1989 Honda Civic 4WD Wagon – The Suburbanite’s Best Friend?
Honda has long been tuned in to the plight of the modern suburbanite. The firm’s effort to make modern relaxation more relaxing was the “Real Time” 4WD Civic Wagon. The term “Real Time” seems to be simplified English; maybe it suggested that 4 wheel drive experiences in other vehicles were somehow false or delayed. More likely, it’s designed to suggest that the civics 4WD system is in operation all the time.
The Civic Wagon packed a whole lot of interior volume into a relatively small package. Due to the miracle of 4WD, this little transport module had an extremely high likelihood of getting you where you needed to go. No, you are not going to drive over gridlocked traffic Bigfood style, but you could be reasonably sure you would reach your destination come rain, sleep, or snow.
The Civics 4WD system behaved just like a front drive system, until the going got slippery. Then, a centrally located viscous coupling sent progressively more power to the rear wheels until will spin is brought under control. The system is in operation all the time and requires no action from the driver. Because most of the power was fed to the front wheels during normal driving, the Civic felt like a front driver on the road. There was a tiny amount of torque steer, as well as a little kickback through the steering wheel when traction got spotty, but the power gets to the ground when and where it’s needed, And that’s what really counts.
Given the growing demands of suburban weekend driving, the Civic Wagon Real Time 4WD was tough to fault. It was arguably the cutest of the ‘new’ generation of 4WD wagons, and it’s easy as any to live with. With a base price of $12,210, it was just a touch more expensive than some of the competition from Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan, but not enough to lessen its appeal significantly. The Civic Wagon looked as correct in front of your house as a white picket fence and could go anywhere a suburbanite needed to go. I’d bet it was as much fun during the week as it was on the weekends.
Given the growing demands of suburban weekend driving, the Civic Wagon Real Time 4WD was tough to fault. It was arguably the cutest of the ‘new’ generation of 4WD wagons, and it’s easy as any to live with. With a base price of $12,210, it was just a touch more expensive than some of the competition from Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan, but not enough to lessen its appeal significantly. The Civic Wagon looked as correct in front of your house as a white picket fence and could go anywhere a suburbanite needed to go. I’d bet it was as much fun during the week as it was on the weekends.
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