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Even the Wheels are Best in Class - 2016 Honda Civic Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited March 2016 in Honda
imageEven the Wheels are Best in Class - 2016 Honda Civic Long-Term Road Test

Finally, a compact sedan with some cool-looking wheels from the factory. And it' s a 2016 Honda Civic no less.

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Comments

  • desmoliciousdesmolicious Member Posts: 671
    I like the hub cap one the most.
  • cubsv8shocubsv8sho Member Posts: 5
    I know there's no accounting for taste, but these are some seriously ugly wheels.
  • ayaoayao Member Posts: 27
    Vision Gator.
  • barich1barich1 Member Posts: 143
    They're busy and over-designed. Just like the rest of the car. And just about everything Honda/Acura makes.
  • longtimelurkerlongtimelurker Member Posts: 455
    barich1 said:

    They're busy and over-designed. Just like the rest of the car. And just about everything Honda/Acura makes.

    Right? I'm thinking that at the hand-wash place, those wheels rate about a $20 tip.

    Honda needs to put its whole design studio on decaf.
  • schen72schen72 Member Posts: 433
    I think they look good. Not sure why all the hate on Honda.
  • mrvtecskimrvtecski Member Posts: 46
    Wheels are nice, but the Firestones not so much...
  • adamb1adamb1 Member Posts: 122
    I don't like any of those wheels. I prefer a simple 5-7 spoke design.
  • dm7279dm7279 Member Posts: 63
    I don't know what Honda is doing with the wheel designs. These and the ones on the 2016 Accords all look terrible. There is something about the black accenting that just looks cheap to me, plus the design is just too busy.
  • banhughbanhugh Member Posts: 315
    A $27k basic compact sedan. Riiiiiight....
  • kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    I have no problem with the design and kinda like it, although its still a little "busy" for me. I'd prefer just a basic 16" aluminum wheel. Of course, I still can't believe that Steel Wheels are even still offered with the whole hubcap thing, LOL. I mean, I guess its easy to "upgrade" your wheels to a new look, but it looks hilarious without any hubcaps on.
  • hank39hank39 Member Posts: 144
    IIRC, Kia was one of the early adopters of this piano black-spokes with alloy look with the Optima. I didn't like it then and still don't like it now...especially since many other manufacturers followed suit. But that's part of how the industry goes. Trends ebb and flow. I hope this particular one flows out pretty soon. I prefer the look of the dark gray 17" twin 5-spoke of the 2008-2009 Civic Si much better.
  • craigo7craigo7 Member Posts: 51
    The 17's are already dated aftermarket looking
  • dougnutsdougnuts Member Posts: 26
    The EX-T are the best, and that's not saying much.
  • wheelmccoywheelmccoy Member Posts: 97
    I prefer the 17 inch touring. The others have a hint of "running feet," which I'm not fond of. The style is even more pronounced on the wheels of the Acura ILX (which proves again, the Civic is the better car!) Anyway, the target market for the Civic skews younger and they may like the complexity, the depth, and the style of these wheels.
  • jfa1177jfa1177 Member Posts: 52
    So when are we going to get some real posts on how this thing is to live with on a daily basis? There's been way too many fluff articles. Lets get to the meat of it already.
  • bonzjrbonzjr Member Posts: 44
    They're all terrible. And worse the fact that they're directional -- and only made one way -- makes them far worse. Back in the day when Honda cared about things they actually made different pairs of directional wheels for each side of the car so that the turbine fins were always going in the correct direction. Made tire rotation more complicated (maybe they only went front-to-back as a solution?) but the car always looked cleaner. Here's a pic of a set of used 1989 Accord LXi sedan alloys I found on Craigslist to demonstrate the point:

    http://images.craigslist.org/00303_2Cjk98ukhjY_600x450.jpg

    If the picture stays up a few days you'll see one pair of the rims has the turbines going one way and the other pair has it the opposite.

    I can't stand directional wheels these days for that reason as almost no one corrects for the direction of the fins for mounting on the other side of the car.

    Regardless of the directionality, the other fact is the rims are simply too complex in the Civic's case. In fact almost all of the recent Honda designs are needlessly busy kind of like how the body accents suddenly are on all of their current models. What ever happened to good, clean, simple design? Didn't Honda used to be about showcasing engineering?

    Anyhow, yeah, these things are just too darn distracting.
  • mrvtecskimrvtecski Member Posts: 46
    Yeah, lets get some useful reporting on I dunno..How the car drives, just sayin...
  • desmoliciousdesmolicious Member Posts: 671
    mrvtecski said:

    Yeah, lets get some useful reporting on I dunno..How the car drives, just sayin...

    Not until we discuss the shade of red!
  • allthingshondaallthingshonda Member Posts: 878
    There is a lot of hate for Honda here. The old Civic was criticized for being plain and boring. The new one is over styled and busy. The 1.5 Turbo engine makes 116HP per liter and 35 MPG combined in a car that costs less than 30 grand fully loaded but Honda has still lost their way in the engineering department. Also, for less than 30 Grand you get LED headlights, heated seats front and rear, rain sensing wipers, automatic collision braking, lane keeping assist, automatic cruise control, dual zone automatic climate control and more. What car in it's class would be styled just right and be the engineering showcase that Honda should benchmark since they just can't seem to get it right?
  • longtimelurkerlongtimelurker Member Posts: 455
    I think the car is fine - the engineering (other than probably the underperforming Honda brakes and crappy tires they always use) is world-class. I think it will shape up to be a really good LT car, and after the last underwhelming Civics, very welcome.

    It's afflicted with generic Japanese surface-excitement "styling." Edmunds keeps telling us, "wow - great wheels - great dashboard - great sharp styling...but very few commenters agree. It doesn't cost any more to make a good-looking car than it does to make an ugly one, and especially in a car that is expected to be durable and reliable, owners don't appreciate styling elements that don't wear and age well.

    And this is the restrained one...look at the Civic R that's coming. Oh, my god.
  • drex2drex2 Member Posts: 24
    schen72 said:

    I think they look good. Not sure why all the hate on Honda.

    There's never any shortage of Honda hatred in Edmund's comments sections. As some people say "Nothing breeds contempt like success".
  • drex2drex2 Member Posts: 24
    edited March 2016
    banhugh said:

    A $27k basic compact sedan. Riiiiiight....

    The Civic's version of the "basic compact sedan" lists for $19k. The $27k Civic Touring is one of the most lavishly equipped sedans that the Honda division has ever offered in NA... a long way from "basic".
  • ayaoayao Member Posts: 27
    http://jalopnik.com/wheel-thieves-are-targeting-the-honda-accord-sport-1764263129
  • emajoremajor Member Posts: 332
    drex2 said:

    schen72 said:

    I think they look good. Not sure why all the hate on Honda.

    There's never any shortage of Honda hatred in Edmund's comments sections. As some people say "Nothing breeds contempt like success".
    No kidding. Just ask Toyota. Anyway, the "Honda hate" accusations are a bit hollow and hyper-sensitive, I'm primarily seeing criticism about the wheels. So what? I also find them ugly. But the GTI's are worse and I'd still buy that car. Styling is subjective, you are never going to have consensus on it, so there will always be "haters" floating around.

    I've seen this car in person and it's not attractive. Overwrought, bulging in some odd places, but that wouldn't stop me from buying it if it performs as well as reviews suggest it does.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited March 2016
    I've kind of been looking at wheels the last two weeks since one of the cars on my short list to buy comes with 18s on the highest trim level while I'd prefer 17s or even the 16s that come on the base model.

    After scouring the online places and paying attention in traffic, I've decided that I don't much like any of them. May just wind up with steelies and hubcaps. ;)
  • leozno1leozno1 Member Posts: 1
    "Wheels are best in Class"??? Okay seriously, I know you guys like this car but c'mon now.
  • zandorzandor Member Posts: 67
    stever said:

    I've kind of been looking at wheels the last two weeks since one of the cars on my short list to buy comes with 18s on the highest trim level while I'd prefer 17s or even the 16s that come on the base model.

    After scouring the online places and paying attention in traffic, I've decided that I don't much like any of them. May just wind up with steelies and hubcaps. ;)

    No kidding. 17s on a Civic will just get bubbles and bent rims here in Chicago. I miss my 1998 Lincoln Mk VIII. 16" wheels, nice fat 225/60R16 tires, air suspension, ate potholes for breakfast, could take speed bumps at 30, and handled at least as well as anything that big other than German cars (S-class, 7-Series, A8).
  • gslippygslippy Member Posts: 514
    Honda has been using the same wheel designs for over a decade. I find them either boring or overdone, never in-between.
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