Civic sedan back on sale in Ireland

The sedan version of the latest Honda Civic is now on sale in Ireland at a starting price of €24,750, writes Brian Byrne.

With 1.0 turbo petrol and 1.6 diesel engines available, the car also comes with the option of a CVT automatic transmission in the petrol version.

There are three grades, Smart, Smart Plus, and Premium, with Honda's 'Sensing' safety technology standard across all versions. A particular feature of the car is the rear passenger room, which rivals some D segment competitors.

All versions have CO2 emissions ratings of A2/A3 in Irish terms, with Road Tax being €180/190.

Sedan versions of the Civic have not been available in Ireland over the previous two generations of the car, but according to MD of Universal Honda Ireland Adrian Cole, the Irish distributor lobbied very hard for a right-hand-drive sedan.

"We kept insisting until they finally stopped saying 'no'," he said at the Irish launch of the car this week.

Maybe they stopped saying 'no' when they heard that world women's boxing champion Katie Taylor was joining Honda Ireland as an ambassador ... she was also introduced at the launch, bringing her Olympic gold medal and the two world boxing champion belts along for the occasion.

John Saunders of Honda Ireland (below) said the target sales for the sedan Civic for a full year are 400 units, which would represent some 35pc of all Civic sold in a year.

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