07 Nov 06
Like Californian wine producers, the Japanese like to keep a lot of the good stuff to themselves. Why, for example, can't we get our hands on Honda's sublime Integra Type-R when it's built in right-hand drive?
For once though, the shoe is on the other foot. While Japan and the US have to make do with a Civic that's blander than boiled cabbage, here in Europe we're treated to something that looks like a refugee from a sci-fi film. Not a straight-to-video job, either, but a Steven Spielberg epic.
I remember thinking how otherworldly the Civic looked when I saw the first official photos 18 months ago. And it looks even more so parked outside my home in Brighton.
Brighton isn't exactly what you'd call a car-loving kind of place. There's nowhere to park (even if you live here), the seafront road jams to a complete standstill at weekends and record numbers of city dwellers are eschewing the polluting ways of the internal combustion engine in favour of good, old-fashioned pedal power. Yet I've caught plenty of people staring at my Galaxy Grey Civic 2.2 i-CDTi since it arrived just under a month ago.
For the next five months, the Civic and I will be pretty much inseparable. Apart for my commute to central London three days a week, the two of us will also be taking regular trips up to Derby to see my eight-year-old son Daniel.
