Confirmed: 2019 Honda Civic Won’t Get 1.5-litre Turbo Petrol Engine

Apart from the CR-V’s 1.6-litre diesel, the India-spec Civic is likely to be offered with the old 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol motor, albeit with more power

The tenth-gen Honda Civic is one of three cars that Honda Cars India promised it would launch this fiscal year. While the Amaze is already on sale, the fifth-gen CR-V is set to be launched on October 9. The Civic, on the other hand, will be launched in early 2019. But most importantly, the Civic, which is set to return after a five-year hiatus, will get a diesel engine option for the first time. This isn’t surprising since it’s already sold with the same i-DTEC engine in Europe. 

• Honda Introduces Automatic Transmission With Diesel Civic Sedan

However, the petrol-powered version of the sedan is offered with multiple powertrain options around the world. The highlight of the Civic sold overseas is Honda’s latest downsized VTEC turbo petrol 1.0-litre (3-cyl) and 1.5-litre (4-cyl) motors, which, incidentally made their global debut with the current-gen model. Sadly, the VTEC Turbo engines will not be offered in India as these engines aren’t manufactured here and importing them would make the sedan more expensive than its primary rivals.

• 2018 Honda CR-V: First Drive Review

Instead, the India-spec Civic is likely to be powered by an uprated version of the 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine which was available with the eighth-gen sedan that faced the axe in 2013. Let’s take a quick look at how the new version of the engine compares against the older unit.

Compared to Honda’s latest turbocharged engines, the 1.8-litre i-VTEC lags behind in terms of outright power and torque. To put things into perspective, the 1.8-litre engine has a power and torque deficit of over 40PS and 40Nm, respectively. 

That said, the uprated version of the 1.8-litre engine is on par with rivals such as the Hyundai Elantra (2.0-litre petrol 152PS/192Nm) and the Toyota Corolla (1.8-litre petrol 140PS/173Nm) as far as its power and torque output are concerned. The Skoda Octavia takes the lead here with its powerful 1.4-litre (150PS/250Nm) and 1.8-litre (180PS/250Nm) turbo petrol engines. It also gets a hotter vRS version with a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol (230PS/350Nm) engine. The Octavia RS, however, is the most expensive midsize sedan sold in the country with a price tag of Rs 26.78 lakh (ex-showroom India).   

• 2019 Hyundai Elantra Facelift Revealed

What’s worth noting is the fact that the tenth-gen Civic that is set to be launched here will not be the version that was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo. Instead, it will be the facelifted model, which was recently revealed.