22 May 07
People like me buy cars like these because they need them to fulfil a variety of functions: carrying passengers in comfort, lugging shopping and plants and flat-packed Ikea wardrobes home, getting them there cheaply and quickly and reliably. That the Honda ticks all these boxes comes as no surprise - any family car that doesn't is a dead duck these days.
What marks this latest Civic out as something special (and a vast improvement over the car it replaced) is the fact that it has personality. That's the real reason I'll miss it now that it's gone back to Honda. As the fantastic ad campaign used to go, Hate Something, Change Something. I hated the old Civic, and they changed it. Very much for the better. In a market full of Golf wanabees - witness the Germanification of the latest Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, even the Kia Cee'd - the daringly styled, wilfully unconventional Honda stands pretty much alone.
Anyone who has followed the progress of our Civic over the last six months will know that it hasn't been completely plain sailing. But the two trips to the dealer I made to get the faulty fuel filler cap and battery connection sorted out haven't dented my confidence in Honda's build quality one bit. I doubt that this Galaxy Grey five-door will need anything more than scheduled services and replacement rubber for the next decade or so.
