The first major winner of the 2016 Roll up the Rim contest will be picking up his 2016 Honda Civic EX-T later this week in Calgary after wining one of 40 cars Tim Horton's will be giving away this year.
Here are 10 things you might not know about the 2016 Honda Civic EX-T.
Boost!
The 2016 Honda Civic is the first North American model Civic to be fitted with a turbo. Sure, there have been Civic Type R’s in other markets, but not here. This is the first force-fed Civic on our shores.
There is no volume knob.
Something you might expect to find on every car you buy, the Honda Civic lacks a volume knob. Audio volume is controlled by a slider to the left of the touchscreen or by a slider on the left-spoke of the steering wheel.
Top seller
The Honda Civic has been Canada’s best-selling car for 17 years straight – coming up on 18 if the current trend continues. The Civic is in the top-five best-selling cars of all time as wel, with more than 20 million of the things sold globally.
Bubble car
The first-ever Honda Civic was a tiny, adorable hatchback that was available in a spectacular shade of purple or a horrifying shade of brown. That was way back in 1973. Since then there have been 10 generations of the Civic.
America vs Europe
In North America we get a much different Civic than the rest of the world. Here it is a sedan or Coupe, in Europe it is a hatchback first and runs a very similar rear-end setup to the Honda Fit. Good news is that we'll see the return of the hatchback this generation.
It talks to your phone
The Honda Civic is fitted with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. That means you can plug in your phone and use all the navigation functions, contacts, etc. on the main car touchscreen. Don’t worry, Facebook is locked out when Apple or Android’s car connection is detected.
It can steer itself
Well, kind of. The Civic is equipped with both Adaptive Cruise Control that matches your speed to the car in front, but also Lane-Keeping Assist, which will steer the car back into the lane should you meander out of it. All these features are standard on the prize-winning EX-T trim, but also on the lower LX trim.
It’s a movie star
The Honda Civic was a key plot point in the original Fast and the Furious movie with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker – it was a fleet of Civics that performed all the nasty truck-jacking stuff.
This is the biggest Civic ever
While the current generation Civic is the largest yet, it isn’t the heaviest. Despite being 75 mm longer, 20 mm lower and 126 mm wider with a wheelbase that is 30 mm longer, the new Civic is one kilogram lighter than its predecessor thanks to an injection of high-strength steel.
Home grown
The Civic is built in Alliston, Ontario at one of the global lead plants for Honda. The plant has been described as “the best plant we have” by Honda chief executives and serves as a training plant for new model releases. Be proud, Canada!
Bonus!
The Civic is also the Automotive Journalists’ Association of Canada (AJAC) 2015 Canadian Car of the Year.
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