Honda aims to 'surprise' with '16 Civic coupe

Riding on an all-new platform it shares with the sedan, the coupe packs new powertrain options, segment-busting refinement and aggressive new styling.

The wheelbase is nearly three inches longer and the body is nearly two inches wider, giving the sleek coupe more appealing proportions than its cab-forward predecessor. Interior space grows by 8.4 cubic feet and rear legroom has been increased more than five inches.

Compared with the new Civic sedan, the coupe is an inch lower and 5.5 inches shorter. Nearly all body panels and glass, from the windshield back, is unique to the coupe.

“We took the philosophy of the sedan and cranked up the volume. Everything had to get a little louder,” Guy Melville-Brown, exterior design leader, said at the coupe’s debut here. “This car had to be more charismatic, more sporty, even more ambitious.”

The Civic Coupe will use the same powertrain combinations as the sedan.

A new 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine will be standard, paired with either a six-speed manual gearbox or an optional continuously variable transmission. The engine makes 158 horsepower and 138 pound-feet of torque.

A 1.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine will be optional on higher trims. It makes 174 horsepower and 162 pounds-feet of torque.

The CVT is the only transmission available on the turbo engine currently, though a six-speed manual is in development, likely to be used in the forthcoming Si model.

With the debut of the coupe, the wait now begins for the next Civic iteration, the five-door hatchback, due in the first half of 2016.

The sport-tuned Si model follows, and finally the much-heralded Type-R will land in the U.S. market for the first time.