Dynamic revamp for 2014 Honda Civic hatchback

The Honda Civic hatchback has undergone dynamic and styling improvements for the 2014 model year, in order to give the car a more sporting feel.

The most significant tweaks of the ninth-generation Civic are under the skin. The electronic power steering has been retuned to make the car feel more surefooted at higher speeds. The front and rear dampers have also been tweaked to enhance body control, and the toe and camber of the rear suspension has been realigned to improve overall handling.

The changes have been implemented in response to feedback from customers and Honda dealers. The revisions were carried out by the engineering team at Honda’s Swindon base, which has been given a degree of autonomy from head office in Japan to configure the car to European tastes.

Honda's aim is to endow the standard hatchback with a slightly more sporting image to align it with the range-topping Civic Type R performance variant, which is due to appear in 2015.

Subtle exterior and interior tweaks have also been made to the Honda Civic hatchback. The rear of the car gets privacy glass on the lower rear window, and piano black finishes to the tailgate, number plate surround and lower bumper in place of the previous body-coloured parts.

The front bumper finish is now also piano black, instead of anthracite grey, and there are darker wheel-arch garnishes and a new design of alloy wheel as standard.

Inside the 2014 Civic hatchback there is new white stitching detail on the steering wheel, seat and knee pad, some aluminium-coloured finishing around the cup holder and black gloss inserts.

Another addition to the Honda Civic range for 2014 is a package of safety kit known as Advanced Driving Assist Systems. A £500 option that will be offered on both the hatchback and Tourer, it includes systems such as lane departure warning, traffic-sign recognition, blind spot warning and active city braking.

Left-hand-drive examples of the 2014 Honda Civic are already rolling off the Swindon production line, and right-hand-drive cars will go on sale in the UK in January.

Pricing has yet to be confirmed, although there is likely to be a small rise across the range, which currently starts at £16,995 for a 1.4-litre i-VTEC petrol in SE trim.  However, any price change is also likely to occur in tandem with a realignment of trim levels to include some new kit such as DAB radio as standard.