Up until recently, Honda Civic, in Europe with a
diesel engine and an automatic transmission wouldn’t have been news.
However, the
stricter WLTP emissions tests that will become effective this fall are already
leaving their footprint on the industry. As a result, some automakers were
forced to either de-tune some diesel cars, or drop them completely (see base VW
Golf GTI). Other companies announced
they will drop diesel engines completely.
These new measures
haven’t affected Honda which has announced a new powertrain option for the
Civic diesel. Available for the Euro-spec version of the Civic, it combines the
already available 1.6-liter i-DTEC oil burner, with a nine-speed automatic
gearbox. This is the first time that the Civic can be had in this combo, which
promise an average fuel consumption of 4.1 l/100 km (68.9 mpg UK / 57.4 mpg
US), regardless of body style. At the same time, CO2 emissions as low as 108 g/km for the sedan
and 109 g/km for the hatchback, as per NEDC.
Honda says the
automatic Honda Civic can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 11 seconds,
and up to a top speed of 200 km/h, aided by the 120 PS and 300 Nm of torque produced by the diesel engine.
