Honda Civic i-VTEC Oriel VS Toyota Corolla Grande – So They Meet Again!
Here we are back again to kick-off Corolla vs. Civic debate as they ‘meet again!’ With every iteration, the hot favorite comparison in Pakistan’s auto arena remains between the two sedan stakeholders of our market, Corolla and Civic. Before the year 2006, almost each and every trim of Corolla competed with Civic. However as time has passed by and especially after the launch of the eighth generation Civic and fifth generation City, things have shifted. As Civic moved up a notch in the pricing department i.e. PKR 2 million plus to make room for City in the sub-PKR 1.5 million price point.
Have a Look: Pakistan’s 2016 Honda Civic Officially Launched in a One of a Kind Way!
These price changes unlocked two different price points for Honda to exploit as City capitalized in the PKR 1.5 million plus region and competed with Corolla’s XLI and GLI variants. While Civic took control of the pricier segment and to give Civic some competition, Toyota released more feature packed trims of Corolla i.e. first ‘Altis‘ and now even ‘Grande.’ With tenth generation Civic, Honda seems to be moving a price point further to take hold of PKR 2.5 million to PKR 3.0 million price range while Corolla maintains the price bracket from PKR 1.6 million to PKR 2.4 million.
Also Read: Indus Motors Brings Toyota Corolla Updates – Immobilizer Offered In All Cars Except XLi
Why Civic i-VTEC Oriel VS Corolla Altis Grande?
Since Corolla’s top of the line model which is Toyota Corolla Altis Grande CV-T has a price tag of PKR 2,379,000, comparing it with Civic’s top of the line VTEC Turbo priced at PKR 2,999,000 would not be fair. Same is the case with comparing Grande with base Civic i-VTEC since i-VTEC serves as a trimmed down version of Civic so the most appropriate comparison would be between Toyota Corolla Altis Grande CV-T and Honda Civic i-VTEC Oriel.
What comes under the hood?
Altis Grande comes with a 1.8-liter engine which produces around 138-hp and 173Nm of torque while the engine block of 2016 Honda Civic is home to the same 1.8-liter engine which came inside its predecessor. Despite having an older engine, Civic generates around three more horsepower than Corolla while producing four less Nm of torque. Both cars come with the same form of transmission while Grande also comes equipped with ‘Paddle Shifters’ which in the case of Civic is only available on the PKR 3 million VTEC Turbo. Cruise Control also comes standard on both. Regarding suspension, Civic takes an apparent lead as it comes with stabilised MacPherson Strut on the front and a Multi-Link Suspension system on its rear end. While Corolla keeps the traditional MacPherson Strut on the front and Torsion Beam on the back!
Exterior
In the exterior department, the new Honda Civic takes a clear lead over its competitor, which is a given since it comes with an under-one-year-old design. To start off, Civic beats Corolla on all corners when it comes to the car’s dimensions. The tenth generation Civic is ten millimeters longer, twenty millimeters wider and forty-two millimeters lower as compared to eleventh generation Corolla.
Also Read: The Fragmented Lineup Of Toyota Corolla In Pakistan – Explained!
Talking about exterior features, Civic comes standard with halogen projector headlamps and LED daylight running lamps (DRLs) while Corolla can once again be seen stuck with age-old reflector aided non-projector Halogen headlights without any sign of daylight running lights (DRLs). Both cars come standard with automatically retractable door mirrors, sunroof and foglights. Regarding alloy rim size and design, Civic again takes a lead over its competitor which still comes with over a decade old rim design and a 15′ rim size.
Interior
Step inside and it’s a mixed affair as both Civic and Corolla capitalize on the features missed out by one another. While Toyota Corolla Altis Grande comes standard with navigation and partial leather interior both of which are optional for the new Civic i-VTEC Oriel, it misses out on almost all of the other standard interior features of i-VTEC Oriel. Which comes standard with things like smart entry (which in my opinion is the actual form of the key-less entry), push start button, on steering cruise control switches (Grande has cruise control settings in a lesser intuitive knob adjacent to its steering wheel). In addition to this, Civic comes equipped with rear air conditioning vents and electronic parking brake all of which are absent in the PKR 2.4 million Altis Grande.
The most significant factor to consider when comparing interior feature offerings of the two is that the features missed out by Civic can be installed at an additional price as they are available as official add-ons without a need for aftermarket customization. While the features absent on Altis Grande are neither optional nor can they be installed easily by third-party technicians.
Read More: The Fragmented Lineup Of 2016 Honda Civic In Pakistan – Explained!
Safety
Due to the lack of market awareness, safety features are the easiest to compromise on PKDM cars. While many have continuously been arguing that Honda Atlas’ Civic is a stripped down version compared to the ones available abroad, but in Pakistan, it comfortably blows away its competitor, Corolla Altis Grande. In addition to having driver and passenger airbags, Immobiliser, 4-wheels disc brakes with ABS and EBD all of which are also standard on Altis Grande, Civic comes with things like, Auto Brake Hold (ABH), Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), Hill Start Assist (HSA), Emergency Stop Signal (ESS) and Auto Door Lock and Unlock by Speed, these safety features are by far a first for a Pakistani assembled car.
Finally: Verdict and Price!
In my point of view, if you have around PKR 2.5 million to spend on a car which has complete after sales back-up and warranty, initial build quality concerns aside, 2016 Honda Civic i-VTEC Oriel is your safest bet since to me spending PKR 120,000 more to get Civic instead of Corolla is a better choice to make. I have given my verdict! What is your opinion? Let us know in the comments below!
Take a Look: 2017 Toyota Corolla Facelift Officially Unveiled in Russia!
Civic all the way!
Corolla will always be the paindu man’s choice because it has resale (Imaginary) and will allow him to show off in his pind lol As a product it’s trash.
Civic is for civic people… Toyota is for non civics.
I dont know what pricked you bro. The above article is about cars and not for the people who own these cars. Show some respect give logical opinion rather ranting on people just because they have different car choice than yours….
Mirza dont you think the above comparison is about cars and not the owners. I really cant work out your comment…..
I sold my Altis 1.6, 2015 to buy the new Civic, but when I went to see it on the launch in the showroom, I was deeply disappointed to see the shoddily built civic, pathetic welding, huge hump in the rear middle floor, misaligned and cheap quality plastics and rubber parts, flimsy dashboard, confusing meter dial, the interior felt so dull, cramped and uncomfortable. Poor driving position, which is too low and when you adjust height your head hits the roof. It is no better than Corolla and Mehran now and in several departments it has gotten even worst than them. The only positive point of this PKDM Civic is the exterior and rims. Rest it has got nothing to set you back for 2.8 million rupees. It is not a car that would take you anywhere. So finally I booked a Grande today. I cannot put my money on just a poor shiny khokha with unsafe welded body and raise my blood pressure on seeing speed brakers. Grande is value for money.
Corolla has better value for money..no doubt….secondly if corolla is for paindus then civic is for shehri (but still desi , gora wanna be) shohdas….
Ok now coming to the car itself…civic is good with more options but its build quality is PATHETIC….corolla has a decent build,is adequately equipped with a comparitively lower price tag…i rest my case….
It really comes down to personal preference
Went to showroom to see civic at Honda North Peshawar! Cool car……… Loved it……
Audi A3 is available for 37 lacs….should also be compared
38.5 lacs its idioticness to compare the two
The pricing is way too much , even the hardtop is priced aggresively. Grande , although comprising on some features blows the civic when it comes to pricing.
Imo it is senseless to spend 20+ lacs on a PKDM car no matter it’s corolla or civic we all know their build quality and the respect IMC have for us….
So for you a Mehran and Corolla is the same, so honest of you lol Dude, you should have saved that money you spent on gram aanday and bought a Mehran, it’s EVEN better value for money. 🙂
Hahaha very funny. Already have one spare Mehran for grocery and exploring downtown Pindi. Peace.
The quality of manufacturing cars in Pakistan has been on constant decline. I went to buy Toyota last year and after seeing its utter pathetic interior (strange cheap fabric on doors, pathetic dash board etc), I turned down the idea. Was waiting for civic and now after this dismal performance by Honda Atlas, this is out of question too. Perhaps its time to put money on second hand imported vehicle even its quite old. I wish someone screwed these local cheapsters.
Indus don’t do any wonders either. They are all same. Making a joke of vehicle is their top most priority.
The prices of both cars are a bit high but pretty much in line elsewhere in Asia and even Australia. Unfortunately the assembly quality is poor due to Pakistani lack of auto manufacturing experience skills. All said and done Honda gives you better bang for your bucks,
His/her comment means people who love Civic will buy it no matter what (=regardless of high price, poor build quality etc.).
People who are not Civic-lovers, will buy anything else. No comes the complex part: Since there are no other options, the Civic-nonlovers will go to Toyota because there is only one other possibility.
In other words, it was a typical fanboi statement.
Build quality of Corolla is better than Civic X, but cannot be called decent. When EE90 was new, or even Indus 2000 (locally manufactured) was new, if you were old enough, then you must remember its build quality. Now compare. Even new Margalla, Baleno and EK9 Civic had better build quality than today’s Corolla or Civic.
The best comment !
lol everyone is fighting here like they own these brands.
I will prefer Toyota Aqua or Honda Prius over both. Because both are not fuel efficient.
Sorry it’s Toyota Prius not Honda.
Honestly why people are taking down each other on this article. Honda and Toyota are both making tons of money from us, so least we can do is be smart customers. For me comparing both the question I ask is, why the author convenientaly forgot the tiptronic on Altis, more leg space for back seat passangers and the 12 year old back seat floor hump, and SOHC 10 year old engine which if you buy on Honda for next 5 years will be 15 year old technology by then. Altis has a superior DOHC fuel efficient engine. I owned both cars Honda and Altis and honestly feel Altis has up its quality and features versus Honda. Even new Honda is falling short specially on pedal shifter and 7 forward transmission and engine. Cosmetics and shape I give to Honda (provided they overcome the pathetic build quality in display models)
Toyota corolla is just a box on wheels, after driving both of them I can surely say even the older models of Honda civic are much more comfortable and stable than the new altis grande.
The only thing a corolla can be used for is a rent a car business.
both cars are money Wasting
civic is beautiful tin pack
I just want to share “a phrase” for your valuable “comparison”.
Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad..
Write as much shit as you want about either car BUT the truth is that the Corolla has been the BEST SELLING CAR in 2016 and for many past years too. This Civic build quality is shifting even Civic Lovers to buy a Corolla. Be honest to yourself and truth is that Corolla is way better.
Dear writer to you may be Civic’s rear suspension is better, because you can spend the same amount as the car itself’ is worth on it’s maintenance, but for us Toyota’s Torsion beam is better. At least, it is cheaper to maintain and takes a long time to break down.
Agreed. Fair point. I myself was hard core Honda lover. But after selling my reborn, I opted for an Altis.
Sold 1.6 and then bought a grande? lol good for you mate.
Corolla is 7-speed CVT. What about Civic?
Altis Grande: good car but the driver’s concave seat back has given me a backache. Have to pass it on. Done 1100km
CV-T mein gear speeds nahin hoteen… it’s a belt system… aap jaisay paindon kay liye 7 speed likhtay hain so uss hisaab say Civic ka bhi 7 speed hai
Honda is a BOSS…..Toyota is HARD CAR , Honda is For You….
My display picture doesn’t allow me to respond back to you in your language. I would expect some reasonable person to explain the difference and answer my question.
Civic clearly took the lead in all aspects [[[[[winner]]]]
Your comments , I enjoyed it the Corola is really ” paindu” car at least now in 2016 LOL
Have you seen any car without owner. In fact owner decide what to buy according to his personality.
You better comment on motorbike forums …..
CVT is continuously variable transmission, which in effect means that there are no gears but belts on a spool.
Yeah bro thats the main problem with corolla .. Honda is too confortable .. While corolla’s users faces the same prblm and many of them dont even knw that.
As somebody else mentioned, CVT has no gear ratios. For a sporty (kind of) experience, car manufacturers add paddle shifters/buttons or even gear shifter mechanism to “simulate” a sporty (kind of) feel.
They make it so it has 7 speeds to make it sound cool – at least cooler than 5 speed (normal) or 6 speed (sports car or fuel economy gear), therefore it has to has 7 speeds (at least). By its definition, CVT has millions, or infinite number of gears/speeds, therefore 7 is the maximum that is offered through the paddle shifters. Because if they make it to have 9 or 10 speeds, it won’t sound as cool, in fact it would sound boring because people would think it is just equivalent to having a CV-T. I hope I have been able to explain my point.
Since Civic is already lots expensive than Corolla, adding “simulated 7-speed” mechanism would just increase the cost for little utility. Therefore Atlas probably dispensed away with it. Another possible reason, Honda is distancing itself from the uncool/boring/whatever “manual” stuffs. See how they offered no manual gearbox? And they have also done away with paddle shifters – see, no inkling of even a simulated manual. Such a change in direction whereas they were the ones who introduced CVT and paddle shifters in Steermatic.
My first sentence, please re-read as “CVT has no gear ratios/gear shifts in the conventional sense”.
You mean ‘7-speed’ is just a cosmetic wrapper around the actual technology i-e, CVT. OK
hi guys! after reading all this i just wanted to add something.I currently own a honda civic 9th gen. it is very nice and it has a quick acceleration but when it comes to supension.i hate it.A 2 hr drive makes your back starting to hurt due to its hard suspension.What is the point of spending 2.5 million for a car that can’t even take u around with comfort.I personally love new features in cars but whats the benfit of those features that cant even provide u comfort and this is where toyota wins.They have created corolla according to pakistani roads and driving style.I personally think that if u want to spend 2.5 million go buy a mercedes benz e class.It has way more features than these two and the ride of that car is just awesome or go for corolla if u travel alot and want a new car.And about cvt.Guys cvt is not for people who want to drive fast and have fun but still corolla provides paddle shifts so it is better than honda civic 1.8 in that way.About handling of corolla,well guys we all know corolla nor the civic r sports cars.They r family sedans.I still love civic and corolla and i am happy that toyota as well as honda r both bringing new stuff to pakistani auto industry.
Civic is far better in specs and that is the reason they are charging premium. The writer should have taken a first hand view of the quality of civic which is disappointing or I must say pathetic and only comparative car that is Mehran will also beat in quality, the new civic. I must say how these cars passed QC at Honda Factory. Very disappointing. One should visit and see for themselves the display cars. Even the Salesman there at the showroom are upset of the situation.
SC Corolla also came with poor quality when it got launched here……. Pakistani made cars suffer from poor quality at launch…. Honda will fix this
I hope it can. But certainly quality of plastic, open welding on window panes, chassis etc. plus gap in joints in the frame, weak (Nose) area where radiator / head lights are bolted are extremely weak which can be de-shaped by bear hands. Honda is known for quality I hope it would look into these issues. Please do visit and check out the car.
same is the case with 8th gen civic. Everything is perfect except the suspension. A 2 hour drive and my back starts to hurt very badly. Maybe the seats provided in civic are not comfortable?
change your display picture, respond back to him then :p
well there’s no dispute in terms of fuel efficiency of Corolla. Beats most of the cars including some JDMs. City and Axio are good too in that regard
i think you missed something
reading the comments and experiences of some people going over to see the build quality of the new Civic, I have come to a conclusion that since I dont like Corolla anyway and the new Civic is disappointing, both are trash! I will stick to Reborn and Premio. Real value for money in terms of quality at least. End of discussion.
Better to buy a good C class instead of these.
Dear Fellows!!
I absolutely agree with Syed Ali.
As being a senior Honda enthusiast this is the first time i am forced to say that in current circumstances corollla 1.8 CVTi is best buy.
especially if you r owning civic 2013 to 2015 u wont find any thing extra ordinary worthy for switching
I have been to city sales and garden motors for back to back comparision in order to absorb civic as a potential buyer but cannot do so
Nice article Adan Ali. Can you please tell me which car among these 2 has more spacious rear seat and what about head room? In both front and rear seats? I really wanted to like the current 11th gen Corolla model but just couldn’t only due to its weird and awkwardly short and congested rear head room. No matter how I sit in it, I always end up banging my head against either side handle or sometimes even the roof. So how is this new 10th Gen Civic, considering it has even lesser height than 11th gen Corolla? I mean how spacious is the rear seat and how would someone like me , 6 feet 2 fit in its rear seat, especially if sitting on either side? Please reply.
Glad to hear that you liked my piece, I have sat into both and if headroom is an issue for you (which I can understand its an issue to many tall people) then Civic is worse than Corolla. Keeping up with aerodynamics and stuff, headroom in rear seats have take serious hit.
Thanks for your reply. If you check any reputed reviewer on Youtube regarding any new car, their scoring or rating depends alot on both the rear and front head room. today, it has become one of the most important feature of commercial sedans, any car no matter how good it is, will have significantly low score or rating if it doesn’t provide enough head-room to its rear seat passengers, and leg room also.
Rear head room and leg space literally sucks, and to put final nail in the coffin they have huge hump in the middle of rear leg room. The reason I am ditching civic for grande probably. You cannot make passengers suffer for you shashka and driving pleasure. Corolla is also good when it comes to driving experience but as civic is new and lower it gives you good fell. But again congested rear is deal breaker for big families.
Best decision tbh.
People who test drive it says that suspension is better than before. But yeah toyota always lead when it comes to suspension. Even my city suspension is rock hard.
Agree. Built is good of corolla but exterior is Honda. They have produced a good car.
Will do the same. Coz that hump. Is not good for a big family like ours. When are you expecting delivery btw?
September Insha Allah
Premio new shape kyun nai li? Better than almost anything out there in the same price range
In a civilized country Honda Civic is much better machine than Corolla.
However, in Pakistan, both ain’t worth a crapppppp!
A very comprehensive review, as a civic enthusiast i’m deeply disappointed, i simply cant figure it out why cant they possibly make it feasible to add laser head lamps, auto driver seat adjustment, lane keeping assist & that premium audio system etc at a stagering price tag of 3 million where as Honda usa are offering so much more within 27,000 USD when both of these have nearly identical annual sale figures.
Let alone the poor build quality, i’m amazed that no one mentioned here whats the point of 1.5L turbo version and then adding it with much slower CVT transmission, Clearly its aiming better fuel economy & not a sporty drive which honda is projecting. Then comes cramped rear leg room & head clearance not to mention that rear floor isn’t flat anymore so clearly it isn’t a compact family sedan, which brings us to the question that What has civic really become?
everything aside , personally i am a civic fan . but that frikin CVT transmition sucks. i havent tried it in premuim cars like grande or civic. but i tried it in vitz,passo. and it sucked. it took hours to change gears . and no torque at all . and made fuel economy a hell.
i totally agree with u on that. infact i was among the early reviewer of the civic in Karachi, and i was horrified to see the quality of plastic used inside. The welding and fabric stitching problem aside which ive heard they r trying to improve… but they certainly wont improve upon the rubber and plastic they have chosen. Y they did this is incomprehensible and highly insensitive of them. AND THAT HUMP…. seriously??? what was honda US thinking when they designed this car. now its a 4 seater car at best..and with my three kids i cannot imagine spending 2,8 million and keeping them cramped just because their father drives a COOL car. So finally ive decided to either go for 2017 grande or a 2012 -13 premio.
I drove Civic for almost 12 Years from 2000 to 2012 (City, Civic, Civic Reborn) and shifted to Corolla Altis in 2011. I had two main reasons to switch. One was road clearance as Civic (NewBorn) kissed majority of the speed-breakers outside Islamabad and Secondly its pillar on the right side hides small cars and motorbikes coming from the right from driver’s vision making it a security risk.
I am now again at the crossroads and need to decide whether my next Car should be Civic or Grande. Can someone please comment on these aspects and help me out.
Thanks
Civic Turbo 1.5L > any locally assembled car in Pakistan
Good Conclusion….!