Honda’s 11th-generation Civic will only be sold as a four-door sedan or hatchback. The two-door coupe model, which was available on the outgoing Civic up until the 2020 model year, isn’t returning. This marks the first time ever that the U.S.-market Civic isn’t offered with a two-door body style.
So, what if the Honda Civic coupe had survived for 2022? We answered this hypothetical by having some fun with an image of the 2022 Civic sedan and Photoshop. Whereas prior Civic two-door models have sat on stubbier wheelbases than that of its four-door counterpart, we opted to keep our imagined 2022 Civic coupe on the same 107.7-inch wheelbase as the 2022 Civic sedan. We figured doing so might give our theoretical 11th-gen Civic coupe a slightly more rakish roofline.
Instead, we inadvertently made a smaller version of the previous-generation Honda Accord coupe (pictured below). With its squared-off headlights, snub nose, and cleaned-up flanks, the latest Civic takes on a mature, almost Accord-like appearance. No surprise, then, that shaving off the rear doors and cutting the roofline results in our would-be Civic coupe looking like a scaled-down 2013–2016 Accord coupe.
Our hypothetical Civic coupe is an impossibility for reasons beyond Honda’s clear decision to cancel the two-door model for its compact cars’ 11th generation. In a fit of Honda nostalgia, we made the roof pillars entirely too thin for a modern two-door car. No doubt, the B-pillar would surely need to be quite a bit thicker to pass muster with modern side-impact crash standards, while the C-pillar is all ate up with glass and precious little structural metal—hey, we can dream, right? The windshield surround, however, is untouched. Yes, Honda really managed to make it that thin on the production 2022 Civic sedan.
Without a two-door in its lineup, the 2022 Civic will offer up sportiness by way of the forthcoming four-door hatchback model, as well as the upcoming Si and Type R variants. Honda has all but confirmed that all three of those Civic iterations will offer a manual transmission (the sedan comes only with a continuously variable automatic transmission or CVT), ensuring that sportiness and practicality will continue to go hand in hand. We’ll miss the two-door, but hey, maybe this gives Honda an opening to bring back an edgier two-door Civic model such as the CRX or—now we’re really off our rockers—the Del Sol convertible.
The post Meet the Hypothetical 2022 Honda Civic Coupe appeared first on MotorTrend.
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