The new grown-up Honda Civic is now available to order in the United Kingdom, starting at £16,495.

The car comes with three engines, a 1.4 and 1.8 a i-VTEC petrol and 2.2 i-DTEC diesel. The top of the range 2.2 model costs £26,595. The car will also be available in the familiar SE, ES, EX and EX GT trim levels. All the manual models are fitted with Idle Stop fuel-saving technology, and they also feature the ECON switch which adopts specific settings to improve fuel consumption.

The car can be had with a five-speed automatic gearbox for an additional £1,385.

Standard equipments on all Civics include Honda’s Intelligent Multi-Information Display (i-MID) 5-inch dashboard screen which displays relevant driving details such as mpg, the idle stop status and climate and audio settings. Other new additions include a rear wiper, daytime running lights and a headlight-off timer that maintains illumination for 15 seconds after the car is locked.

It’s just the look of this car that is a downer. It’s not bad, but at front, it looks a bit weird. Apparently Honda wants to win back the elderly customers they’d scared off with the previous generation!

The extra features and equipments of the higher grades are as follows:

Entry-level SE trim
The entry-level SE trim also includes 16-inch alloy wheels, automatic air-conditioning and USB connectivity for compatible MP3 audio devices. However, for an extra £1,500 – making the price from £17,995 OTR – they can have the same spec but benefit from the extra performance of a 1.8-litre 142PS i-VTEC petrol engine.

For diesel fans, the Honda Civic SE is available with a refined, powerful 2.2-litre 150PS i-DTEC engine and costs from £20,095 OTR.

ES grade
The ES specification is priced from £18,995 OTR when paired with the 1.8-litre petrol or from £21,095 OTR for the diesel. It features all the equipment found in SE and adds a host of features which are new to the Civic range, including cruise control with a speed limiter, rear view parking camera, keyfob-operated windows and door mirror folding, plus auto up/down electric rear windows.

Additional kit on ES includes dual-zone air-conditioning, BluetoothTM Hands Free Telephone (HFT), front fog lamps, auto headlights and wipers, leather steering wheel and gear knob, ambient interior lighting and 6 speaker audio system.

T-Grade package
Available on SE and ES trim levels from March 2012, the T-Grade package costs £995 and adds extra equipment to the specification including integrated satellite navigation with full European mapping and touch screen.

EX trim
EX is the third of the four trims and comes with leather upholstery with heated front seats and a HDD satellite navigation and premium audio system as standard. It costs from £21,745 OTR with the 1.8-litre petrol engine and from £23,845 OTR for the 2.2-litre diesel.

Top of the range EX GT
The flagship of the all-new Honda Civic range is EX GT, priced from £24,495 and £26,595 for the petrol and diesel respectively. New to the Honda Civic range are smart (keyless) entry/ignition, front and rear parking sensors, bi-xenon HID headlights and lumbar support.  Also included on EX GT is all the equipment found in the EX plus a panoramic glass roof, 17-inch alloy wheels, privacy glass, auto-dimming rear view mirror and sunglasses holder.

For the first time Honda’s Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) are available in the Civic range. This advanced technology is available as a package in EX GT specification only for an extra £1,900 OTR