Honda Civic Facelift Finally Launching in Malaysia on 26 February

It’s been a while since the Honda Civic facelift was teased by Honda Malaysia for our market. In fact, bookings for the C-segment sedan were opened five months ago back in September 2019. Well, the wait is coming to an end: the facelifted Civic is launching in Malaysia this Wednesday on 26 February.

Honda Malaysia revealed the launch date of the new Civic on its Facebook page just yesterday. It’s a rather simple post, with the wording “3 days to go” above a silhouette of the facelifted car. The Civic pictured in the post should be the range-topping 1.5 TC-P variant, based on the design of the alloy wheels.

So what differentiates the new Civic from the pre-facelift model? Well, the bulk of the change is for the top-of-the-line 1.5 TC-P variant. Besides some styling changes to the front and rear bumpers, the new TC-P model will sport bigger 18-inch alloy wheels with a new design; it was previously equipped with 17-inch alloys.

But the most interesting new feature of the 1.5 TC-P is the addition of Honda Sensing; the Japanese company’s suite of safety and driver assistance systems. This makes the facelifted Civic the third CKD car from Honda to come with this safety feature.

Honda Sensing is really quite a big feature for the new Civic. The safety suite includes Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low Speed Follow (LSF), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), and Auto High-Beam (AHB).

Complementing the above features is the Honda LaneWatch camera, which enhances the driver’s view of the left side of the car.

Beyond Honda Sensing, Honda is also adding front parking sensors to the facelifted Civic, along with 60:40 split-folding rear seats, automatic wipers, and a volume knob to the infotainment system. The 1.5 TC-P will come with the same 1.5L VTEC turbocharged engine as well that outputs 173hp and 220Nm of torque mated to Honda’s Earth Dreams continuously variable transmission (CVT).

As for the more affordable 1.5 TC and 1.8 S models of the Civic, the former will feature the same 1.5L turbocharged engine, while the base 1.8 S comes with the familiar 1.8L SOHC i-VTEC engine with 141hp and 174Nm of torque. Both variants will also have the same CVT, naturally.

It remains to be seen just how much of the 1.5 TC-P’s features will trickle down to these variants, but what’s for certain is the fact that Honda Sensing will only be available on the 1.5 TC-P variant, along with the new 18-inch wheels.

The new Honda Civic facelift will be unveiled in Malaysia this Wednesday on 26 February. Pricing of the new models have not been revealed yet, but expect them to cost more with the added features. For context, the current pre-facelift Civic costs RM108,165 for the base 1.8 S, while the 1.5 TC and 1.5 TC-P go for RM120,855 and RM128,631 respectively.