2019 Honda Civic – What to expect?

As far as foreign marques are concerned, Honda's popularity in Malaysia is second to none. The Japanese auto giant has a large audience base and is only beat in its popularity and demand by the nation's local carmakers. Honda sells some of its most in-demand cars in Malaysia, and one of the best examples of this is the chic-looking Civic. The outgoing iteration of this famous C-segment sedan is relatively new, though a facelift is right around the corner. Representing the 2019MY of the Civic, the latest model is nothing more than a facelift - with subtle improvements to make it almost perfect.

As it is, the Honda Civic is in its tenth generation, which hit the global market in 2016. And while the facelifted Civic hasn't yet reached our shores, we can ascertain a fair bit from the Thai-spec Civic that has only just been launched. Having taken a note of that, let's proceed and figure out what's what with the 2019 Honda Civic.

Exterior

At first glance, most may almost certainly mistake the 2019 Civic facelift for the pre-facelift model. And to be fair enough, it wouldn't exactly be their fault. However, one must remember that this is just a midlife cycle facelift, so the whole idea isn't to radically put the Civic under the knife. But it's not that Honda has not done anything and been completely lazy - the 2019 Civic facelift (if peered through a magnifying glass) does feature a few notable changes. Commencing with the face, there's now a reshaped and more cohesive looking front bumper, plus slight alterations made to the finish of the grille and fog lamp surrounds. Along the sides, the only real change comes in the form of a new design for the alloy wheels. Lower variants of the 2019 Civic sport 16-inchers, while the top Turbo trims boast 17-inch rims.

The rear of the 2019 Honda Civic is almost identical to its predecessor, apart from one detail - there's now a chrome strip (not on the sportier RS variant) on the well-chiselled bumper. Since this one's mechanically unchanged from its pre-facelift brethren, there are no visible changes as far as dimensions are concerned. That being said, this 'new' facelifted Honda Civic does come across as a sportier and slightly more premium car than before. Of course, many would need the aforementioned magnifying glass to be able to arrive at that conclusion.

Interior

This is where it gets way trickier to explain. Unlike the exterior, where there are (at least) some places one can stare at long enough and find differences; that's so not the case in the cabin. So, as a prospective customer, if you're clambering in with an expectation to find significant modifications, you aren't going to find zilch. However, come to think of it, this interior didn't require Honda to make any changes at all - the last one happened only three years back! What this means is, the cabin remains well laid-out, extremely ergonomic, sporty in its set-up, modern in its layout and design, and leaves almost nothing for us journos to moan about. The latter part is quite annoying, by the way.

Under the bonnet

Here again, Honda hasn't changed a thing. So, depending on the variant, you either get a naturally-breathing 1.8-litre i-VTEC unit or a 1.5-litre turbo-boosted four-pot. Unfortunately for the enthusiast, both engines are married to a CVT. Anyhow, if performance is your top-most priority, look nowhere and head straight towards any one of the turbocharged variants of the 2019 Honda Civic. The result of your purchase will bestow you with 171 hp and 220 Nm of torque - enough to propel you from standstill to 100 kmph in just over 8 seconds. Meanwhile, top speed for all Civics remains contained at a pretty acceptable 200 kmph.

Safety features

However, don't for a second be under the impression that Honda hasn't included anything extra, because they have. Of course, to be able to notice this, you'll have to spend the extra bucks to get to the top-of-the-range 1.8 EL and 1.5 Turbo RS variants. Once there, you'll see the inclusion of Honda Sensing. Honda Sensing ropes in additional safety features such as adaptive cruise control, automatic high-beam assist, lane departure warning with lane keeping assist and road departure mitigation, plus collision mitigation braking.

Do keep in mind, though, the facelifted 2019 Civic does bring you six airbags (instead of the measly four), and Honda's famous LaneWatch camera assist. Of course, all trim levels get four airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, and vehicle stability management as standard equipment.