Honda Civic Country
Don’t let me be the one to ruin your mood, but 1980 was in the neighbourhood of 45 years ago.
This will be a short one, as there’s not much for me to say. What, are we so similar to people being marketed to in the 1980s? Our recreational sports, our bicycles, our desire to spend more time outdoors — and wanting an efficient, affordable wagon to pack it all into?
Civic Country was marketed with a 1500cc CVCC-II 4-cylinder engine and closely related to other Civic variants, including the Wagon and Van. • Honda
In 1980 and 1981, Honda offered the Civic Country, kind of like a Subaru Crosstrek without all-wheel-drive. Small engine. Wood-ish paneling. It straddled the line between gigantic fuselage-style American wagons of the 1970s, yet doesn’t fully embrace Honda’s near-future as purveyor of high-revving, technologically advanced Japanese motorcars.
Official Honda video of the Civic Country from the Honda Collection Hall • Honda
Today, a Civic Country is so weird — so weird — when Honda had it sorted. Job done. It correctly envisioned a future where customers would want this kind of car, then retreated before the model could establish itself.
michael banovsky
