2012 Honda Civic : Walkaround and Interior Features

2012 Honda Civic

Walkaround
Given a budget and a mission, no designer is likely to leave well enough alone, and that's true of the new 2012 Civic lineup.

But this is a more of a challenge than one might think. The eighth-generation Civic has been successful throughout its six-plus years, and its sleek lines still look good.

On the other hand, success notwithstanding, no automotive design lasts indefinitely. So the design leader has to find a way to retain the successful elements and still imbue the product with a sense of newness.

The new cars sport redesigned fascias, updated rear ends, and new character lines, but the basic shape, which lead designer Toshiyuki Okumoto calls a "one motion form," has the same flowing aero look. Although the wheelbase is slightly shorter, body dimensions are essentially identical, and it takes a practiced eye to tell new from old at a glance.

Although the sheetmetal is basically all new, Honda didn't take any chances here. Whether this will be a plus over the long service life of the design remains to be seen.

The distinction between Civic generation eight and nine isn't as dramatic as the change from seven to eight, when the slick aero shape first emerged. Honda has chosen to spread its development budget over refinements and a broader model range.

Interior Features

Though the instrument display has been invigorated with new colored backlighting, it will look familiar to those who have had some experience with the generation eight layout. The bi-plane look continues in the new car, with important info repeated at the top of the dash, allowing the driver to scan with minimum visual redirection.

Quality materials, attractive design, and colorful instrument lighting give the Civic interiors a look that's a notch or two above compact norms. The seats are well shaped, nicely bolstered (by family sedan standards), widely adjustable, with a probability of all-day drive comfort and very good upholstery wear characteristics.

Forward sightlines, always the driver's first line of defense, were good in the previous generation, but even better here. We appreciated the thinner windshield pillars and mini-window set in the angle where the windshield pillar intersects the car's hood. A lot of new cars have thick A-pillars that can obstruct the driver's view of pedestrians and other vehicles, but not here.

The biggest change inside the car, though is the new I-MID, or Intelligent Multi-Informatio  n Display. A toggle on the left-hand steering wheel spoke allows the driver to sift through a wide variety of vehicle info, and the optional satellite navigation system includes a voice recognition function.

Other electronic elements include Bluetooth hands-free phone capability and a very good 160-watt audio system.

All of this, of course, is in addition to the more common comfort/convenience features we've come to expect: power everything, including a moonroof; cruise control; a tilt/telescope leather-wrapped steering wheel; a 12-volt outlet; and a 60/40 split-folding rear seatback that expands cargo capacity.

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2012 Mazda 5 : Walkaround and Interior

Walkaround
For 2012, Mazda 5 has been given a substantial cosmetic makeover, with every panel on the car replaced by newer and flashier sheetmetal, with almost no chrome plating on the exterior other than the badges. There's a new upper and lower grille design, new hood, new fenders, new lamps, new bumpers and air intakes up front, with body-colored door handles all around, new taillamps, liftgate, and wheels.

The new Mazda 5 has integrated halogen headlamps at the front corners, creating a line that goes up over the front fenders like other Mazdas and then all the way to the rear of the car through the centerline of the body. The lower body is sculpted with an upswept line starting just behind the front tires and extending up and over the rear wheel wells. With the five-point lower grille and the five-point rear window glass, this couldn't be anything but a Mazda, mimicking as it does the Mazda 3, Mazda 6, RX-8, CX-7, and CX-9 in its front and rear layouts. This car looks like it's smiling at you. The Mazda 5 Touring version adds front fog lamps and a rear roof spoiler.

Interior Features

The Mazda 5's interior decor has been redesigned for more comfort, more storage, and much greater and easier utility inside. The instrument panel, center stack, switches and controls have all been redone for the 2012 models.

As for storage, the rated cargo capacity of the Mazda 5 is 5.6 cubic feet behind the flipping and folding third-row bench seat, with 27.5 cubic feet with the second seat folded flat and 55.4 cubic feet with both rows of seats folded flat.

The interior can be configured for two, three, four, five, or six occupants in some 16 different configurations. The second-row captain's chairs flop forward and slide for access to the 50/50 folding third-row bench seat, and there is hidden storage under each chair, not to mention a standard fold-out tray table and cupholder setup that fits between the two captain's chairs when needed.

The instrument package contains the usual two round gauges with lights and indicators in between the deeply tunneled clusters and is designed together with a second large, horizontal binnacle in the center of the instrument panel to house the time, temperature, fuel economy, sound system and climate control readouts, with the CD slot below, a very pleasingly laid-out sound system control center, and a three-dial HVAC control panel at the bottom (automatic climate control front and rear air-conditioning with pollen filtration is standard equipment). The shifter, whether manual or automatic, resides in the bottom center of the instrument panel.

The three-spoke steering wheel has a thick rim and a thickly padded hub with convenient switches for the sound system on the left, cruise control system on the right, and telephone on the lower left. Taken together, the Mazda 5's interior components add up to a very livable, easy-to-use whole with good quality plastics, a minimum of brightwork, plenty of storage, and high functionality.

*newcartestdrive.com 

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2011 Hyundai Tucson : Walkaround and Interior

Walkaround

This crossover SUV is nothing if not modern. The Hyundai Tucson takes advantage of the current European taste for dynamic thrusting forms and aggressive angularities. It has swoopy lines darting to and fro along its flanks, nose and tail. The side windows have not the slightest hint of being rectangular, with the little triangular windows behind the C-pillar almost squinted shut.

The Tucson has an athletic, muscular look, the four wheels barely contained by their swollen, stuffed-tight wheel arches. A huge, deeply slanted windshield provides excellent forward perspective for the driver, but for rear seat passengers, looking out of the Tucson's narrow side windows is a little like peering out the gun slit of an armored car.

And there will be those who find the Tucson's exterior a little busy looking, while others will find that standing next to the Tucson and looking down its door sides, it looks oddly slab-sided, bigger and heavier than it really is.

As always, there is ample room for debate about the Tucson's styling. The one point that is not debatable is this crossover's high expectations. Its styling is up to the minute, as aggressive as any crossover in the world market. For those youngish families with a taste of sportiness, Hyundai has opened the door wide.

Interior Features

The Hyundai Tucson is roomy and comfortable. The front seats are excellent both in terms of firm support and quality leather. The one-touch up/down driver's power window is one of those conveniences that once you've gotten used to it, you'll never be satisfied with less. Back seat room is lavish for two, adequate for three. If you're looking for a third row, forget it. This is a compact crossover.

The first thing that strikes you climbing into the Tucson is its reassuring feeling of harmony and simplicity. This car's chief designers and stylists may have been German, but in the Tucson there is no hint of the German tendency towards self-indulgent complexity, of making you learn all over again how to do something you already know perfectly well how to do. Decidedly to the contrary, the Tucson offers excellent ergonomics, that all but lost discipline of making a car's controls self-explanatory and intuitive. This Hyundai gets an A-plus in the avoiding annoyances category.

The dashboard's black pebble-grain covering is handsome and anything but econo class. The dashboard instruments are straightforward and dignified, with a water temperature and fuel gauge delivered in electronic readouts. To the left of the steering column are controls for hill assist, a stability-control off switch and the differential locker control. Cruise control and audio switches are provided on the steering wheel, with phone controls partially hidden inside the wheel rim.

The center console is simply laid out, offering audio controls, a navigation system and Bluetooth MP3 capability. Here we encountered one weakness in the Tucson, its forward-slanting navigation screen was all but blinded by glare on sunny days. On the other hand, it is blessedly straightforward to use, with a proper radial knob provided for tuning the audio. Defrost front and rear and individual seat-heater controls are easily selected, while XM is the satellite server of choice, and it should be. Life should always be this easy. But in too many other cars, it isn't. The Tucson interior deserves an A.


*newcartestdrive.com

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