HONDA CIVIC

THE CIVIC IS proving popular here. The older people in the office want to borrow it for its practicality and fuel economy (40mpg-plus on longer runs) and the younger ones because it looks a little bit like the Type R.

In fact, opinion is divided pretty much 50/50 on the question of the car’s looks. I freely admit to being a convert. When I first saw it, I thought it was so ugly that it made me weep, but I’ve grown to like our car’s fruity red bodywork and menacing black alloy wheels, and I love the length of its wheelbase and how low the car is, two factors that must contribute towards its impressive dynamics.

What has caused most people to reel in surprise is when they’re told that underneath its bonnet is a

mere 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine. Now, that engine has me a little divided. There is a characteristic off beat burble at low speed that could perhaps be a little less intrusive, but to a generation brought up on the unseemly low-speed clatter of most diesels, I guess it’s barely noticeable. If I were uncharitable, I could say the engine noise is drowned out at higher speeds by the road noise anyway.

On top of that, the car never feels as quick as its 127bhp suggests. Part of the blame must go to the car’s kerb weight (the new Civic actually weighs slightly more than the old one) and part to the illusion created by the power delivery being so linear, with no perceived step up and go.

I must admit I still prefer my engines with as many cylinders as possible, preferably with a multiple of six rather than a division of that number. However, because I like everything else about this Civic so far, and as I’m viewing a red car through rose-tinted spectacles, I could still be converted.