2019 Honda Civic Touring ? (pw) - ? (diecast)
Published 03/27/20
The first Civic debuted on July 11th, 1972. The car was first sold only in Japan starting in 1973, and was a subcompact with a 1169 cm³ inline-4. When first introduced (as a hatchback), Honda promoted the Civic as a roomy, reliable and fuel-efficient compact car. It was Honda’s first model to have an impact in their export market. In fact, it was an influential car design in the 70s, and became as well known as the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta and FIAT Ritmo/Strada. In spite of being in production since 1973, slowly the Civic’s target market changed. Though it started out as an economic compact car, nowadays it’s a midsize sedan/hatchback with some serious performance versions. To this day, there have been 10 generations of the Civic. You can find it almost all over the world, and basically with the same name and versions.
The latest (current) generation of the Civic is the 10th (“Gen10”). It first appeared in September 2015, for the 2016 model year, based on an all-new Honda compact global platform. Honda produces three distinct cars, a medium-sized sedan, a coupe and a hatchback, according to the market. Currently, the available engines are a normally aspirated and a turbocharged version, both inline-4. The “regular” version displaces 1996 cm³, and with DOHC and i-VTEC produces 158 hp. The turbocharged version is smaller, with 1496 cm³, but delivers 174 hp. You can buy a new Civic in basically four trims, LX, Sport, EX and Touring trim (there also are a few “crossover trims”). However, according to the market, there’s the option of sedan, hatchback or coupe, with two or four doors, all with a CVT transmission.
Soooo, a Civic? That’s not exactly the kind of car that usually shows up here, is it? No, it isn’t. But the reason is quite simple: I drive a Civic 😉. And I really like the car. Very comfortable, very roomy, economic and pretty smart when it comes to accelerations. And the CVT transmission… I detest automatic gearboxes, never drove a car that I liked. But the Civic’s CVT is the first non-manual gearbox that I find at least kind of nice to drive.
My Civic is a 2020 model in Touring trim, with the 1.5 turbo engine. But, as you can see, the model is a bit different from the real car – I think it’s an EX version. More than probably, modeled after a Chinese market Civic. And in terms of model, you surely noted it’s not Spark-good. Far (REALLY far) from that, in fact.
It’s just a pw from an unnamed brand that I bought from AliExpress. On the box it’s written in Chinese, so I don’t have the foggiest what it says. I won’t say it’s horrible, but detail level is very basic. However, for all I know, this is the only available Gen10 Civic in 1:43. So until a decent brand releases a good Gen10 Civic, this is the only option. Not even close to good, but if you want/need a Civic like me… 🙃