Sure the Honda Civic has some drawbacks, but you can’t argue with the success its had going back to the ’70s. The video explores five Civic’s that they claim have been the most important and influential. You’ve got to start somewhere, and that’s exactly what Honda did and why the first generation Civic is mentioned first.

First released in 1972, the first gen Honda Civic featured a transverse engine to save space and immediately gained popularity for reliability, fuel economy, and value. Utilizing its CVCC engine (Compound vortex controlled combustion), it was able to produce amazing fuel economy when fuel price was on the rise. To do this, Honda utilized an auxiliary inlet valve to create a rich fuel mixture near the spark plug but allow leaner mixtures in the combustion chamber which led to higher efficiency and lower emissions. This got the ball rolling for Honda, and led to the birth of more performance oriented SI models in the third generation.

Later on in the video, it’s mentioned that the Civic started receiving even more performance enhancing technology which allowed it to quickly outshine similar vehicles anywhere close to its price point. Unfortunately some of the Civic models mentioned in the video never made it to the U.S. such as the Type R in previous decades but we almost always had a performance oriented model available. On the bright side, the new 2017 Honda Civic Type R will be available later this year, featuring a turbocharged engine which is exactly what the Civic community has been begging for.

“Civic owners may get abuse about VTEC and the classic lawn mower engine jokes, but the Civic has given people an inexpensive, reliable. and economical performance car that has seen it become an integral part of hatchback and hot hatch landscape.” Thinking back about this, he’s absolutely right. Many enthusiasts might have learned to drive manual with a Civic, or had one as their first vehicle. It could be said that the Civic is a gateway vehicle into the World of tuning.