CIVIC 1ST GEN
Total Revs
7
Global Rank
#301
Gen Rank
1 MORE REVS TO REACH #300 IN OVERALL GEN
Ranked Categories
About the Civic 1st Gen
The car that saved Honda. The first Civic arrived in 1972 as a tiny front-wheel-drive hatchback with a 1.2-liter engine making 50 hp. In 1973, Honda introduced the CVCC engine that met US Clean Air Act standards without a catalytic converter. Nobody else could do that. The engineering achievement put Honda on the map globally. The car itself was simple. Light, efficient, honest. It weighed about 680 kg, got excellent fuel economy, and ran reliably when American cars were falling apart at 50,000 miles. The interior was minimal. The driving experience was direct. Honda didn't have money for luxury so they spent it on engineering. The first-gen Civic proved that a car company founded in 1948 could compete with the global giants by being smarter, not bigger.