Jeremy Clarkson asked girlfriend to crash Honda Civic hybrid into tree after she did so with a Jazz
But in a shocking twist, Clarkson ended up liking the Civic e:HEV
The actress Lisa Hogan, partner of Jeremy Clarkson and co-star of the hit Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm, has escaped injury after crashing a Honda Jazz test car into a tree.
Clarkson had borrowed the Jazz from Honda UK but before he’d got into the car, “someone who shall remain nameless (save to say she’s called Lisa Hogan),” reported Clarkson in his review of the Civic eHEV for The Sunday Times Magazine, used it to drive to the farm’s on-site shop only to forget “to stop turning the steering wheel after the corner was over.”
Although the tree that Hogan hit wasn’t a big one the crash still caused considerable damage to the supermini, stoving in the roof and necessitating its removal on the back of a low-loader lorry.
Clarkson had borrowed the Jazz to test the latest version of the car that had converted his late mother, Shirley, to Honda ownership, and to report back on one of the latest offerings from the company which he believes, despite decades of soaring success, has seemingly begun to fade from the British consciousness.
Because of the crash, however, Clarkson didn’t manage to get very much time behind the wheel before the Jazz was carted away to be replaced by Honda’s new hybrid Civic.
His first impressions of the Civic weren’t positive, he said, describing it as “possibly the dreariest-looking car I’ve ever seen.”
His apprehension was further heightened by the sight of the “e:HEV” badge on the rear denoting the Civic’s hybrid powertrain.
Although Clarkson has lavished praise on a couple of hybrids of late (namely the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura), he has in the past been extremely critical of “electrified” cars.
“Naturally I asked the nameless person if she’d like to drive this into a tree as well, to put it out of my misery, but she declined.”
While he may not have been enamoured by the looks or the fact of it being a hybrid, when it came to everything else he was rather impressed.
Driving the new 11th-generation Civic, Clarkson was “tickled by not being tickled at all,” such was smoothness and refinement of its ride.
“I know the roads round my house and I know that many of them are quite bumpy. But in the Civic I couldn’t feel any of the irregularities at all. It was like being in a hovercraft, only with steering and nice seats and controls that make sense,” he said.
Even the Honda’s hybrid system came in for praise. It primarily functions as a series hybrid, using a 2-litre petrol engine as a generator to send energy to the battery and motors but it can, when required, send power directly from the engine to the wheels.
Despite the Civic’s clever economy-minded engineering, Clarkson found it to be a willing and rewarding unit for the driver.
“If you want to go really quickly you can put it in sport mode and then, as you get to the red line, there’s an artificial but hilarious motorcycle soundtrack that will make you want to stretch it to the limit in the next gear as well.”
This is despite the fact that the Civic utilises a form of continuously variable transmission (CVT) with which gear changes are largely seamless, though according to Jeremy, it felt less like a CVT and more like a conventional automatic gearbox.
Also worthy of note was the Civic’s spaciousness and build quality, both of which Jeremy found exemplary, saying that the Honda was “built to a higher standard than almost anything else in the world, including the machines they use to do eye operations.”
“With prices starting at less than £30,000,” he said, “it’s cheap as well.”
“This Civic e:HEV — such an ugly name — is almost certainly the best option there is for people who need a car. Rather than want one,” he concluded.
“It’s as though Honda has realised that in the sensible times that lie ahead, people will need a sensible car.”
“I’m going to stick my neck out now and say that if you are looking for the last word in comfort, and you can’t afford an S-class Mercedes-Benz or a Rolls-Royce Phantom, this is your best bet. It’s uncanny. And quite brilliant.”
Read Clarkson’s review of the Honda Civic e:HEV in full at thetimes.co.uk.
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