Honda’s first diesel in Australia to cost $26,990

HONDA Australia has announced a starting price of $26,990 plus on-road costs for its first diesel model, the Civic hatch DTi-S, which goes on sale locally in April.

The frugal UK-built small car is powered by the company’s new 88kW/300Nm 1.6-litre Earth Dreams turbo engine, matched exclusively to a six-speed manual gearbox.

No automatic will be offered with the oil-burner, which consumes a claimed 4.0 litres of diesel per 100km on the combined cycle – just one-tenth of a litre more than the Toyota Prius hybrid.

This figure equates to CO2 emissions of 105 grams per kilometre.

Fuel-saving idle-stop is standard.

The sharp pricing makes it the second-cheapest diesel model in the Australian small-car segment, behind Hyundai’s $23,590 i30 Active CRDi.

The price undercuts diesel hatch rivals such as Ford’s 120kW/350Nm 2.0-litre Focus ($28,090) and Holden’s 120kW/360Nm 2.0-litre Cruze ($27,790), although both of these models come standard with an automatic.

Volkswagen’s 77kW/250Nm 1.6-litre manual-only Golf BlueMotion retails for $28,990, while the 2.2-litre 110kW/360Nm manual-only Mazda3 diesel costs $27,360.

The diesel Civic slots into the hatch range beneath the leather-lined VTi-LN flagship petrol variant ($29,590), but above the entry VTi-S ($20,650) and the automatic-only VTi-L ($25,490).

Standard features include Honda’s versatile Magic Seats, a tyre-deflation warning system, daytime-running lights, 17-inch alloy wheels, hill-start assist, automatic headlights and wipers, dual-zone climate-control, multi-information display and a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Honda Australia director and general manager of sales and marketing Stephen Collins described the introduction of the DTi-S as an exciting and welcome addition to the Civic hatch range.

“This all-new 1.6 litre i-DTEC turbo-diesel engine is a first for Honda in Australia,” he said.

“Earth Dreams technology was created from an awareness of rising fuel prices combined with increasingly stringent environmental performance targets.

“This new generation of powertrains brings advanced driving performance and low emissions within reach of our customers,” he said.

The next diesel from Honda will be an oil-burning version of its CR-V compact crossover, which is due in early 2014.

Honda’s leap into diesel comes a week after fellow small-car contender Hyundai axed the diesel option from its more compact Accent model in Australia, citing low customer demand.