More Customers Preferring Honda Civic Petrol Over Diesel – Here’s Why!

2019 honda civic first drive review india gaadiwaadi-1

The tenth generation Honda Civic is offered in both petrol and diesel engines; comes with several segment-first features

Honda cars India commenced bookings for the returning Civic executive sedan in February 2019 and it went on sale on March 7 with plenty of anticipation as the nameplate has a huge fan following in the domestic market. Within a couple of weeks of its official debut, Honda announced that more than 1,600 reservations were made.

The tenth generation Civic made its Indian premiere at the 2018 Auto Expo – more than six years after the eighth generation model was pulled out of the market due to low segment sales and the obvious absence of diesel powertrain. The Japanese manufacturer left no stones unturned as the 1.6-litre EarthDreams oil-burner introduced in the CR-V was plonked onto the sedan.

Honda decimated the competition by selling 2,291 units of the Civic in its first month and registered 369 units in April and 368 units in May 2019. In March, 2,006 units of the Civic retailed were petrol and only 285 units were diesel, as 88 per cent of customers preferred petrol variants.

2019 honda civic first drive review india gaadiwaadi-7

The D-segment for sedans has seen increased affinity towards petrol variants as Toyota Corolla saw 84 per cent of its sales for petrol, Skoda Octavia with 64 per cent and Hyundai Elantra with 60 per cent. The main reasons for buyers getting attracted to the Civic petrol variants were its pricing and the availability of CVT transmission.

While the diesel motor is paired with only a six-speed manual gearbox, the more accessibly priced petrol variants offered with the CVT sequential paddle shifters cost Rs. 17.69 lakh for the V, Rs. 19.19 lakh for the VX and Rs. 20.99 lakh for the ZX variants (ex-showroom, pan India). The 1.8-litre i-VTEC four-cylinder petrol engine kicks out 141 PS and 174 Nm.

2019 honda civic first drive review india gaadiwaadi-19

Unlike every other manufacturer, Honda relies on its sedans for monthly sales volume as the four-strong lineup has the Civic acting as an attractive upgrade for City’s customers according to the brand. It will have a tough time ahead though as the facelifted Elantra and new generation Octavia bound for mid-2020 are waiting in the wings.