Making its debut at the ongoing Los Angeles Auto Show is the 2013 model year Honda Civic, which gains some considerable revisions in an attempt to address criticism surrounding this year’s model. What do Stateside buyers get for a US$160 (RM486) increase across the range?
The sedan gets styling changes both inside and outside, including a new bonnet and boot lid. The front and rear treatment is more Accord-like now, and the interior has been reworked with soft-touch materials and new trim. Recalibrated steering and suspension attempts to sharpen handling and upgrades to the body and chassis, including soundproofing, aim to improve ride comfort and NVH.
Honda’s next-gen Advanced Compatibility Engineering II (ACE II) body structure has been applied to the 2013 Civic to help increase occupant protection in the event of a crash. Also new are SmartVent side airbags, side curtain airbags with rollover sensor and the availability of Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW) systems.
Now standard across the board are Bluetooth with USB and iPod connectivity, Pandora interface, rear-view camera, audio controls on the steering wheel and SMS functionality. There’re some new wheel designs, too.
“Our industry has never been more competitive or fast changing, and a significant refresh of Civic, America’s best-selling compact car, just one model year after its debut as an all-new model shows true speed to market,” said American Honda executive VP of sales John Mendel.
You can survey the changes, inside and out, more closely in the gallery, which includes images of the higher-spec Si sedan and coupe. You can also read our test drive report of the ninth-gen Civic here.
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The only reason there is an early facelift is that US car review sites and US public has said the new civic is the worst civic ever and sales are down.
Actually, sales in the state are rather well. The civic was the best selling in its segment
By time this comes out to Malaysia, it will be 2014. Japanese brands are getting so lembap in Malaysia and they need to buck up. Its because of their slow attitude is the reason why RV of Toyota and Honda are dropping very fast.
Immitator in action, again
Almost every auto magazine (US and Europe) has rated the new civic as 3 stars (out of 5). Thats how screwed the car is. Over the past 3 generations when their cars have got bigger and heavier but their engine technology hardly moved ahead in terms of torque, power and consumption. The Europeans and even the Koreans have moved the goalpost. If they dont do something fast and soon the Civic will be history
this is not a really good idea, accord is targeted for mature generation, why put such erar lamp design on sportier looking civic?
the previous version (FD) still has better rear lamp design. no changes for engine/gear? still with sucky SOHC engine. that’s a backward move from honda
Agreed. Until the US Honda CEO had to apologize to his big boss at the Japan HQ for the dismal sales of the new Civic in the US.
This facelift is much-needed to make the Civic less ugly. Hope it comes to Malaysia soon, regardless of the butthurt it will cause to the early adopters of the ugly version.
i’m amazed, this is much much better then preve!
Wait, wha…why bring the Prevé into this?
because they are same segment, supposed to be competitor, just like civic and altis..
But its like comparing Longan and Durians
The Prevé is nowhere near the same price as the Civic, spec for spec. They may be the same size, but in terms of sophistication the Prevé can’t possibly compete. But then that’s expected given that it costs about RM50,000 less.
Yeah. What happen. Its like the design went back to the 90s.
dude, the 90’s Eg & Ek rocks even today..
Hmm the front bumper looks like new BMW 3 mix with VW Beetle bumper !
The first feeling I got from the front end seems like HOnda is doing reverse engineering from the Gangmnam counterpart.
Get a Mazda designer…,
I wonder those who are buying this Civic in Malaysia feeling stupid? The moment you drive out your ‘new’ Civic, it immediately became outdated as you the face lifted model already out after only slightly more than a year.
the question is, when this facelift Civic arrive our shore?
Which mean there will be a facelift for asia? I wanna know, how those that recently bought the Civic here in Malayia felt about this…
no facelift version for asian, because asian just accept anything from honda and toyota without complaint… when they do recall, also never involve cars sold in asia lor…
There has to be a refresh at some point during the production cycle. You have to bear in mind though that the Civic has only just been launched here a few months ago and is locally-assembled, so it’s gonna take time to retool the assembly line to accept the new parts and I don’t think Honda Malaysia has enough clout to force DRB-Hicom to do such sweeping changes so quickly to its plant. Realistically, I’m thinking we’ll see the facelift in another two years.
This 1 is better… your effort… well done…
the beige interior is awesome
a seriously tempting proposition
finally its using standard double-din
if honda is planning to charge 6k for satnav
i’d rather get those android powered ICEs n use google maps!
The rear end is a huge improvement over the pre-FL. The front end and interior, with that little chrome accent and a tidier button lay out dashboard, makes it looks better than the pre-FL. But otherwise essentially still very basic looking unlike the last gen FD Civic which looks like a F22 Raptor as this looks more like a Cessna 122.
But as I said before, to take in criticism, accept it and do something bout’it. That’s what I like. A for effort to Honda N.America .[unlike a certain local manufacturer]
Now down to business. Someone please threaten Honda Malaysia to bring in the Facelift Civic with similar spec in repentance of that truly disappointing CKD Jazz Hybrid.
both models dashies are ugly, like been smashed by hulk
looks balanced to me.
On one hand you have the extreme, like Hyundai’s dash that looks like someone poured concentrated sulfuric acid on it.
And on the other you have the dull, like Toyota’s dash that looks [yawn] so…bori…Zzzzzz.
But anyway that’s what I think.
AVH, you left out Nissan’s dashboards… It looks like they spent $30 million for R&D on powertrain and mechanicals, $2 million for exterior design, and $5000 for dashboard design.
(I suspect it’s a similar case with the Mitsubishi Lancer.. few million dollars budget to design the front three-quarters of the car, but when it came to the boot and rear bumper, the budget dwindled to $1000 and they simply drew straight lines and didn’t bother to check for awkward lines and poor flow)
I left out a lot of dashboard for the sake of keeping it simple. Yeah, Nissan falls in the dull category, even their half-a-mil Supercar has a really awkward dash, although weirdly ,the glossy, futuristic and simple Nissan Leaf dash gets my like.
On the extreme, we have Hyundais, Fords and some Citroen. Not all of the cars they make are offenders though.
Design taste depends on individual, so nailing a balance is crucial for a design to be universally accepted or like. This Honda Civic almost nailed it, almost, I could’t find any ugly bits but it still looks a tad dull[saved by the blue accent lighting and chrome bits].
Design that nailed it are the dash from the Jaguar XJ, Land Rover Evouqe and the BMW 3 series.
Aiya, sure kena complain at here no matter what improvement la, because it is Honda.
From the front, it looks like an angry nerd wearing braces.
….and no engine upgrade…boring..next!
Wait, no projector headlights?
Projec what laa, people use bi-xenon years ago.
whattt?? why is civic here don’t have curtain airbags?? why overseas model alwayss get the better specs?? (Sarcasm)
this just proves how the consumers can influence major carmakers to make changes.
Malaysian spec better coze got projector headlight. Maybe too bright for the us authority
Wow, this is why I sometimes don’t bother reading the comments on this site.
Projector headlights don’t offer any sort of advantage over reflector headlights in terms of brightness if they’re fitted with the same bulbs. HID bulbs are brighter, and if they were too bright for US authorities then all types of bi-xenon headlights would’ve been banned from the US, and that’s not true is it?
A possible explanation as to why US-spec Civics don’t have projector headlights is that the US actually have regulations requiring side marker lights (that little orange bit next to the front signals that we don’t get on our cars). I’m guessing that since the Americans needed to make different headlights from ours to incorporate them they just decided to make the cheapest ones they could possibly make to save cost (and looking at the 2012 model, cost was definitely on their minds).
current 2.0 navi model better… dont look at 1.8 or hybrid model.. pay more to get nicer..
wow..fell in love with it!! especially the rims!!
why i think the previous civic is more beautiful and have a sporty look than this, sigh,…
why ppl so surprised about this facelift? they announced that they gonna facelift it not long after it was released in the US ma
I don’t think they’re surprised. Maybe some butthurt for buying the ugly version available in Malaysia, or some butthurt from thinking “Crap, the current Civic has reached its mid-life.. looks like my Civic’s second hand value is gonna drop a bit”. If given a choice, I think T & H owners won’t want any facelift or updates so that their cars can retain the second-hand value
so buyers please read more online and auto mags ok? (not you), don’t just blindly buy new car immediately after launched
after spotting several of the new civic on our roads, the design is actually quite nice to me. very sharp and sporty
I still prefer conti preve design, the body seems sturdier , civic more feminine
No more plastic interior.
This is a good lesson for Honda. You guys should go and look at that cheap plastic in the Msian Civic. Myvi also can put it to shame! What’s with this T and the H? People heading north on quality and technology, they seem to think that going the other is the in thing.
Actually new civic design is not that bad…. So far what i have seen especially white and black colour, its give you ‘Class’ feeling
Ugly why need facelift?
they gt good sales however for d continuation of sales next year they badly need a facelift, cuz th orte is coming and its packing a punch, bt i still vote this new beige interior betters any other c segment ind market, followed by sylphy’s (black noy grey) then the forte ( all black is cool 3 years ago , faux cf is a no no )
if only they introduce the same interior on Civic FD, it would be great..
Civic FD looks good on the outside, but quite empty on the inside..
Still ugly, gone uglier with the new pix above.
Well done & kudos to Honda. DFs…
malaysian people will never get this car coz their honda is super perfect
Still ugly as hell. 8 Gen is better. Honda should have evolved the design from it.
Civic Sales over the past 3 months exceed the sales nos of all kimchis combined in 2012
The quality of the new interior looks much better than the current one, this is more like it.
I think this is a really good effort from Honda to answer US market considering their image.
It shows that with strong determination, facelift or even new models might be shorter lifespan in future considering global competition…
yesterday i saw Civic 2.0 with small spoiler! Very nice man!
Civic 2.0 (not the US FL right)? Quite nice.