Last Thursday (March 31, 2022) SAIC Volkswagen's new Lingdu L was officially launched, once again attracting public attention to the subdivision of sports and family cars. If you ask who first pioneered the concept of sports family cars, it is estimated that many friends will think of the honda Civic first in their minds. Even though the sporty properties of the latest generation (eleventh generation) Civic have weakened and are more inclined to household demand, it still does not prevent people from seeing it as a benchmark product in sports family cars. That being the case, new problems arise. When consumers put the new Lingdu L and Civic together to make a choice, whose brand should they turn over? Today we will talk about this matter.
※ Why choose to compare the Civic?
To say that saicutical Volkswagen's new Lingdu L is the most direct competitor, in fact, it should not be Dongfeng Honda Civic. On the contrary, Volkswagen's own eighth-generation golf is very similar to the new Lingdu L in terms of platform, power and configuration, and one is a sedan coupe and a hatchback, and the different body designs also well differentiate their corresponding consumer groups.
But after all, it is talking about the subdivision of sports family cars, so we should not avoid the Civic that took the lead in eating crabs in this category, not to mention that the Civic eats quite well. Especially in the past year, even independent brand car companies have been unable to stand up and have begun to launch their own sports cars, such as MG 6, GAC Trumpchi Shadow Leopard, Changan UNI-V and so on.
For today's market pattern, as well as a stronger market demand than in previous years, SAIC Volkswagen, which has created Lingdu in 2015 for young consumer demand, must have high hopes for the new Lingdu L. It is precisely for this reason that SAIC Volkswagen has shown enough sincerity in the pricing of the new Lingdu L and provided consumers with multiple preferential policies.
And the new Lingdu L has made drastic improvements and enhancements compared to the previous generation, which is easier to provoke the "fighting spirit" of a number of sports family cars that are not low in cost performance, which is represented by civic. In particular, the price system of SAIC Volkswagen's new Lingdu L and Dongfeng Honda Civic is close, and the brand power is also close, and the landing price of both has touched a higher level of medium-sized cars than them, so it is not inappropriate to compare them together.
If you happen to be hesitating between the Lingdu L and Civic models, you've come to the right place today. I hope that our car purchase guide can help you get rid of hesitation and order a car.
※ Model overview review
(1) SAIC Volkswagen Lingdu L
The saic-volkswagen Lingdu L, which has just been launched (March 31, 2022), belongs to the second generation of Volkswagen Lingdu model, which is based on the MQB Evo platform, which not only ushered in a comprehensive innovation in the overall design level, but also extended the wheelbase, especially the design of frameless doors and hatchback tailgates, thus bringing a stronger coupe style.
The official guidance price range of the new Lingdu L is 149,900-189,900 yuan, and a total of 4 models have been launched. It is powered by the already familiar 1.4T engine (280TSI), with a maximum power of 110 kW (150Ps), a peak torque of 250 Nm, and a drivetrain that matches a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
(2) Dongfeng Honda Civic
Although the previous generation (tenth generation) Civic is still on sale at the point of sale and has not yet been delisted, the other protagonist we are discussing today is naturally the new generation (eleventh generation) Civic. Dongfeng Honda's all-new generation (11th generation) Civic has been on the market for more than half a year (launched on September 24, 2021), and the vehicle continues the classic compact car size, and the overall style is in line with the Accord or Yingshipai positioned as a mid-size car.
The new generation of Civic has launched a total of 6 models of 180TURBO (1.5T low power) and 240TURBO (1.5T high power) versions, with the official guidance price range of 129,900-16.39 million yuan.
Another point is that the new generation of Civic currently has a cash discount ranging from 3,000-7,000 yuan in the terminal (taking the Beijing area as an example), which will also be an important condition that we will consider when comparing Civic and Lingdu L later.
※ Model comparison:
(1) Lingdu L entry car compared with the Civic model
Compared with Dongfeng Honda's new generation Civic, the newly listed SAIC Volkswagen Lingdu L has a higher starting price, and there is currently no cash discount at the terminal. Therefore, we first chose to compare the entry-level car of Lingdu L with the Civic, considering that the entry-level car of Lingdu L, that is, the "280TSI Hot Hot Edition", has a guidance price of 149,900 yuan, so compared with the model, we chose the new generation of Civic's medium-equipped car with a guidance price of the same 149,900 yuan, that is, the "240TURBO Burning Edition". The differences in configuration between the two vehicles are shown in the table below.
It is not difficult to see that although the guidance price of both vehicles is 149,900 yuan, the "Civic 240TURBO Burning Edition" obviously has more advantages than the "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot And Spicy Edition". Especially in terms of active/passive safety, the "Civic 240TURBO Combustion Edition" occupies more functions or equipment, while the "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot Edition" is slightly deficient. If you take into account that the current new generation of Civic still has certain terminal discounts, then it is obvious that the new generation of Civic's medium-equipped model "Civic 240TURBO Burning Edition" is better than the entry-level car of the new Lingdu L in terms of cost performance, "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot Edition".
(2) Lingdu L sub-low-end car compared with Civic sub-top car
In view of the above situation, we will upgrade the configuration grade of Lingdu L by one level, and choose the "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot Edition" with a guidance price of 159,900 yuan, which is also the model that we recommended in the new Lingdu L car purchase manual before, with the best price-performance ratio among the four models of Lingdu L. As for the comparison of the Civic here, we chose the second top model, that is, the "Civic 240TURBO Power Control Edition", which has a guiding price of 158,900 yuan, which is only 1,000 yuan different from the "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot Edition". What about the difference in configuration between the two models? Let's take a look at what's in the table below.
Coincidentally, even if the guidance price is 1,000 yuan lower than lingdu L, the sub-top model of Civic, that is, "Civic 240TURBO Power Control Edition", still occupies more advantageous configurations than the sub-low configuration of Lingdu L, "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot And Spicy Edition".
And in addition to active/passive safety, some comfort and convenience features are also reflected, such as the "Civic 240TURBO Power Control Edition" equipped with an openable panoramic sunroof, leather-clad steering wheel, and automatic anti-glare inner rearview mirrors. In contrast, the "Lingdu L 280TSI Hot Plate" is equipped with ordinary electric sunroofs, leather-coated steering wheels, and manual anti-glare interior mirrors.
Once compared, we found that even in the guide price close to 160,000 yuan, the cost performance of the new generation of Civic will still be slightly higher than the new Lingdu L, especially when the Terminal Offer of Civic is also taken into account. In this way, do you think that the new Lingdu L has no advantage in front of the Civic? Obviously not, let's go on.
(3) What are the advantages of Lingdu L over Civic?
First of all, in terms of body size, the length, width and height of the SAIC Volkswagen Lingdu L are 4784mm/1831mm/1469mm, and the wheelbase is 2731mm; in contrast, the length, width and height of Dongfeng Honda's new generation Civic are 4674mm/1802mm/1415mm, and the wheelbase is 2735mm.
It can be seen that this "L" of Lingdu L is not casually said, especially after SAIC Volkswagen has learned some of the "lessons" reflected in the previous generation of Lingdu models, the Body Size of Lingdu L, which has been comprehensively improved, is naturally larger than the Civic (although the wheelbase of Lingdu L is still 4mm less than that of Civic), which also lays the foundation for Lingdu L to provide more spacious and comfortable passenger space.
The length, width and height of Lingdu L are 4784mm/1831mm/1469mm, respectively, and the wheelbase is 2731mm
The new generation of Civic has a length, width and height of 4674mm/1802mm/1415mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2735mm
Secondly, in terms of power, as we mentioned earlier, SAIC Volkswagen Lingdu L is uniformly equipped with a 1.4T engine (280TSI), a maximum power of 110kW (150Ps), a peak torque of 250Nm, and a transmission system matching a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Dongfeng Honda's new generation Civic has launched two power versions, 180TURBO (1.5T low power) and 240TURBO (1.5T high power), of which the maximum power of the low-power version is 95kW (129Ps) and the peak torque is 180Nm; the maximum power of the high-power version is 134kW (182Ps), the peak torque is 240Nm, and the transmission system is matched with the CVT stepless transmission.
That is to say, Lingdu L is comprehensively superior to the low-power version of the new Civic in terms of power allocation, and slightly inferior to the high-power version of the new Civic in terms of the maximum power of the engine, but the peak torque is slightly better than the high-power version of the new Civic.
Third, at the design level, SAIC Volkswagen's new Lingdu L has carried out a comprehensive innovation at the overall design level, especially the design of frameless doors and hatchback tailgates, which have brought a stronger coupe style to Lingdu L. In contrast, the motion attributes of the new generation (eleventh generation) Civic have begun to weaken, but have further favored the needs of the family, which has long been agreed upon. This also means that those "face value control" customers who pay attention to the design of the vehicle shape and the sense of movement will find it difficult to resist the temptation of Ling Du L.
SAIC Volkswagen's new Lingdu L series comes standard with frameless design doors
The roof of saic-volkswagen Lingdu L is walking in a streamlined shape
SAIC Volkswagen Lingdu L has a hatchback type large tailgate
※ Editor's Comments:
In fact, whether lingdu L and the new civic must be compared to each other, or whether it is necessary to distinguish who must be better than whom, who must be inferior to whom, there is not much practical significance. After all, these two models can be called a benchmark in the A+ level, from the perspective of consumers, whether to choose Lingdu L or the new Civic, or should be combined with everyone's respective car needs and car scenes, and refer to the product characteristics of the two cars to make a decision.
It is more clear now that the new Civic has different degrees of cash discounts in the terminal, as little as 2,300 yuan, as much as 6,700 yuan; and the new Lingdu L has just been listed, although there is no discount for the time being, it does not mean that there will be no promotional measures in the terminal in the future. Therefore, the time when everyone decides to shoot will also have a certain degree of influence on the final choice result.