Magical obssesions and the Civic 4th Generation

You know that feeling when you get so obsessed with something that you end up thinking about it all day long? It’s like falling in love, with a car. The worst thing about this is that I either over-obsess or don’t really mind the car, there’s no middle ground. Imagine drooling over the Mike Kirkland’s Subaru Leone RX Turbo and the next morning you can’t stop thinking about the 4th Generation Civics.

If only I wrote articles as often as my mind got imaginarily engaged to different cars…

Enough with the chit-chat, let’s get down to business. In 1987 Honda gave us the 4th Gen Civic, even boxier than before, giving it a vital update in the suspension department; double wish-bone in the front and independent suspension in the back, getting rid of that outdated beam axle.

Engine-wise, (referring to Japan) Honda fitted the first, most basic versions with a 1.3L D13B Inline-4 SOHC Single carb engine making around 80 Bhp, the engine was the same fitted in the Shuttle (another car I adore). Honda later made two 1.5L versions, using the D15B1 and D15B2. These models came in different versions, some sporting dual-point injection, single carburetor and even double carbureted engines, making around 90 Bhp which wasn’t that bad.

Now for the real tasty stuff; the year is 1989 and Honda is upping their game for the civics, installing a 1.6L B16A DOHC, with the newly developed variable valve timing and electronic lift control technology, quite a long name huh? Well that’s VTEC for short, and its engagement was sitting at 4500 rpms for this B16A, making around a whopping 160 Bhp, which is quite a lot for such a light car.

What do you get when you mix a very light car (curb weight of around one ton), the nifty B16A, and a well-engineered suspension…? Prizes. Well at least that’s what this car got, ranking top 1 in the French l’Automobile (do mind the French accent) and receiving the Golden Steering Wheel Award from a Deutsch newspaper called Bild am Sonntag, which roughly translates to “image on Sunday” (Doesn’t make sense to me either).

Interior wise they were very 80’s, as all pre-5th gen Civics, automatic seatbelts were fitted in them, and I have a whole lot of reasons to think that’s the selling standpoint of those cars. American Civics featured 5 trims; STD which were underpowered and used a cable-operated clutch, DX covering the Hatchback, Sedan and Waaagooon models using the D15B2 engine which was okay, LX only available as a Sedan and had fancy stuff, EX top of the line Civic with upgraded brakes and a D16A6 4-point injection and finally; the Si which had a -not so- improved D16.

I’m still trying to figure out my addiction with these, but I’ll get it sorted out.

I promise.