Author —— Qaga User: Di Xiaofan
Don't want to compare, but also not afraid of comparison, the key time has to come to compare!
The undercurrent of the automobile market is surging and although the competition is not a sword, I believe that everyone has also felt the popularity of some brands in recent years and the depression of more brands. Looking back at the market ten years ago, Dongfeng Honda was still addicted to the success of the eight generations of Civic and the hot sale of the three generations of CR-V, and was not prepared for an invisible force from Germany; at that time, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen was still an absolute "mainstream" product in the domestic car market, and most families who bought cars for the first time would think of "French" cars.
And the time to six years ago in 2015, Dongfeng Honda in the Volkswagen brand glorious brand aura and publicity offensive still seems to be in the mire, the entire group is relying on the four generations of CR-V this car is struggling to support, although the sales are good, but the entire group's low-hanging sales are really difficult to get on the table; at that time, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen seems to be still riding the "suppression of Japanese cars" trend to pick up market share, with several special pull-up models accurately "harvested" good sales data.
Today, Dongfeng Honda has been a full line of blossoming, a car is difficult to find an absolute first-line joint venture brand, the new 11th generation Civic launched in 2021 has become a blockbuster car throughout the year; and in recent years, the three words of "French car" seem to be accompanied by a weak product line layout and a gradual collapse of the aftermarket reputation gradually far away, at this moment" "French system" for the majority of car fans seems to have been a very strange concept, but also in 2021, a French "original" crossover Citroen C5 X officially named "Versailles" Landing in the Chinese market, the PSA product line that has been dim for many years seems to have some light because of this "reshaping the new benchmark of the B-class" (more than just) sedan...
Naturally, the two cars went from the news to the market, and also entered my contrasting eyes. As far as the current terminal market is concerned, Civic and Versailles C5 X are in a state of parity sales and slightly need to wait for the car, while the Civic 240TURBO and Versailles power are around 180 horsepower, and the starting price is also around 145,000 yuan, which can be seen as a comparison of players on the same running line.
「Level」
I believe that everyone has heard a quarrel about the positioning of the "Versailles" level on social media. A lot of people will say that "Versailles is a B-class car, the Civic doesn't deserve to be compared", but what I want to say is that as you define what the two cars are, I don't care. For example, a Highlander positioned as a "medium-sized SUV" does not have an ideal ONE space smaller than the positioning of a "medium and large SUV", and a so-called "B-class" Camry space is much smaller than a "Class A" Lingpai, so the so-called "level" cannot be directly linked to any product force level, neither can it be said that "the higher the level, the larger the space", nor can it be said that "the higher the level, the faster the car", and can not say "the higher the level, the more advanced the car", so the "level" is actually a model positioning reference. Does not play any role in the actual product force expression.
「Space」
Since we have also talked about the level, the most likely to make people have a "level difference reverie" is the interior space, in this regard, the actual body size is longer, the so-called higher level of Versailles actually does not occupy a little advantage.
Here we need to start with the seats, the seats of both cars themselves are good softness, but the seat model is obviously better for the Civic. First of all, the base height of the Civic front seat is lower (which has something to do with the fact that it is a sedan), and the seat pad knee point is better set.
In contrast, even with the Versailles C5 X, which can be adjusted to the lowest eight-way electric adjustment, the front seat cushion tilt angle is still large (the knee point is higher), while forcing the driver to sit more forward. In this case, entering the rear row, the body size and the wheelbase double dimensions of the Versailles rear row actual leg space and Civic are comparable, and the "level space theory" is once again verified to be invalid.
The back seating sensation is even more astonishing, except for the head space is more abundant in Versailles, the rest of all aspects involving the ride are more superior to the Civic, carefully speaking, the Civic has a more soothing, more fitting backrest, an absolutely longer cushion into the depth, the headrest position (Versailles' headrest is like a tablet standing behind the head, neither soft, but also the head forward). In addition, the cancellation of the setting of the front row central headrest of the previous generation of The Central Civic once made me wonder whether the East Ben market research and cost control team had drunk fake wine, and the central seat headrest that disappeared for five years was also returned on the eleventh generation model, and the five-person ride also got stronger comfort and safety.
"Chassis and Steering"
Traditionally, the recognition of "multi-link / double wishbone independent suspension" has always been particularly high, even if the public fans will avoid talking about the suspension structure after the sagittarius replaced with a torque beam; but whenever the French car is mentioned, the "torque beam" seems to make fans face color, and the saying that the "french car torque beam is well adjusted" is also not uncommon. But I rarely use structure in the evaluation process to discuss heroes, and what really performs well in driving is really good, and it is not possible to simply guess the results with hardware. Then we evaluate the chassis and driving quality of the two cars by daily driving, which sounds simple but the result is very tragic - The Civic wins.
The new Honda 11th generation Civic chassis has achieved a new height of filter comfort and high-grade sense, to a certain extent, comparable to its own big brother is not excessive, flexible and crisp coexistence, in the face of the size of the speed bump almost no tremors and aftershocks, small road joints can almost be perfectly "ironed", such a performance of the current price, really makes my eyes shine.
In contrast, versailles chassis in the daily driving comfort dimension has no advantages to speak of, the overall driving is shaky and trembling and no confidence, let's say little by little: First of all, when I stepped on the accelerator to start, I found that the butt of the car was sitting down, so that the exaggerated dynamic pitch inhibition could not help but make me think that this was driving an ES6; the moment of getting on the speed bump, Versailles reminded me of the Magotan of the sales list of that year, and no speed bump could pass crisply and sharply. The front bridge is always in Parkinson's state, shivering and trembling, can you make up for that scalp-tingling sensation? It's even worse off the speed bump, and the car has irrepressible aftershocks. That is to say, if you drive through a continuous uneven road, the driver and passengers in the car will face the enduring "left swing right, forward and backward". Therefore, the chassis of Versailles is no problem to say soft, but I think that the "sense of luxury" is basically non-existent.
To add more, the sound insulation level versailles win, especially the more to the high-speed advantage is more obvious, but the versailles engine sound at high speed is actually not as restrained as the Honda L15C engine of the national 6B, relatively harsh.
This is true of the comfort dimension for the time being, and the dynamic driving experience is even more so.
At that time, when I first released the Video of the Civic Experience, I was still picking a small regret for the Directional's steering feel. But it has to be said that in front of Versailles, it is not too much to call the Civic "a model of steering feel setting", with a more dynamic body following characteristics and a stable chassis, driving sharp and stable.
And Versailles' steering feel is really impossible to take at the moment, driving fast and slow while sinking while there is no damping change, which directly leads to the low speed of this car is not light enough, the high speed is not calm enough, as long as the hand is loose direction immediately withdrawn back to the center... Coupled with this chassis that is itself dangling and leisurely, there is no good technique, it is really difficult to drive this car fast and steady.
There are always people who like to use "the handling feeling is not good because this is a family car, who cares about the control every day", "comfort is generally because our brand has a rally racing gene, the real control of the same level is first-class, is the most sincere product" and so on as a product force is not comprehensive enough interface. The above paragraph just strongly proves that car companies have the ability to build a car to take into account both handling and comfort, and Dongfeng Honda Civic is gradually proving this theory with repeated remodelings. In the situation where the opponents have made great progress, car companies such as Dongfeng Citroen who do not want to make progress have only come up with such a level in the 150,000 yuan price segment that has been fiercely fought, and I can't see where there is sincerity.
"Drivability"
(Here it is inevitable to popularize the concept of "drivability", which refers to the dynamic performance of the vehicle's forward and backward travel, which has little to do with what shock filtering and steering.) ）
This year's temperature is not as cold as the car market, and many places did not gradually cool down until December, when it was cold and cold, but it was good news for the car. The gradually lowering temperature completely lifted the power seal of the Civic, this 182-horsepower national six Honda is obviously much stronger than the National Day period, although I feel that her personality is still not as violent as the national five version of the ten generation models 5 years ago, but the absolute power level and acceleration performance should be close to the performance of the national five period of the year, and there is a chance to recommend everyone to try.
The optimization of the powertrain is also an important upgrade point for the model replacement, the new Civic is almost to achieve the whole domain of power release delicate, but also to repair the previous work of the specific working conditions of the oil collection and other defects, and even I think CVT under the big foot throttle response is more sensitive, it is really easy to drive the car fast and smooth.
Switching to Versailles seems to have fallen into a world. Showroom sales "our Aisin 8AT is very smooth" sound still echoes in the ears, but as my right foot is released, the vehicle slows down and brakes, this "French romance" has irregular back and forth with the deceleration, and if you make up a foot of throttle at this time, the gearbox seems to be momentarily confused, there will be a setback before accelerating, I believe, that is the crystallization of the gearbox and engine collaborative thinking. This is not the end, even if you drive the car steadily, it is not smooth, and most of the double clutches in this era can achieve the basic level of gear shifting itself smoothly, which can only show that Versailles' powertrain calibration still has a long way to go.
Although the "legendary hades car" that I tried this year, Shadow Leopard has taught me a deep lesson with "giant wave power + double clutch", and its ability to frighten has not diminished. But you Dongfeng Citroen as a joint venture factory, Versailles as its sinking years after the work of life-saving straw, come up with such a lot of products, I think it is really a little bit of meaning.
And even worse, this car is driving in addition to not going well, it is actually quite shaky... At present, I dare not say whether it is a vehicle consistency problem or a common feature of the whole series, and it needs to be further experienced and explored by friends. In addition, there is another point that makes me question the consistency of the vehicle: whether it is a show car in the exhibition hall or a test drive, the installation of the brake pedal itself is somewhat loose, and I use my foot to push left and right with a large amount of openness, which is rare.
"Functional and Ergonomics"
I believe that @38 American system performance control once mentioned that "Versailles's car machine is designed by grandma" is impressive, but it is no exaggeration to say that the complexity of the interface, the confusion of functional placement, and the confusion of interaction logic can be counted as the top few of this year's car machine bad evaluation list.
Not to mention the confusing "waste design" of the car, including the car door knuckles, the armrests of the rear door, and the crooked head-up display.
Even when I rode statically for the first time, I found two naked and sharp iron pieces at the base of the central armrest in the back, and if it was really a child who was touching the back, it was not impossible to cause some safety accidents.
In contrast, the new Civic has been replaced by a complete set of new interior design and human-computer interaction interface after the redesign, and the specific use of the experience I have also mentioned in the previous experience video, I think that can be regarded as a relatively good level in this price point in the current era.
"Summary"
In fact, about the two cars themselves, the points that can be compared are too obvious, and many people will assume the idea that "the two are not at the same level and cannot be compared" before hearing this title.
But the actual comparison results tell us that from the perspective of rational consumption at the same price point, under the strong and balanced benchmark of the Civic, there is no reason to buy a car like Versailles, and the official "more than cars" propaganda sounds more like a joke that "even cars can't do well". As for the various friends who firmly believe that all French brand models have become the market booming because of "romance" and "thickness", you are welcome to respond to my conclusions with their actual product strength advantages.