(engine revving and exhaust cracking)
- It's one of the most ubiquitous cars
in all of automotive history.
A hero of the masses that promised to get you
where you needed to go and never let you down.
Chances are you know someone who owned one,
or you've owned one yourself.
From modest beginnings,
dipping it's toe in the American market,
becoming one of the best selling cars in the US.
(engine revving)
This is everything you need to know to get up to speed.
(layered dialogue)
(lightning cracks)
To get up to speed on the Honda (beep) Civic!
(lightning cracks)
In the late sixties to early seventies,
Honda was selling their N and Z600 passenger cars in the US,
but they weren't moving a ton of inventory.
These cars were powered by small
two cylinder motorcycle engines
and in the land of V8 powered land barges,
nobody really wanted one.
Fortunately, Honda was already hard at work
designing a replacement for their tiny K car.
Their new car called the Civic
would use a transverse front engine layout...
(truck engine roars)
Would use a transverse front engine layout
similar to the Mini over in England.
Turning the engine sideways to turn the front wheels
meant no running gear going to the back of the car
and that meant more room for passengers and stuff.
The design phase was going great
but the suspension was a point of contention.
Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda,
wanted the Civic to have a solid rear axle.
He told his lead engineer, Mamoru Sakata,
"I don't see any merit in independent suspension,"
and Mamoru was like,
"No merit in independent suspension, are you insane?"
And Soichiro was all like, "Chill out dude,"
"I know we're friends but I'm still your boss."
"Oh, my bad, anyway,"
"independent suspension is better in pretty much every way,"
"especially in front wheel drive configurations"
"like this new car."
And he's like, "Fair enough, you are the engineer."
"That's why I hired you."
And they deep hugged it out, deep, deep hugged.
(both laughing)
It's a legendary hug, read about it on the internet.
So the Civic would have independent suspension
at all four corners
and that was about as far as the features go.
Honda wanted the Civic to be a bare bones, daily driver
that was still engaging behind the wheel.
♪ We make it simple ♪
The Civic's 71 cubic inch 50 horsepower engine
really liked to be driven at high revs,
meaning you could make a lot of noise
and feel like you were going fast
without breaking 35 miles an hour.
(mocking engine revving)
Honda sent the Civic to American shores in 1973
to a lukewarm reception.
(stifled cheering)
It was really good in the city
but that wasn't enough
for people to hop on the Civic train, not yet.
That next year, federal law dictated
that unleaded gas would be available
at every gas station in the country
meaning catalytic converters could be added
without getting clogged up with all those lead additives.
Most car companies started freaking out, man,
but the government was saying they had to put those weird,
unreliable catalytic converters on their exhaust,
but not Honda, why?
Because their new CVCC engine in the Civic
didn't need a cat.
Almost 10 years earlier,
Honda decided that they didn't trust those
unreliable little boxes
and wanted to make engines that ran cleaner
instead of adding a scrubber to the exhaust.
The Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion engine
would run clean enough to pass emissions without a cat.
The Civic was years ahead of it's American competitors
and people started realizing
they didn't really need a huge, smog belching sedan
to get around town.
(engine revving)
Maybe they could live with something smaller.
A few years go by and it's 1980,
time for the Civic's first refresh.
Honda was aiming for staying power
that would outlast the now fading gas crisis.
To appeal to a wider market,
Honda introduced two more trim levels
to make the car more livable.
The DX with a more efficient five speed
and the GL with a tacho...
(beep)
And the GL with a tachometer, a clock, and cushier seats.
Oh.
Even for that time, it was lacking some features
but the Civic was still comfy.
By 1981, Honda sold just over a million
of their little cars.
The GL would last three years
before being killed to make room
for the first sporty Civic, the Civic S.
It has a rear sway bar, stiffer suspension and better tires.
It was Honda's first entry
into the fast growing hot hatch war
but it didn't exactly captivate the world like Golf GTI did,
so they killed it after just one year.
1984 ushered in a new trim
that would help define the Civic as a true fun-haver,
the SI.
It was only available in Japan
and had a little bulge in it
to make more room for the new dual overhead cam engine.
The SI stood for sport injection.
Previous Civic's were carburetted which cut down power
but this one made 182 (laughs),
made 118 horses and could do 122 miles an hour,
although I would not suggest it, that sounds terrifying.
Around the same time, Honda introduced the CRX in America.
It was basically a Civic with a different body.
Honda saw that oil prices would keep rising
and they wanted a car that get 50 miles per gallon
and still be fun to drive,
so they made the Civic more aerodynamic
and ripped out the back seats.
It was funky and my second grade teacher drove one.
In 1985, we finally got an SI badge in the States
and it was on a CR-X.
Ours didn't make as much power as the JDM SI
but we were still happy to have it.
The CR-X got a huge upgrade in 1988
with new double wishbone suspension
inspired by Honda's Formula One success with the McLaren.
The new suspension design made the CR-X even more fun.
The next year, the Civic was hooked up
with a new B16A VTEC engine, but only outside of America.
The SI was a for real sports car,
a serious option for buyers who didn't have a ton of cash
but still loved driving.
Another decade began and thus another Civic refresh was due.
1992 saw a smoother, more inviting Civic.
The EG hatch kind of looked like an egg
and the SI version now made a punchy 125 horsepower
and had rear disc brakes.
The next year two things happened.
My son Nolan was born and Honda did something weird.
If you wanted a sporty looking Honda with a target top,
something that looked mid engine but wasn't
and that was also front wheel drive.
Well, there's a new Civic for you.
The Del Sol was the CR-X's replacement
and Honda's answer to the Mazda Miata
but unlike Mazda's Brit-inspired roadster,
the Del Sol was killed three years later in 1997.
- May he rest in peace.
- It was that year that Honda unveiled
the sportiest Civic yet and it wore a red badge.
The Civic Type R or EK9
was the first Civic meant for the track.
It had a bare bones interior
with bolstered seats to keep you in place
and a MOMO steering wheel like an F1 car.
Altogether the Type R was 66 pounds lighter
than the regular Civic and made more power too.
The Type R got it's juice from the legendary B16B
making 182 horses with a redline of 8400 RPM.
The Type R was only available in Japan
which meant Honda fanboys over here
were going insane that they couldn't get it.
(screaming)
Instead of just whining about it,
the Honda faithfuls started modifying their own Civics
and making their own Type Rs.
People were swapping B18s into their EFs
and H22s into their EG hatches
all in search of a quicker quarter mile time.
This phenomenon of modding Civics
helped start a little thing called the tuner scene.
It's sort of significant.
The turn of a new millennium meant another new Civic.
Now on it's seventh generation,
the 2001 Civic had new styling and a simplified suspension.
Gone were the Formula One inspired double wishbones
with struts now in their place.
The seventh gen also had it's own Type R
but this time around it was very egg shaped.
Still, a Type R is a Type R.
The EP3 Type R was a hatch like the first one
and made 212 horses from it's K20A engine.
It was a little more bulbous than it's predecessor
but people still loved how it drove.
The gen eight Civic showed up in 2006
and was a big departure from previous models.
Honestly it was kind of boring,
but there was an SI which had the usual SI flare
of stiffer springs and sway bar
and a limited slip differential
to get you out of the turns quicker.
We still didn't get the Type R over here
but there were now two versions for the rest of the world.
Japan got the FD2 four door version
with a 222 horsepower K20
and Europe got this super funky looking FN2 three door hatch
which made about 200 horsepower
from a different K20, the K20Z.
The ninth gen was more of the same Civic
we've come to expect with improved everything.
It was a Civic.
You guys realize how hard it is to make this exciting.
The tenth gen Civic arrived in 2015.
The styling was crazy
and in 2017 we finally got the Type R here in the US
and it's incredible.
It set a lap record at the Nürburgring.
It makes over 300 horsepower
and has a top speed of 170 miles an hour.
The FK8 is the best Civic ever
and I would know because I drove it and I'm in love with it.
This car (beep) hauls ass.
When we started this show,
we had all the heavy hitters to choose from,
the Skyline, the Supra, the Viper, the M3,
the Civic is a heavy hitter too just for different reasons.
There's a Civic for everybody and to prove it
over 18 million Civics have been sold worldwide.
I wanna thank you guys, I'm gonna cry. (laughs)
I wanna thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for,
(beep) dude, for supporting Up To Speed and Donut.
This is out fiftieth episode
and I'm so proud of how hard everybody here works
and how far this show's come
and how far this channel has come
and it wouldn't be possible without you guys
so here's to 500 more.
Hit this little yellow guy right here
so you don't miss any episodes of Up To Speed.
If you like VTEC, check out this episode of Science Garage.
If you like VTEC, check out this episode of Up To Speed.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @jamespumphrey.
Follow Donut @donutmedia.
I love you.
Sit. (crew members applauding)