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Honda Civic 1.6 diesel arrives

The arrival of Honda's new small 1.6 120hp diesel engine in its Civic represents a new chapter in Honda's history and provides them with a credible competitor in the volume mainstream family hatchback segment which accounts for three out of every 10 cars sold in the Irish market.

It means Universal Honda can now take on market leaders Ford Focus and VW Golf with a high spec, efficient and well priced Civic range. Up to this, only a 2.2 diesel Civic was available which sold well last year. Honda expect to sell around 900 Civics in 2013 which would give a 3.8 percent segment share, and expect that around 60 percent of sales will be conquest ones.

As with the New Civic last year, Ireland is the first European country to get the new 1.6 diesel engine.

Three trims are offered, SE, ES and EX.

Prices start from €23,975 for the SE grade, excluding delivery and related charges. For that, you get alloy wheels, Climate control air conditioning, CD with remote audio controls, six airbags, all electric windows, alarm and idle stop as standard.

Honda's Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) which detects vehicle instability on slippery road conditions and automatically adjusts steering to help the driver steer in the correct direction, is in all Honda vehicles. New Civic has been awarded a maximum 5-stars by Euro NCAP and was singled out for a special award by that body for its advanced safety pack which is an optional extra.

The 1.6 diesel is in Band A2 for annual road tax of €180 which should be a big incentive for potential buyers. It also sips just 3.6 L/100kms (that's 78mpg).

The 6-speed manual transmission system is 7kg lighter than the transmission