• Safety in the Civic is excellent
• Five stars from Euro NCAP
• Lots of safety systems
• Check out common Honda Civic problems

Honda Civic hatchback safety is excellent. It has a five-star rating in the EuroNCAP crash tests.

You can specify adaptive cruise control and collision mitigation – a system that applies the brakes if it thinks a collision is imminent.

Two ISOFIX child-seat fittings are located in the right and left rear seats.

Dual front and side airbags are standard on all models, as are full-length side curtain airbags.

Pedestrian protection

Honda has also included pedestrian protection that features windscreen wiper pivots designed to break away on impact and energy absorbing front wing mounts.

Honda Civic practicality is one of the car’s strong points. It’s got class-leading luggage space with the rear seats up and when they are flipped down.

Honda Civic practicality

Seats up, there is 401 litres of space available while the under-floor compartment adds a further 76-litres. Drop the rear seats and the Civic can carry a maximum of 1,342 litres of luggage.

It’s not just the cavernous load area that makes this car hugely practical, but the way it’s achieved. To get a flat loadspace you simply flip two levers down and the seat-backs fold down without any fuss.

You can also fold the rear-seat cushions up to provide a loading area in the back.

Honda refers to the rear seats as ‘magic’ and although there’s no chance of making your dog disappear without a trace, they are very user-friendly.

There’s also a sizeable area in the floor of the boot to give extra storage space, which is very useful.

The Civic is only available as a five-door and although there’s just enough rear legroom for adults, tall people might find it a bit of a squeeze.

There’s no shortage of cubbies in the front to hold phones and other frippery, and the glovebox is a reasonable size too.

The major black mark comes in the form of the rear-spoiler that massively compromises rear visibility. It’s worse than the previous model too, because extra window space has had to be taken up in order to accommodate the rear wiper.

The A-pillars are also quite chunky and that restricts the view when you are pulling out of a turn at an acute angle.

The sat nav wasn’t that user-friendly either, although the stereo controls were logical and well laid out.