Forget overdrive gears, two-stage turbos and stop/start
technology, Honda has a much more cunning plan to make people, drive more
efficiently. It’s a very sophisticated plan, because only those who have a bit
of motoring knowledge or a motor sporting inclination will be aware that to get
the best out of a Honda, you have to give it the beans.
The reward is like kicking a haggis, and then kicking it
hard. A soft kick on the rump merely arouses curious indifference, but a hard
kick that penetrates its feather covered, plaid hide results in an explosion of
fury and indignance. Just ask any furrin munro-bagger who has aroused the ferocity
of such a creature when kicking it out of his way on a narrow mountain path.
Hell hath no fury like a haggis spurned.
And so it is with Honda engines. The vast majority of folk
will drive around quite happily never exceeding 5000 rpm and therefore totally
unaware that beyond that figure lies dangerous territory. The trouble is that
Honda engines perform perfectly well at low revs, and most drivers will never need
any more than that. They are responsive and can be quite brisk, but to get
the best out of them, you have to 'gie them laldy'.
And this is where Honda have really excelled themselves,
rotating at such high revs the engine note rises to such levels that the
average motorist will immediately take fright and back off, whereas, those who
know better will suddenly find the scenery sliding backwards a helluva lot quicker.
This is the play area, but it also sooks up the juice more quickly, and
therefore not to be played with all the time.
And so it is that a Honda engine will more than adequately
cope with the daily commute while providing some fun and frolics at weekends,
but only to those who know.
Even with 140 bhp from 1800 ccs, the Civic I had this week
was fast enough to be fun, but not dangerous. On the way down to the Lindisfarne
last weekend, it was really quite enjoyable at times – between the cameras on
the A68. This one was red-lined at 6700 rpm and that was where the fun was.
This latest Civic, introduced earlier this year, also has much improved suspension
over the previous model so it gives a better quality of ride.
Which bodes well for the new Type-R which is coming next
year. The last time I drove a Type R I took it over the Humphy Backit Road
between Breich and Forth, the kind of road where a stomach full of fried
breakfast would be looking for an emergency exit, and the car was on the bump
stops in every hollow.
Also, on the way home from the Lindisfarne, I saw something I had
never seen before, a red squirrel in the wild. For sure I have seen them in a
Nature Reserve at Aviemore, but not actually in the wild, although this one was
nearly an ex-red squirrel. It darted out of the undergrowth and hopped across
the road at Catcleugh reservoir in front of the Honda. Like the first cuckoo of spring, does that
mean autumn is now officially here?
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