![\"Evert_HondaCivic\"](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/7f222935527c62c13bae37265fb76b63f35a95fd\/c=200-0-3400-2400&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/11\/21\/DetroitNews\/B99326134Z.1_20151121121911_000_GHFM2GGB.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I lived in Seattle I was a Category 3 racer,\u201d says Gary Evert, chief engineer of the 2016 Honda Civic and an avid bicyclist who has competed in Tour de France-style American events. \u201cOne of my better races was Seattle-to-Portland, a 205-miler that I did in about 10 hours and finished well. That\u2019s the thing about cycling \u2014 there is always someone better than you.\u201d<\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t many manufacturers who do a better compact car than Honda.<\/p>\n
Not only is the 10th generation Civic the best ever, it has set a new class benchmark with class-leading interior room, rear legroom, fuel economy. And it is the first car to offer both Apple Car Play and Android Auto \u2014 the much-anticipated apps that allow consumers to double their smart phones as in-car, console infotainment systems. Evert and his Redmond, Ohio team spent long hours benchmarking the Civic to Audi\u2019s nimble A3 in order to re-establish their compact as a sporty badge.<\/p>\n
When the 50-year-old University of Washington grad needed to get away, he had his bikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I think about cars all the time, my escape is riding road bikes,\u201d he says. \u201cI have a collection of 11 or 12 the last time I counted.\u201d At the Civic\u2019s media test outside Ann Arbor this October I sat down with Evert to talk Civic, CVTs, and cycling.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Who makes the best bike?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0There are a lot of good ones right now. Some of the American bikes like Cannondale, Trek, Specialized.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Ohio is flat as a board. Where\u2019s an avid cyclist go?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0There are a lot of good rural roads in Ohio. Raymond is beautiful \u2014 there\u2019s actually a little ski area that makes great climbing right near work. I used to race competitively and am getting back into it.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Is amateur racing as cut-throat as depicted in the classic cycling movie, \u201cBreaking Away\u201d?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0No. I really enjoy being in that atmosphere. Everyone\u2019s out there to enjoy themselves. I have a great group of guys I race with. Level 1 is pro, 2 is Olympic, 3 is top amateur. In the United States Cycling Federation … we\u2019re similar to Tour de France pro racing where we get into tight packs because the aerodynamics are better. We\u2019re doing a lot of drafting.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0The Civic has changed dramatically over 10 generations. What\u2019s different this time?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0One of the strengths of Honda is that for each new Civic we have a new team. For this Civic we wanted to get back to that sporty DNA we\u2019ve been known for. Better dynamics, lower seating position, sporty styling. We completely redid the packaging beginning with the hip point. Then we lowered the engine, the floor, the suspension. Move the rear seat back. Gives it a more athletic stance, but at the same time increases head room.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Has bringing the Honda Fit to market allowed you to grow the Civic?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0Fit gave us the opportunity with the Civic to be a little bit more sporty \u2014 and a bit larger. It was an opportunity because we didn\u2019t have to cover too much of the market with the Civic.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Was it your goal that the Civic be roomiest in class?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0Absolutely. The Europeans aren\u2019t known for the most efficient packaging and that is something that Honda is known for. We are by far the best in class in interior and trunk volume. And best in class fuel economy and acceleration. We\u2019re 1.5 seconds faster 0-60 than competitors like Corolla.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0The Civic sports Honda\u2019s first production turbocharged engine. Why now?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0We wanted to be sporty and also meet Honda\u2019s philosophy of great fuel economy. So the turbo was out of necessity.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You\u2019re going to sell more variants of Civic than ever?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0We\u2019ve had two different Civics \u2014 one for North America, another for Europe. We wanted (the 10th generation) to be sold globally so we developed the coupe and four-door in North America, then a five-door variation in Japan \u2014 and sporty derivations like the Si and Type R. There are nine facilities around the world that will be able to make the Civic. Cars sold here will be made in either the U.S. or Canada.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0CVT trannies don\u2019t have a sporty reputation. Why is yours so peppy, so smooth compared to competitors?<\/p>\n
Evert:\u00a0We develop our engines and transmissions in house. So we can develop our algorithms internally. We have the ability to tune the CVT to match it with the engine. The torque converter gets you into power train more quickly. We have the ability to tune it so it feels like you\u2019re shifting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhen I lived in Seattle I was a Category 3 racer,\u201d says Gary Evert, chief engineer of the 2016 Honda Civic and an avid bicyclist who has competed in Tour de France-style American events. \u201cOne of my better races was Seattle-to-Portland, a 205-miler that I did in about 10 hours and finished well. That\u2019s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17543,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17542\/revisions\/17543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}