The Honda Civic started the small fuel-efficient automobile revolution, decades back. Over the years, the Civic has grown in both size and stature. The evolution of the model was bound to include a fuel efficient diesel engine. That time has come ...

With the 2.2 liter i-CTDi diesel engine, the three-door Civic Type S yields
0-62 MPH times of 8.6 seconds and 54.3 MPG combined (approximately 45.2 US MPG). Forget what you might have thought about diesel engines. This baby gets up and goes.

The Civic can be equipped with Honda's i-SHIFT automated manual transmission, which can be driven as a conventional automatic or as a clutchless manual. Gear changes are implemented with the gearstick or race car-style paddles on the steering wheel. The i-SHIFT was designed to provide rapid up- and down-shifting than a conventional manual transmission and better fuel economy than a conventional automatic.

Now there's an interior that screams boy racer ... grrrrlll racer, too.

If five doors suit you better than three, Honda has you covered. The Civic five-door, equipped with the 2.2 liter i-CTDi delivers 55.4 MPG combined (approximately 46.1 US MPG) and a 0-62 MPH time of 8.4 seconds. The turbo-diesel produces 138 horsepower at 4000 RPM. The Civic five-door is also available with a 1.8 liter i-VTEC engine that runs on gasoline. The 1.8 i-VTEC propels the Civic five-door to 62 MPH in 8.6 seconds and delivers 44.1 MPG combined (roughly 36.6 US MPG).

Previous (Accord diesel) | Next (CR-V diesel)