The Mazda3 should be a little worried. That’s because the new Honda Civic happens to finally be good again, and this morning Honda unveiled what is undoubtedly the best version of it yet: the 2017 Civic Hatchback. It can be had with a turbo. And a manual!
It’s a little busy, and bigger than any Civic has ever been, but I don’t think it’s all that bad. Then again, I don’t hate the sedan and coupe either, so tell me to get my eyes checked in the comments.
Unlike those other body styles, the Civic Hatchback gets just one engine option, but it’s the good one: the 1.5-liter turbo four putting out 174 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque; that gets bumped to 180 HP in the Sport and an all-new Sport Touring trim.
It can also be had with Honda’s CVT, which as far as CVTs go is not that terrible, but why do that to yourself when the other option is a six-speed manual? I’m gonna tell you right now to buy that one instead.
That’s not a bad setup overall. So why did I refer to it as a “mild Type-R” in my headline? Because Honda says that after this car launches in the fall, it will serve as the basis for “the radical new Civic Type-R launching in the U.S. in 2017.” In other words, we can expect the new CTR—the first one to ever officially come to America!—to look like this, just more radical. That car is expected to make 276 horsepower or more and be blast to drive.