Honda Civic Diesel BS6 Launched; Base Variant Now Offers More Airbags

The diesel Honda Civic is now not only cleaner in terms of emissions, but its entry-level variant now offers 6 airbags

• The 1.6-litre engine continues to make 120PS/300Nm but fuel efficiency has dropped by almost 3kmpl to 23.9kmpl.

• Available in two variants: VX, ZX; a 6-speed manual continues to be the only transmission option.

• The 1.8-litre petrol engine with CVT was BS6-compliant right from its launch in March 2019.

• Entry-level diesel VX variant gets a price hike due to the additional airbags.

• The Civic currently rivals the Hyundai Elantra.

Honda has launched the BS6-compliant version of its executive sedan, the Civic, making it the second car after the Hyundai Elantra to get the option of BS6 petrol and diesel engines. The Civic petrol has been BS6 compliant since it’s launch in March 2019.

The jump to BS6 emission norms hasn’t robbed the 1.6-litre diesel engine of any power or grunt. It continues to put out 120PS and 300Nm. It’s fuel efficiency has seen a slight dip though, with the BS6 version returning a claimed fuel efficiency of 23.9kmpl compared to the BS4 version’s 26.8kmpl.

The diesel Civic continues to be offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox. We aren't complaining about this transmission per se but buyers in this segment would also appreciate the availability of a diesel-automatic combo.

As before, the diesel Civic is available in two variants: VX and XZ. You can check out their new prices in the table below and also see how they compare to the BS4 version.

As you can make out from the above table, only the base variant of the Civic has undergone a price hike. This is due to the addition of curtain airbags (taking the total count of airbags to 6) rather than the engine updates themselves. The Civic VX petrol, however, continues to be offered with 4 airbags (dual front and front side).

Honda continues to offer the Civic with LED lighting all around, a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a sunroof, an 8-way power-adjustable driver seat, an e-parking brake, and more. Apart from the 6 airbags, the safety suite consists of features like vehicle stability assist, hill start assist, Honda LaneWatch camera (part of blind spot monitoring), ABS with EBD and brake assist, and rear seat ISOFIX child seat anchorages.

With this update in the emissions department, the Honda Civic continues to battle it out with the Hyundai Elantra, the only mid-size sedan in the segment as of now. The Elantra is available with both petrol and diesel engines with automatic options too and is priced between Rs 17.60 lakh and Rs 20.65 lakh.  The Octavia is out of contention as it is only available in the performance-oriented RS form, which is almost twice the price of the Civic. That said, Skoda is expected to launch the new-gen Octavia later this year or early 2021, but it will be a petrol-only offering.

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