After an absence of more than half-a-decade, the Honda Civic is set to make a comeback in India. It is scheduled to go on sale on March 7, 2019. The company has already started accepting bookings for the new Civic with a minimum token amount of Rs 31,000. Needless to say, that amount is completely refundable if one wants to withdraw the booking. To get your name down in the waiting list, you can get in touch with the nearest authorised Honda dealership.

Just to put things in perspective, India never received the ninth-gen Honda Civic. What we will be getting next month is the tenth-gen Civic which has already received a mid-life update. The Honda Civic carries the same bold and edgy design language that we’ve recently come to see on Honda cars. The swooping roofline towards the rear gives the four-door saloon a more coupé-like silhouette. There’s a generous amount of chrome used all over the car but the standout design feature has to be the C-shaped tail lamps.

For the very first time, the Civic will be sold with two engine options – one petrol and diesel each. The former is a 1.8-litre, 4-cylinder i-VTEC mill which produces 140PS/174Nm and is BS VI-compliant. The only transmission option available with the petrol engine is a CVT (continuously variable transmission) and the setup is enough to return 16.5kmpl. The diesel, on the other hand, is the same engine that debuted in India with the new CR-V. It is a 1.6-litre motor that puts out 120PS/300Nm and is only available with a 6-speed manual transmission. Honda claims that diesel-fed powertrain is frugal enough to return 26.8kmpl.

As far as the list of features goes, the Honda Civic will offer, 17-inch alloy wheels, electric sunroof, LED-powered headlamps, taillamps and DRLs, a digital instrument cluster, push-button start/stop and keyless entry. Worry not as there’s a lot more. This list includes remote engine start with key fob, electric parking brake, 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, an 8-speaker sound system, rear-view camera, cruise control and an 8-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat. The list of safety gizmos is right up there with the best of them. The Honda Civic will offer features like 6 airbags, hill start assist, electronic stability control, ISOFIX anchorages and a lane watch camera.

Once launched, the new Honda Civic will lock horns with the likes of the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla Altis and the Skoda Octavia. A while back, the Honda Civic scored five stars in the ASEAN crash test study. We just hope that the India-spec Civic is built to feature the same level of quality and strength.