• Spacious for passengers front and rear
• Saloon boot is big, but poorly shaped
• Fold-down rear seats, but limited use for bulky loads

The Civic saloon’s only real different to the hatchback is in its rear portion – specifically, the separate boot from which it takes its name. The rear portion of the car is rather divisively styled, and while some may prefer it to the already-contentious hatchback there’s no denying it doesn’t look particularly proportionally sound.

Overall boot space is impressive. There’s 519 litres on offer overall – that’s a lot more than the 471 and 425 litres you get from a Toyota Corolla saloon or Audi A3 saloon. However, the larger Skoda Octavia still pips it with 590 litres.

The biggest issue with the boot isn’t its size, but its usability. Despite the rear deck of the car resulting in a 13cm length increase from the hatchback, the sloping rear window means that the boot opening isn’t especially deep. This can be a pain, as it turns the boot into somewhat of a tunnel, making it easy to lose items at the back.

It’s also fairly irritating trying to carry bulkier loads in the Civic saloon. While the rear seats do fold, they don’t go totally flat, and the gap they leave as a load-through is narrow and sharp-edged. Though overall volume is better on the saloon, the hatchback’s 478-litres are far more practical in use.

Thankfully passenger space in the Civic saloon is much more impressive. There’s ample space for a pair of tall adults in the rear seats, and once back there they’ll enjoy decent headroom and plentiful legroom. Top-spec EX cars have heated rear seats, too, and all models get a fold-down centre armrest with cupholders for a little extra luxury.

With a slight hump in the floor and a narrow centre seat, though, the Civic saloon isn’t ideal for those who regularly have to carry three in the rear. Parents will be chuffed to find easy-to-access Isofix points for child seat mounting, though the door openings are a little small to make fitting bulky seats especially easy.

Safety

The Civic saloon hasn’t officially been tested by Euro NCAP, but it shares its safety equipment and crash structures with the hatchback, which scored a full five-star rating. All Civic saloons receive Honda’s SENSING safety equipment, which includes adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking capable of detecting cars, cyclists and pedestrians.