When Honda pulled the sheets off of its Civic Tourer concept—a show car previewing the production European-market Civic wagon you see here—at this year’s Geneva auto show, we decried it as yet another cool-looking small five-door we won’t get here in the U.S. Unfortunately, the Civic Tourer still isn’t coming to the U.S. (Continental customers still get an entirely different Civic than we do), but Honda has released photos of the wagon in production form and some details to further stoke your lust.
As we expected, this production version of the Civic Tourer doesn’t stray far from the design elements introduced six months ago. The production model’s wheels are smaller, and the concept’s bevy of LED lighting accents are toned down to a pair of simple, horizontal running lights fitted to the front intakes. Honda carried over the concept’s bulging rear-fender creases nearly unchanged, and cleverly mounted the rear quarter windows flush to the body and the rear hatch glass to mimic the show car’s wraparound-glass look. The rear end gets a full-width taillight treatment with little upturns at each corner that give the aft view a surprised countenance; it certainly isn’t boring, but it is a bit strange. Overall, though, the Civic Tourer’s shape is classy and the side view, especially, is quite sleek and sporty.
Inside, the Civic Tourer is imbued with Honda’s typical packaging mastery and clever stowage options. The rear bench is of the same flipping and folding variety as the smaller Honda Fit’s rear chairs, dubbed Magic Seats. The 60/40 split seatbacks can fold flat, or the bottom cushions can be flipped up to allow large items to be loaded through the side doors. Honda says the trunk can hold 22 cubic feet of stuff; folding the seatbacks opens up a palatial 59 cubic feet of space.
- Tested: 2013 Honda Civic EX-L Sedan
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- Comparison Test: 2013 Honda Accord EX-L vs. 2014 Mazda 6 Grand Touring
To better handle heavier loads and varying driving styles, the Tourer offers an Adaptive Damper System that offers Comfort, Normal, and Dynamic suspension modes. Power comes from either a 1.6-liter diesel four-cylinder from Honda’s new Earth Dreams line of engines—it will be the first such motor to go on sale in Europe—or a gas-fed 1.8-liter four; manual and automatic transmissions will be available. It goes without saying that the five-door Civic already on sale overseas is far more interesting-looking than the sedan and coupe we get here. So of course an amalgamation of that car’s looks and a zesty wagon body has us in a (controllable) tizzy, but if Honda ever makes a Civic Tourer Type R, we might just lose it.
Source: CarAndDriver
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