• Excellent legroom and passable headroom
• Bigger boot than a VW Golf
• Plenty of room for odds and ends too

How much space is there?

The Civic is one of the larger family hatchbacks on sale – not quite as long as a Skoda Octavia but certainly a good degree above cars like the Volkswagen Golf or Toyota Corolla. This, combined with a long wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels), means there’s excellent space for passengers inside.

Four six-foot adults will be able to get comfortable, and the cabin’s just about wide enough to squeeze a third adult in the middle rear seat. Legroom is expansive, and though headroom isn’t quite as impressive thanks to that sloping roofline there’s enough space to slouch so it’s not a massive problem.

133

Boot space and storage

With 410 litres of space, the Civic’s boot again sits in between the Octavia and the Golf. It’s a very useful space too, thanks to a super-low loading sill that makes it really easy to get heavy items in and out.

The floor has a slight slope up to where it meets the rear seats, but it’s smooth enough that you ought to be able to slide items over it without too much trouble. The seats fold down easily and their backrests lie flat. One of the most useful features is actually the load cover. It’s like a roller blind and attached to the side of the boot rather than the back of the rear seats. Rolled up, it takes up about as much space as a folding umbrella, so it’s far easier to store than a traditional parcel shelf or load cover would be. Really clever thinking.

For smaller items, you get large door pockets, a capacious glovebox and centre armrest cubby, while the storage area ahead of the gear selector houses a wireless charging pad from the mid-spec model upwards.

133

Is it easy to park?

Visibility out the back of the Civic isn’t stellar, but all-round parking sensors and a rear view camera are standard on all three trim levels which does soften the blow. As mentioned, though, it is quite a large car compared to some of its competitors, so bear that in mind if you’ve a small garage.

Safety

• Five star safety rating
• Lots of kit as standard
• Driver assists can be a bit keen

Euro NCAP awarded the Civic a full five out of five stars. It scored particularly well in the passenger safety testing, with the testing authority commending it for its lateral impact protection.

Safety equipment is ample right from the base model, with the full suite of Honda’s ‘SENSING’ tech as standard. This means you get eight airbags, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping aids and traffic jam assist, which can start, steer and stop you in congested conditions. On several of the Civic’s rivals these are optional or unavailable, which makes them great additions here.

These systems work well, but when active, they are very keen to keep you in your lane. On a long motorway slog it will constantly attempt to undermine your judgement by offering tiny, but annoying, adjustments. Other systems, such as the ones used in Toyotas, are just as safe but much less intrusive.