First glimpse of the 2016 Honda Civic (FC): The future of our favourite benchmark Japanese sedan is here!

Honda Civic; the number one nameplate that has been sold millions of number since the early 70s and loved by every Honda loyalists, tuners, or maybe in some occasion, ricers. It has been giving the Toyota Corolla a pile of dust to its face with cutting edge engineering and technology for a long time. The C-segment war might be dethroned by this new Civic, but new warheads came to deal with it like the facelifted Ford Focus, Peugeot 408 e-THP, or even the Volkswagen Jetta as they were turbocharged sedan.

You know what? This is one of the best looking Civic after the FD Civic which was way back in 2005. It is actually more like moving from one dimension to another dimension. Well, that's how the Civic goes in every two or three generations since 1972. Don't compare this to the FB Civic with its awfully looking design. The FC Civic depicts the futuristic look from the top to bottom with swooping lines and edges, also providing the fastback look to the rear end, maybe a little bit like most Merc coupes or even the Audi A5 Sportback. With these sharp angles and lines, the Civic is way more aerodynamic than its previous counterpart.

For those who keen to get one, Honda Malaysia brought 3 different trim levels for the Honda Civic, namely the no frills but safety-valuable 1.8S, the more-upscale 1.5 Turbo, and last but not least, the 1.5 Turbo Premium.

For starters, all Civics thrown in with primary safety features as standard like 6 airbags (finally), 4 wheel antilock-brakes (ABS) system, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Emergency Stop Signal, Brake Assist, the newly-unveiled walk away auto lock as well as Hill Start Assist. To add more convenience for the driver, all three trim levels get 8-way power seats, 4 corner parking sensors, a backup camera, an electronic e-brake and even a remote engine start (typically in most American cars if I'm not mistaken).

The most affordable 1.8S gets a set of 16" unappealing looking wheels (better get a TE37 or other sport rims to match with it), while the 1.5 Turbo and 1.5 Turbo Premium get the astonishingly-looking 17" wheels. Daytime-running lights are also came standard in all trims. However, LED headlights and chrome door handles are only available in the high-end variant.

This is the 1.5 VTEC Turbo

Look at the back, its really cool and buttiful like a sleek supermodel's ass

I definitely love the boomerang looking tail lamps.

VTEC Turbo kicked in yo!

18'' wheels, standard for 1.5 Turbo and the Premium equivalent.

This one is the Civic 1.8S. No matter it's a base model but it still looks nice especially with the handsome and agile looking front fascia.

Halogen headlights only for this and the 1.5 Turbo

(Gulp), uhh...get a sports rim for this kids!

The 1.5 Turbo Premium, with the optional Modulo body kit.

Too bad the Modulo option make the front and the rear bumper to look aftermarket. The side skirts looked flushed and way upscale. Better yet, just wait for Mugen to make one.

LED headlights, only exist for this particular Civic.

As for the heart itself, there are two engine options available according to the respect trim levels:

For the high-end and the mid-range 1.5 Turbo Premium and 1.5 Turbo respectively, both gets a downsized Earth Dreams 1.5 litre 4-cylinder DOHC turbocharged engine. You might think it's so small to you, but don't be fooled with the power, as it pumps up 171 hp at 5500 rpm with a whopping 220 Nm of torque at 1700 rpm. This small but powerful engine is paired with a G-Design Shift CVT with a virtual 7-speed mode if using the paddle shifters to play.

As for the most affordable 1.8S, it gets the same 1.8 litre 4-cylinder engine with SOHC that is taken from the HR-V and the FB Civic. It produces a humble 139 hp at 6500 rpm with 174 Nm of torque at 4300 rpm. It might be the slowest around the segment, but it is way more economical than the Corolla Altis 1.8. Same goes to the turbo version, it pairs with CVT box too.

Move along to the interior, the Civic gets the most precious and more advanced cockpit. The two-tier meter is completely gone and was replaced by a single multi-coloured digital display that shows the rev counter and the speedometer. A 7" touch screen display is standard and it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration for the infotainment system. It does have navigation but it only applies to the Premium trim, so does the dual-zone digital climate control system.

Interior of the 1.8S. Basically it has fabric seats and armrest.

Single-zone digital climate control.

The push button start does making glowing pulses like Jaguar or Mini.

It even has fabric-padded door panels.

For the 1.5 Turbo and the Premium variants, both gets leather seats and paddle shifters as standard equipments. Same goes to the upholstery and the door panels, which are also padded with leather.

This is the 1.5 Turbo Premium interior.

This one gets the navigation and dual zone climate control at zero cost option.

I did not manage to make a full test drive report for this as there's too many people queuing up for test drive, and the drive is short too. So, maybe I can only give an initial thoughts for this car. In my opinion, the Civic is absolutely larger than before, and more modern-centric to the overall appeal. It also considered another benchmark for Honda as this is the first time that the Civic uses Earth Dreams technology with turbocharger. I took this for a short spin and it was actually stunning for the first time. At the end, I bet this will be selling like hot cakes over the others. I think that's the only way I can conclude here until I make another long test drive next week.

Price for the new Civic is considered affordable as the previous one. For the 1.8S, it costs RM 113,800, RM 127,800 for the mid-range 1.5 Turbo, and RM 135,800 for the 1.5 Turbo Premium variant. All of these pricings includes insurance and GST inclusive. If you wanna go for the White Orchid Pearl paint, add RM 300 to the cost of each of them.

More shots of the new Civic at Honda Global Amity:

Full test drive will be post next week.....

Thanks to Honda Sri Utama for giving me a privilege to take some shots of the FC Civic and short drive, and also thanks to Honda Global Amity for providing a finest Buka Puasa feast at the showroom.