New Honda Civic 1.8S Test Drive on Jelutong Express Highway

New Honda Civic 1.8S Test Drive on Jelutong Express Highway

After I had tested to drive the all new Suzuki Swift 1.4 CBU in the Jelutong Suzuki showroom, I still has some time to proceed to test drive another car before I meet my friend.

I went to the Honda Showroom and Service Center which is just a street away from the Suzuki showroom in Jelutong. Actually, I wanted to test the all-new Civic Hybrid but the sales lady turned me down as they do not have the test drive model in the showroom.

Instead, the nice saleslady offered her own car to me for a test drive, which is the Honda Civic 1.8S, to me.

It was a 5 months old white baby Honda Civic 1.8S. This car is equipped with projector headlamps too, but without HID and auto leveling feature.

She agreed to let me take for a spin on the Jelutong expressway. As I get into the car, I can feel the car is very spacious and the dashboard looks elegant. The dashboard comes in dual toned colors.
Even though the 1.8S version does not have keyless entry and a number of other features which are available in the Honda Civic 2.0, the available features and functions are more than enough for daily drivers like us.

Then i get the car start up and I was amazed by the silence in the cabin. The car was very quiet even though the engine has started running, soundproofing inside the cabin is superb and the panel meter is stylish, and blue in color combined with the I-MID.

The I-MID is well packaged with driving information, which is far more than you would require. I like the 2 blue/green bars which will tell you how economical your driving style is.

The car is loaded with 6 speakers that are similar to the Honda Civic 2.0 spec. The sound produced is very clear and the bass is not too hard nor soft. The audio system comes with an AUX, a USB and a CD system. The In Car Entertainment system in this Honda Civic 1.8S fulfilled our expectation.

Then we started to drive the car to the road. The Honda Civic 1.8S moved smoothly and the pedal reacted responsively, the accelerator pedal and brake pedal  is in the perfect ratio as I able to control the car in very precise without making the car jerk.

The Honda Civic 1.8S steering gave me a good load feeling too, thanks to the leather wrapped steering with the EPS feature to provide precise handling on the vehicle.

During the test drive, we went through some bumps and potholes. The car seemed to be not impacted much from those bumps and potholes as we could barely feel any shake when driving through those bumps and potholes. This car is definitely much better than other cars that I’ve drive before, thanks to its front suspension MacPherson Strut and rear suspension Multi Link.

During the test drive, I managed to floor the accelerator pedal and felt the power of 141PS@ 6500RPM, 174Nm @4300RPM i-VTEC SOHC. The car’s gear dropped to 3rd gear to provide better acceleration from 4th gear. Everything seemed smooth and  the noise level is minimal even though I’ve accelerated the car to 6000RPM and I am conquering the Jelutong Express Highway at that time!

The i-VTEC power never let me down even though it just equipped 1.8 litter engine.

Armed with 205/55/16 tyres with just 16-inch rims,  the car stability and handling are still amazing. I was driving the car at 110km/h speed and I do still have the confidence to go faster but the saleslady started to hold me down 🙁

Cornering at high speed with this Honda Civic 1.8S does not create much body roll to us as compared to my Toyota Vios. The car handled the cornering very well and suspensions are rigid too.

Honda Civic 1.8S can easily fit 5 adults with plenty of legroom. In fact, I feel the driver seat is too big for someone like me with a height of 170cm. Maybe I am used to driving a much smaller car 😛

Honda Civic 1.8S does not come with leather seats. Anyhow, the fabric seats are nice to be seated on too.

Safety features include 2 air bags, ABS, EBS, BA and VSA.

Overall, the car is great with spaciousness, comfortable, performance and handling. It has all the things to be good car except for the fact that the Honda Civic 1.8S doesn’t come with high-end gadgets like Ford’s cars. The price is RM115,980.00. Those who buy it before CNY would have got a rebate up to RM2,888.

If you think this test drive journey is fun, don’t hesitate to give us a thumb up.