is highly respected for their suspension tuning so I am very certain that the handling characteristic of the K20A Civic was intentionally designed to be that way. But why did Honda engineers choose to do so ? It is after the 'serious' phase in testing the car's performance is over, when I decided to settle down to just enjoy driving the K20A Civic that I finally found out why. This was on the penultimate day and as I cruise lazily along the highway at speeds of between 100-130kph, the environment was serene and relaxed, totally stress free. The road condition was generally good, with the occasional rise and dips and the K20A Civic handles them with great control and poise and with hardly any feeling from the driver's seat. The K20A Civic soared and floated along the highway and only really got caught wrong footed on very occasional badly spaced undulations. It was very clear to me then that this was what the K20A Civic's suspension was intentionally designed to do - cruise in D5 at high speed and with great poise, overtake with total ease and offer a relaxed comfortable and luxurious ride. But do not let this 'softie' characteristic mislead you though. As I have found out for myself from the 2 laps around the Sepang circuit, the K20A Civic performs very well when the road conditions are favourable !
To complement this high-speed cruising ability, the Civic's sound insulation is good enough to keep out much of the outside noise so I could drive in great comfort and elegance. This is usually judged by how much of the outside traffic noise that gets filtered in as well as the wind noise during high speed cruising. Often we make subjective judgement based on how loud we have to raise our voice to talk or the volume setting on the radio. When I rate the Civic's sound insulation as 'good enough', I based it on the fact that the noise of motor-bikes and lorries and buses do not interfere into our ability to talk at normal voice. And the volume control on the radio is never raised very high for comfortable listening. I forgot how much the indicator on the LCD display shows but it was usually put at not much more than 1/3 to 2/5 of a turn from minimum. So inside, the car is quiet and the ride also very nice, the leathered interior offering a nice feeling of class and luxury - again clearly a concious design approach.
In terms of the subjective driving feel, the general feeling of the steering is that the EPS has very strong assist. Very little effort is required to steer the car. I think this is again probably a result of the 'luxury performance' approach as it allows the driver to cruise around lazily without much effort needed to work the steering wheel, perhaps with 1 hand on the steering and the other on the gearstick or even the habit of some to rest both hands on top of the steering wheel (without actually gripping it). Actually I feel this is a bad habit and one should have both hands holding the steering wheel in the '10-2' position as much as possible, but that's my personal opinion and my observations is that most drivers of luxury vehicles tend to drive with the 1-hand method or with the hands lazily resting on top and working the steering. So I guess the light feeling of the EPS steering would be intentional due to the Civic's design objective.
The weakest component in the Civic however is most definitely the tyres. The K20A Civic comes supplied with Goodyear Eagle NCT-5 tyres. In general, they are competant tyres but I feel they are more skewed towards providing a comfortable ride than outright performance. They certainly squeals very easily and are actually quite scary on wet roads and it feels as if the car will slip off the road at the slightly dab of the brakes or even when cornering at very low speeds. So while they are sufficient for the original intended usage of the K20A Civic, I personally feel more 'sporty' tyres will improve the handling of the K20A Civic significantly. There are many good performance tyres around and Goodyear themselves has them as well for e.g. Goodyear F1 GSD3.
At the end of the review 'tenure', I was actually very happy. After my preview of the K20A Civic, the two biggest 'headache' are its gear ratio and its handling. Frankly I was dissapointed at these two items and I just couldn't figure out what was going on in Honda's mind when they set-up the K20A Civic in this way. But I am very happy that in the proper review I found out what I believe to be the real reasons for these two characteristics.