New Honda Civic facelift unveiled in Japan!
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The Honda Civic facelift or minor model change in Honda speak has been unveiled in its home market of Japan so we now have an idea how our own facelifted Honda Civic will look like. This comes shortly after Honda revealed its American market Honda Civic. Next will be the European Civic hatch I suppose.
True to its namesake, the changes are indeed minor which include a new front grille design which has a thicker chrome bar at the top and reshaped with sharper edges thus giving the grille a wider appearance, a new front bumper with wider air intakes to appear sportier, and new tail lamps with a larger internal lense (no longer round now). That’s about it for the exterior. Thankfully our model does not get the chrome bar between the tail lamps that the USDM version gets.
The interior does not get much changes except for updates to the in-car entertainment system to support the latest inputs like USB as well as new fabric for the seats. The high grade MXST Civic Hybrid also gets an Alcantara interior.
The engines under the hood of the facelifted Civic remain largely the same as the pre-facelift version – a 2.0 liter i-VTEC DOHC engine putting out 155 PS at 6,000rpm (a quick check shows pre-facelift version put out the same 155 PS at a higher 6,500rpm) and 188Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, and a 1.8 liter i-VTEC SOHC engine producing 140 PS at 6,300rpm and 174Nm of torque at 4,300rpm. It’s not known if the engines have any other tweaks or not while remaining with the same power output levels.
Thanks to Vincent for the tip! Look after the jump for more photos of the Civic facelift.
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September 5, 2008 @ 7:11 am
Now it has the Hyundai grille. It look like the previous version of Accord. Dear honda malaysia, when will the hybrid price going down. The duty has been slashed 100%.
September 5, 2008 @ 7:11 am
nothing different, just a new facelift. ok lah
September 5, 2008 @ 7:44 am
Honda Malaysia later will say, even the hybrid duty slash but the sales tax & AP value went up. So in the end is still the same
Anyway not much change on the Civic, is a good buy compare to Altis. But sadly we dont have a direct competition from Mazda 3 / 6 due to higher tax on import.
September 5, 2008 @ 8:45 am
Please ler, Honda Malaysia, Help me do something about the environment as well as my wallet!!!
September 5, 2008 @ 8:57 am
Really a minor changes…
I prefer the current grile.
The rearlamp hmm look nice too in square.
September 5, 2008 @ 9:41 am
yawnn………..still ugly……still very ah beng….. when is the next generation is coming out.
September 5, 2008 @ 9:57 am
still the same, glad that kept it that way, its still the best looking car(volkswagen golf, volkswagen jetta, ford focus, opel astra, kia cee’d, nissan qashqai all too expensive…)
September 5, 2008 @ 10:33 am
zzz , same , no fresh look
September 5, 2008 @ 10:39 am
Civic Type R facelifted too?
September 5, 2008 @ 10:44 am
this is not facelift, it’s ’samelift’.. what a shame…
September 5, 2008 @ 10:44 am
what !!! civic now uses b-sting antenna…?
September 5, 2008 @ 11:17 am
haha, I just got my civic 3 months ago…
September 5, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
such a minor facelift.. boring…
September 5, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Is it just me, or are the rims just GOD FORSAKENLY UGLY…..omg…
September 5, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
lol…they draw a few out line+re-allocate sport light and says it’s called face lift?How to compete huh? Might just remain the previous version, better price better sales..
September 5, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
like the new small spoiler at the back..it would have been if the facelift is like the Si version…somemore with GPS?? hopefully got improvements on performance of the engine…
September 5, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Subtle facelift… I like how the new tail lamps look. Edgier yet still maintaining the look
September 5, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
What facelift? ‘Tooth-lift’ maybe? The changes are really minuscule.
September 5, 2008 @ 5:59 pm
The front bumper look almost identical with Type R. Wonder the Mudulo front body kit will still fit to this new front bumper. Or will we get the new Modulo kits?
September 5, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
well… despite the so-called “facelift”, the Civic still appears to be one of the greatest looking sedans to me… perhaps the design is too perfect that the designers run out of idea on how to make it look better, coz it oredi looks way too good… juz like those mazda guys doing on the MX5, too good for facelift… maybe if u add more salt or pepper, the dish will juz go terrible… i think its a smart move from Honda, i cant find no reason how to make this car look better since its juz a conventional sedan…
September 5, 2008 @ 7:50 pm
hurm vary minor facelift…i am surprised…but of course better than new altis…
September 5, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
omg,its IDENTICAL!!!!!!! wat a shame honda…..
September 5, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
pheww!!..i thought it was gonna look like the us version..thank god they didn’t change much of a good design..honda has a history of spoiling good designs through facelifts..the car actually looks smoother..
September 6, 2008 @ 12:09 am
Mazda3 grille!
September 6, 2008 @ 12:58 am
facelift is pretty ugly IMHO.
new edgy grill does not match the smmoth overall of the car and the rear lights are just plain fugly.
Difference in the power delivery of the 2.0 may be because it is now using a K20A (pre-facelift should be K20Z if I am not mistaken)
http://www.honda.co.jp/CIVIC/webcatalogue/grade-data/index.html
TL
September 6, 2008 @ 1:46 am
yeah like mazda grille..why didnt they just take out the crome thingy from the grill? i think better just let the grill black – honeycomb like at city..look more garang like golf gti..
neway like the front bumper..and the tail lamp..have to look the car itself than from pics..
September 6, 2008 @ 2:19 am
minor change are quite reasonable for this car
this generation civic is a really beauty
just need some small change to make it more sharp and nice
like someother people said
if add more thing it may just broke the beauty of the car
sadly , honda did’t add led rear light for the civic
September 6, 2008 @ 3:10 am
i think the car looks nicer this way.. i like the way that they’ve changed the tail lamps since it’s not round anymore.. before this the car doesnt look as good in pictures but if you see in right in front of you it looks better… but now even in pictures it looks nice… good job, honda…
p/s: and yes, thank god they don’t change our version to look like the new US version… so plain-looking…
September 6, 2008 @ 6:50 am
don’t worry guys! the new price for Civic Hybrid is expected to be in the range of RM120k-125k. that’s a bargain! any taker?
September 6, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Paul – any idea if honda malaysia will introduce the facelift? in singapore, buyers now have an option to pay S$2k more for the facelift model, thereafter, everyone will have to take the F/L model.
and how about the civic type r? new packages and colors are introduced in japan. any idea if honda malaysia will intro these? http://www.honda.co.jp/CIVICTYPE-R/
September 6, 2008 @ 5:38 pm
the govt just gave a crony company AP’s specifically for hybrid cars…so instead of paying for the car less than 100k..we have to pay the cost of AP’s…that’s why honda has yet to come up with the new pricing..they just create new things to enrich themselves all the time without having to work hard like the rest of us..pity the m’sian people..
September 6, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
the down part of bumper… look like accord or stream…
September 7, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
if people can say this car is ugly, a corolla altis is hideous and a proton is just fucking ugly
September 7, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
I owned this civic model 2007 and still like the current round tail lamp compare to this one. Changing the front bumper to “like a” type-R version is a good move.
Why the hybrid still using the waja type antenna? should standardise to use same as 1.8/2.0 version.
September 7, 2008 @ 8:09 pm
Nice wan trustgtr…
September 7, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
Hmm…
I think I’ve to agree on some regarding that it’s kinda hard to tell it’s actually a facelift at first glance. Only when you look hard enough that you will notice the front thicker chrome grille and the rather nice rear lamp. Still, albagmane point it out really good regarding Honda moves making this a really really light facelift. I mean it’s already a good looking car, why want to mess it all up?!
Take the Mazda RX8 for example, I still like and loved on how the old version look like compare with the new one. Never actually dig the subtle front head lamp and my god the new rear lamp with it’s twin round lights looked rather ‘cheap and ugly’. That is what happened when you mess too much with a good looking car! And that are just my two cents folks….take care!
September 8, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
its futuristic looks cam last for years to come…. IMHO, minor modification/touchup should be sufficient!
September 11, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
mugen got facelift?
September 27, 2008 @ 12:48 am
when does this new facelift civic will launched in Malaysia? I’m waiting for it…
November 25, 2008 @ 10:08 pm
Personally do NOT think square rear lamp is better looking than previous version.
These engineers have better work to do like:
[1] Redesign the allocation of paddle shift (no steering mounted please, instead, but behind steering, like Ferarri).
[2] Decreasing the semi-auto gear shifting time (unreasonably slow, a second to next gear?! That is REAL slow, as reference, Ferrari does it in 50 millisecond)
[3] Use double clutch (VW Scirocco hehe)
[4] OEM Mugen body kit (lose in performance but at least better looking than others)
[5] Logon to paultan.org to see our comments!
December 22, 2008 @ 12:20 am
And discount for the current out going civic? As well go for it then wait for the delivery of the new city
January 11, 2009 @ 8:14 pm
I heard that civic hibrid battry cost about 20K, is it rite?
January 11, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
mine onli old 2.0 1st ver (8th gen) bought in mid 2006
February 28, 2009 @ 11:44 am
very nice the interir and exterior
March 2, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
OMG!! look at the black pearl color civic!! damn garanggg
March 6, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
Just spoke to my Honda sales guy.. they just finished training on this Civic to be launch in Malaysia. Probable date: 19th March ‘09..
i hope they have white colour this time..
any update on urside Paul?
March 20, 2009 @ 9:10 am
Usually how long it takes for a new model to roll out after ‘face-lift or tooth-lift’ is done to the existing model? 1 year? 2 years? just to gauge if i should get this face-lift or wait for another x year…Tks.
March 20, 2009 @ 9:10 am
Usually how long it takes for a new model to roll out after ‘face-lift or tooth-lift’ is done to the existing model? 1 year? 2 years? just to gauge if i should get this face-lift or wait for another x year…Tks.
April 1, 2009 @ 7:28 pm
yeah, white is cool
April 23, 2009 @ 1:31 am
i’m so in lov with this car!