From the Archive: 1983 Honda Civic 1500S, the First Honda Sport Hatch

From the February 1983 issue of Car and Driver.

We’ve known all along that the Honda Civic wanted to be more than just sensi­ble. You could feel it in the sharp pulses of power transmitted by the gas pedal. You could see it in the subtle aerody­namic reshaping of the nose in 1982. The Civic wanted to come out and play, but apparently it had to stay inside for piano lessons or something.

Maybe Honda figured that a sporting Civic was too unseemly. Civics tended to come in lots of flavors, each of which seemed to be a permutation of the com­fort-group options. You picked your Civic according to the radio you pre­ferred, and we contented ourselves with praising the engine and putting up with the flabby cornering equipment.

Finally, though, Honda decided that Civic buyers were getting a little stodgy for the company’s own good, so it shook the full-plush GL hatchback out of the Civic lineup for ’83 (luxury-minded buyers were choosing the four-door se­dan anyway) and substituted a sporting Civic, the 1500S.

The “S” designation means a lot more than just another kind of steering wheel to hang onto. First off, you’ll no­tice this Civic doesn’t come in yet an­other selection from the official Morgan Bank color palette. You can choose red with black, or you can choose black with red. We took the black one, easily the most striking Honda we’ve seen aside from the City Turbo. All the moldings feature a matte finish. Then there are the dual outside rear-view mirrors and a front air dam. The seats are black with red inserts and prominent bolsters.

The really good stuff is under the skin, however. All ’83 1500-cc Civics get front discs with ventilated rotors. The S-type also features the 1300-cc model’s final-drive ratio, some 13 percent shorter than the other 1500s’. The sus­pension gets new shock calibrations with 18 percent firmer rebound damp­ing front and rear, 25 percent firmer compression damping in front, wheels wider by half an inch, and a rear anti­-roll bar. Finally, 165/70SR-13 Miche­lin XVS tires substitute for the doughy rubber that is the curse of other Civics.

Unfortunately, the first manifestation of the Civic’s revitalized personality is a rocky ride on the expressway. Expan­sion joints signal their presence with a decided thump, and there’s not enough rebound damping to soothe the rear end’s springiness. Furthermore, the tread noise from the tires makes you think someone has secretly slipped off­-road rubber under the fenders.

Freeway work hardly amounts to tor­ture, however. The ride is acceptable, helped out by comfortable seats and a good driving position. The optional air conditioning and radio work great. Then there’s the remarkable engine, which sails silently along in top gear. When you want acceleration, you just put your foot down; using the shift lever is optional. Right about the moment 94 mph comes up on the Civic’s new-for­-’83 100-mph speedometer, you appreci­ate once again how great this engine is. It feels better than the Accord’s 1750-cc, 75-hp motor just because it doesn’t sac­rifice peak power to midrange torque.

The corners are also great in the S. The S-type doesn’t drop to its knees and squirm around on its suspension bushings; it zings into a corner upright and stable, answering steering inputs with calm assurance, while the tires grip far past the limit at which most Honda rubber peels off the rim. There’s enough roll stiffness, so you don’t feel as if you’re going to fall out the door on freeway ramps. This Honda is just plain good in the corners, as its 0.76-g rating on the skidpad confirms. The only drawback is the carbureted engine’s continued sensitivity to lean misfire in abrupt (predominantly right-hand) ma­neuvers. Unless you’re delicate with the throttle and the clutch in these largely low-speed situations, it’s easy to induce bucking and surging from the drivetrain.

The Civic 1500S is the first Honda (aside from the City) that feels as if it has its feet on the ground. That’s be­cause the engine is finally complement­ed by controls that respond to the driv­er’s inputs instead of to other priorities. No longer does the Civic force you to do your daily duty with the rest of the three-door-hatchback pack in the com­muter lane. You can get out there in the fast lane with the high rollers if you want; nobody has to know that the S-­type set you back only $6400.

Fun-to-drive sums it up for this car. There are still things like a harsh ride, wonky carburetion, and torque steer to deal with, so the S-type hardly amounts to a revelation. Even so, this is exactly the charisma transplant the Civic has al­ways needed.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com