NEWS: 2006 Honda Civic Revealed

By Mark Atkinson
With files from Honda Canada

Honda has officially revealed the details on its eighth-generation Civic, which has been one of the most popular cars in Canada for decades. While we’ll wait for a full test to completely go through the myriad details of the brand-new car, here are some of the highlights you can look forward to for the 2006 model.

There will be two bodystyles sold in Canada, the sedan and coupe, with various trim levels of each. The Civic Si Coupe returns to its full glory, something that unfortunately couldn’t be said for its now-retired hatchback cousin. Expect close to Acura RSX Type-S levels of performance thanks to an i-VTEC equipped 2.0-liter, 197-horsepower version of Honda’s venerable K-series engine combined with a six-speed manual transmission.



On the other side of the scale, the Civic Hybrid features a 1.3-liter four-cylinder with IMA (Integrated Motor Assist), that combined with the standard CVT, provides an estimated highway fuel economy of 4.3 L/100km.

The Civic Si will only be offered in the coupe body, while the Hybrid remains a sedan.



The ‘bread-and-butter’ Civic sedans and coupes will feature a brand-new 1.8-litre i-VTEC SOHC 4-cylinder engine that produces 140 horsepower (10 to 21 percent increase, depending on trim level) and 128 lb-ft. of torque (12 to 16 percent increase, depending on trim level).

Honda has a tradition of making its vehicles fun-to-drive with responsive suspension tuning and refined road manners. The 2006 Honda Civic chassis features refined suspension geometry with larger wheels and tires, a longer wheelbase, and a new-generation 4-channel anti-lock braking system.



The all-new MacPherson strut front suspension design incorporates new geometry with a high caster angle for straight line stability along with improved toe-control dynamics for sharp and responsive steering. Honda claims that changes to steering angles, bushings, material rigidity, and spring and shock tuning result in amazingly linear suspension movement at the upper limit of vehicle dynamics.

The majority of 2006 Civics will be produced and assembled using domestic and globally sourced parts in Canada and the U.S. The Civic Coupe and Civic Si models – and in fact all Civic 2-door coupes built for the global market – will be produced and assembled exclusively at the Honda of Canada Manufacturing (HCM) plant in Alliston, ON.



Civic Sedan models will be primarily produced at the Honda of America Manufacturing plant in East Liberty, OH, although the majority of Civic Sedans for the Canadian market will be built at the HCM plant in Ontario. All Civic Hybrid models are built in the Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Suzuka, Japan, manufacturing facility.

We’re certainly eager to get our hands on all of these all-new models, so check back throughout the fall for more involved driving impressions.