Recently, Honda announced that it has worked extensively on its 1.6-litre diesel engine and that this heavily revised motor will be available with the new Civic range in Europe from March 2018. This new engine makes 120bhp and is cleaner than its predecessor.
The revised 1.6 motor is one of the first units to be officially tested under the new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) fuel consumption and emissions cycle, which comes into force this year. While data from the familiar New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) test is based on a theoretical driving profile, the WLTP cycle was developed using actual driving data gathered from around the world. It is therefore designed to produce results closer to a real-world driving experience.
Coming back to the diesel motor, Honda has made improvements to the unit and the exhaust system to maximise real world performance. The improvements include reduced cylinder friction, thanks to the pistons made from chromium-molybdenum steel alloy. The 1,597cc engine uses a Bosch fuel injection system like before and features a small, high-efficiency turbocharger, low-pressure EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system, a high-intake flow and a high-swirl cylinder head port. For the new i-DTEC, additional cast ribs have been added to the cylinder block to increase structural rigidity and consequently improve the management of noise, vibration and harshness.
The 1.6-litre engine produces 120bhp at 4,000rpm and 300Nm of torque at 2,000rpm, powering the Civic from zero to 100kmph in 10.4 seconds. Assembled at Honda’s UK manufacturing facility in Swindon, the revised engine will be available in both four-door and five-door variants of the tenth-generation Civic.
