Thread: Toyota Corolla Vs Honda Civic-Ride And Handling

A majority of the roads I drove on while testing the Corolla Altis were highways with smooth tarmac or concrete. As such the opportunity to evaluate just how good or bad the ride quality was never really cropped up for a large part of the test. But in a straight line, which was the general direction the roads kept following, the Corolla was quite stable and planted. The ride does feel a bit soft and any sudden undulation in the surface does upset the balance. But then the suspension has been tuned to provide a soft and compliant ride quality. Along with the softness there is a bit of body roll, which only gets aggravated when the car is pushed hard into a corner. At the rear the plush seats do not let passengers experience any bumpiness. The sense of body roll is higher at the rear than at the front though.

It was only towards the end of the test cycle that I could begin looking for patches of bad road which could to some extent give me a better idea of just how good the suspension was. After some scouring around, I managed to get some potholed stretches that did stretch the suspension to its limits. On these patches too the Corolla rides like she was on a featherbed. The suspension ideally soaks up everything though there are certain bumps that can be felt, but these are so imperceptible you could blame the season and for the rest of the year go about driving unperturbed once the roads are resurfaced. To further enhance ride quality, the Corolla Altis rides on 195/65 section tyres.

The Civic on the other hand is set up for a more dynamically rich driving experience. So the ride is compromised marginally with a bit of stiffness inserted into the character. Straight line stability is impressive because of the stiffness, there is less body roll than in the Corolla Altis and all of it combines to keep the Civic planted securely to terra firma at any speed. Only when the roads are scarred does the stiffness in the ride mar an other wise comfortable journey. The other fear is the lower ground clearance which means one must evade or not hit potholes too hard lest the undercarriage scrapes the surface. The other disadvantage of this stiffer set-up is that all the noise of the suspension crashing into potholes is clearly audible inside the cabin.



With a softer ride quality, the Corolla as expected is a bit soft around corners. There is quite a bit of understeer and none of it pro¬gressive. Certainly not like the Civic which gets progressive and interesting as one increases or reduces steering lock to maintain the line. Once deep into the corner, one has no choice but to ease off the gas and reduce steering lock to let the Corolla make a large loop round the corner. The Corolla is at her best on straight roads where much dynamism is not called into play.

The Corolla's steering is assisted electronically and that makes maneuvering through narrow streets or crowded roads much easier than in the Civic. This speed sensitive steering gets progressively heavier as the Corolla's speeds increase but if you have to maneuver within short spaces at low speeds the lightness and directness will be much appreciated. However, when driving hard and especially pushing the limits around bends the directness and preciseness ofthe Civic ensures more confidence inspired driving. In urban areas however steering the Civic is a heavy and cumbersome task compared to the Corolla.