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4 WHEELS April 21 2011 The interior of the 2012 Honda Civic has been refined to reduce clutter and make the cabin feel more airy. As goes Civic so goes Honda Continued from pg. 3 Power comes from a 1.8-litre, variable valve timing inline four-cylinder producing 140 hp and 120 lb/ft of torque. The exceptions are the Civic Si with a 201 hp, 2.4-litre engine and Civic Hybrid with a 1.5-litre/electric motor producing 110 hp. The mainline Civics are primarily equipped with a five-speed manual transmission on the DX, LX and EX. There is a five-speed automatic available on the mid-range EX and LX while the automatic is standard on the EX-L. There is only a six-speed manual on the Si. Fuel rating on the Civic 1.8-litre automatic is 7.2/5.0L/100 km city/highway. This can be augmented by `Eco Assist' that smoothes out the shift mapping and turns the air conditioning down a tad to save fuel. It is engaged by an `Eco' button on the dashboard. On either side of the digital speed readout is a coloured bar that changes from blue (good) to green (better) and acts as a kind of electronic coach to the driver. I drove an EX-L from downtown Washington to FedEx Field in Maryland where there was a closed course set up in the parking lot. The Eco bars are easy to see but hard to keep in the green what with most of the drive being on freeways. I found the best way 'to go green' was to get up to speed and then lift off the gas. Sadly, with all the lurching lane changers around me and the constantly winding roads, maintaining Eco was not easy. In Canada, with our long stretches of straight, three-lane highways, it would be much easier to do. The 2010 Civic Sedan is now in Canadian showrooms with the Coupe version going on sale May 1. The Si comes in June and the Hybrid will be in over the summer. To use the expression as goes Civic, goes Honda Canada is an understatement. In fact, Honda has projected annual sales at the 63,000 plus range, a lofty aim indeed. But as noted at the top, Canadians love their compact cars, and with Honda Civic's long tradition of reliability and price, that love affair looks as though it's going to continue. Honda Civic 2012 (at a glance) BODY STYLE: compact sedan and coupe DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, front-wheel drive ENGINE: 1.8-litre DOHC inline four-cylinder (140 hp, 120 lb/ft); 2.4-litre DOHC inline four-cylinder (201 hp, 170 lb/ft): 1.5-litre, DOHC inline four-cylinder engine and 20 kW (27 hp) electric motor (110 hp, 127 lb/ft) FUEL ECONOMY: 1.8-litre, 7.2/5.0L/100 km city/highway; 2.4-litre, 10.0/6.4L/100 km; Hybrid, 4.4/4.2L/100 km TOW RATING: NA PRICE: Sedans; DX 5MT, $14,990; LX 5AT/5MT, $18,680/$17,490; EX 5AT/5MT, $29,690/$19,490; EX-L 5AT $24,390; Si 6MT, $25,990: Coupes: LX 5AT/5MT. $19,190/$17,990; EX 5AT/5MT, $21,190/19,990; EX-L 5AT, $24,590; Si 6MT, $25,990 WEB: www.honda.ca