Honda decided to build a lineup with vehicles that didn’t look like they were part of the same family.
That recipe proved to be successful.

The seventh-generation of the Civic was available in four shapes: sedan, 3-door hatchback, 5-door hatchback, and coupe. There were some similar-looking parts between the sedan and the coupe, but the 3-door hatchback didn’t have any single panel with the rest of the pack.

The curved, triangular headlights were swept-back over the hood and fenders. Its grille was larger than the one on the sedan, and the raked windshield was completely different than the rest of its gang. The designers imagined a slightly raked tailgate and red taillights with two round clear lenses for the reversing light in the back. Only one was functional. The other one was fake.

Inside, the Civic offered a black front fascia. It was made from plastic, and it looked bland, even though it was very functional. For the instrument cluster, Honda installed gauges with white lettering on black dials. Apart from the base version, the other trim levels featured bucket seats at the front. The rear bench was the same for the entire range, even for the TypeR version. Its trunk was large enough to carry a briefcase and a sports bag.

There was a choice of three engines in the Civic 3-doors. While Honda manufactured the 1.4-liter and the 1.6-liter gasoline units, the 1.7-liter diesel unit was provided by Isuzu.