There just isn’t enough space here to list the number of quality, reliability and customer satisfaction surveys that have commended Honda over the past five years, and there is no reason to expect that the new Civic will be any less excellent as an ownership proposition than any of its range mates.
It has insurance ratings four to five groups lower than the outgoing car’s, and benefit-in-kind company car tax from just 13 per cent – lower still once the 1.6 diesel arrives with its CO2 rating of 99g/km.
The price of our EX GT test car looks high, but it comes generously equipped. A like-for-like BMW 120d would cost you more than £30k. Meanwhile, the entry-level 2.2-litre diesel Civic costs in excess of £1400 less than an equivalent Golf; it’s undercut by Ford’s cheapest Focus 2.0 TDCi, however.
The Civic’s economy is perhaps the only minor disappointment. Our 55mpg touring test return is more than respectable, but the most efficient cars in the class could now be expected to beat that by about 10 per cent.
The arrival of the 1.6 diesel has finally allowed Honda to compete with the super-efficient and very popular rivals such as the VW Golf BlueMotion. Its figures of 78.5mpg and 94g/km rank among the best int the class when you factor in the performance advantages of the Civic's engine relative to its rivals. More than 800 miles are also possible between fill ups.
The Civic does suffer slightly worse depreciation forecasts than the class-leading Golf and Focus.
Still, these cost pitfalls are fairly minor, and even taking them into account the Civic is a well-judged financial proposition by any standard.
