Honda Civic Vs Toyota Corolla Vs Skoda Octavia

The Envelope

With that, we come to the conclusion. We've covered all bases here - styling, interiors, engine, ride and handling - and it's a tie between the Corolla and the Octavia for second place. The Octavia 1.8 Rider is more performance oriented and is more of a driver's car. Buy it and build upon the basic package. Bigger wheels, fatter rubber, a set of K&N air filters, a NOS kit, a free-flow high performance exhaust system... the possibilities are endless. Also, the boot is really big, so it's the car for people who always travel with lots of luggage! The negatives are limited leg room in the back seat, and overall, a design that now looks and feels dated.

The Corolla is still a very good, capable car. The engine is refined, economical and powerful and the Corolla's more relaxed, laid-back nature will appeal to many. Its resale values are strong, and the Corolla should work for years - day in and day out - as a thoroughly reliable workhorse. Its longevity has been proved worldwide, and that's something that should work in its favour. If you spend more time in the back seat, you'll probably prefer the Corolla over the Octavia.

But the clear winner in this test is the Honda Civic. It's the best looker here, has the best interiors, the revvy engine is refined and powerful, the car handles very well and is also quite comfortable. It's the best value for money, and in this segment, it is undeniably the car to buy.

THE OCTAVIA 1.8 IS THE MOST POWERFUL HERE, BUT THE CIVIC IS THE MOST FUN TO DRIVE. THE COROLLA IS MORE RELAXED AND LAID BACK...

Corolla next year, keep the engine refinement, legendary reliability and overall competence of this car, but please, spare us the 'limited edition' specials with their chrome alloys and OTT bodykits. The Corolla really doesn't need all that!

The Inside Story

Coming to the interiors, the Civic again leads this trio by a huge margin. The Honda's interiors aren't really any more functional than the other two, but they're so stylish and funky, and everything is so well executed, that it gets top billing over the Corolla and the Octavia. The three-spoke steering wheel in the Civic seems a brilliant adaptation of the best sports apparel from Nike and Reebok, and the two-tier instrumentation (separate pods for the rev counter and the speedometer), with its purple/blue illumination, seems to have come straight out of the year 2010. As is right, there is no imitation wood anywhere on the Civic dashboard. Instead, there is high-grade textured plastics and snazzy silver-finish inserts. The driving position is low, snug and sporty - the machine feels like it's made for driving.

The Corolla's interiors aren't bad, but look and feel dated when compared with the Civic. The driving position is more upright and relaxed. Whereas the Civic seems to wrap itself around the driver, the Corolla gives him more space. The cabin is nicely finished, with not a squeak to be heard or panel gap to be seen anywhere. It's a car which doesn't need any familiarization time - you get in and drive off immediately. All the controls are where you expect them to be, everything works just fine. It's a Toyota after all...

The Octavia's interiors are dark and somber - all straight lines and Teutonic efficiency. Compared with the Corolla, things are a bit sportier, more driver-centric here - the smaller steering wheel, the properly supportive seats, the driving position. Rear seat legroom is limited, especially when compared with the Honda and the Toyota. At least boot space is much bigger than on the other two cars. Another thing is the Octavia's solid build quality - the doors shut with a reassuring thunk, and everything seems to be hewn from chunks of granite. The Octavia is the very antithesis of the word flimsy. But overall, again, there is no getting away from the fact that next to the Civic, the Octavia's interiors look and feel really old.

Power Play

On to engines then, and for once, the Civic's not leading the game. At least not in terms of power figures. It's the turbocharged, DOHC, 20-valve Octavia 1.8, with its 152PS and 210Nm of torque, which lords it over the normally aspirated Civic (132PS, 171Nm) and Corolla (125PS, 158Nm) engines. The Skoda engine isn't as free-revving as the two Japanese units but get that turbo spooling hard and fast, and the Octavia flies. Zero to 60km/h comes up in 4.97 seconds, and zero to 100km/h takes 9.01 seconds. These are (by a small margin) the quickest times posted among the three cars here, so the Octavia definitely has an edge over the other two, when it comes to straight line performance. Its top speed of 212km/h is also the highest in this bunch. The Octavia's gearshift can be notchy at times and clutch ction is heavier than on the other cars. Also, the gearing seems marginally taller than what you get in the other two cars. Sure, this probably helps in relaxed long distance cruising and improves fuel efficiency (not bad at an overall 13kmpl), but slightly shorter gearing might make for peppier performance around town.

Next up is the Civic. With variable valve timing, its 1799cc, SOHC inline-four makes 132PS@6300rpm. That makes it slightly less powerful than the Skoda engine, but the Honda revs freely and feels very responsive. It definitely picks up revs more quickly than the Octavia (and also the Corolla for that matter...), and has no turbo lag to contend with. Power delivery is sharp and raspy and aggressive - the car enjoys being driven hard, and hence you enjoy cracking the whip on it. The Civic sprints from zero to 60km/h in 4.99 seconds and to 100km/h in 9.21 seconds. Top speed is 206km/h. The numbers are slightly off the Octavia's, but there isn't really a huge difference between them in terms of real world performance. Fuel efficiency is notably better though, at 14.9kmpl overall. The Civic's crisp and precise five-speed manual gearbox is by far the best in this bunch, and ratios are well matched to the engine's power delivery. On any impromptu back road race among this trio, I'd expect the Civic to be right up front.

Source: Car India September 2006.