The Civic saloon is almost the size of the old Accord BUT instead of a 2.0 or 2.4 ltr engine it's a 3 cylinder turbo 1 ltr petrol or a NA diesel.
No option of the 180 BHP 1.5 4 cyl petrol from the Civic Hatch & CRV
Indeed - I had the same issue with the Mazda3 gen-3 fastback when, like the rest of the UK range at that time 2.5 years ago), the nice 2.5 petrol (never mind the really good 2.5T) was never offered in the 3 (not even the hatch) or for that matter, any other Mazda on sale in the UK.
All we initial had was the smooth but not quick standard 2.0 (122PS - no remapped 163PS version like in the hatch) and the (IMHO) unreliable 1.5 and 2.2 turbo diesels, then they dropped the auto half way through the life of the model with no explanation.
I know that non-German small-to mid-sized saloons haven't been popular in the UK for a good while now, but I think that's as much to do with poor marketing and a limited engine/spec lineup as it is people not liking them for the lower level of practicalty compared to hatchbacks (including the jacked-up SUVs and MPVs of the last decade).
Whilst I was annoyed that I couldn't get a new PC box into my Mazda3 saloon's boot (the boot aperture was too small, as was the rear door openings), that was the one and only time I've had that sort of bother. Yes, rear view isn't as good as the hatch, but parking sensors would instantly cure that (something I should've gone for when I bought it as a dealer-add-on), but as the structural design is stiffer, it handles a bit better than the hatch (which I've driven) and the boot itself is about 40-50L bigger, plus the car is vastly nicer to look at than the hatch version.
Admitedly, the latest Mazda3 (gen-4) hatch version is very good looking and far nearer in that regard to the fastback than my gen-1 car, but the boot in the latest hatch, like the latest Corolla, is still only around the 360L mark, whereas the saloon versions of both is quite a bit larger. Oddly enough, whilst the engine lineup is limited in the Mazda3 fastback, unlike the Corolla, the (current) range topping petrol one is available (2.0 HCCI, no standard one) and at least the auto is, for the moment, also available. Still no 2.5 though (available in the 6 only).
I suppose with the Camry, the 2.5 hybrid is probably more reasonable, given it is quite a large car in comparison to the Corolla (even in saloon or estate form), though I suspect that the 2.0 hybrid would probably do perfectly fine, but its low sales would mean hardly any would be bought, rather like the Mazda3 gen-3 car and its 1.5 N/A petrol engine (which wasn't that much lower in power than the standard 2.0) which barely sold any and was quietly dropped when the fastback auto was.
The Civic saloon is a car without a market - it, to me, isn't really much of a looker (barely different to the hatch), doesn't have a decent engine (many people buy saloons for the driving experience as well as the looks) power-wise - like the Corolla, I think its a car they think is a taxi (bigger boot) or for 'slow older drivers'. But its a BIG car, but it is VERY expensive for what you get in terms of the performance.
The Germans seem to realise this and instead only give their small and medium saloons the upper performance engines, but still retaining the auto versions, because they know that most buyers want the (better) driving experience to go with the superior styling.
Maybe its because most Japanese saloons end up in North America (and to a lesser extent, Down Under) and they don't have the EU corporate CO2 emissions regs to deal with that they also get the higher-spec engines on their saloons, and because they are far more popular with the Americans and Candians who perhaps value the space more and don't have our restricted width roads to contend with so much and don't mind buying larger cars.
Bummer.
Edited by Engineer Andy on 05/08/2019 at 17:00
|
