Honda Civic Review (2007)

Ease of Use

The older Honda Civic's tended to have a following of older drivers who I initially thought would be frightened of such a radical departure from Honda's safe styling. But on closer inspection I see that they have taken the new Civic to heart. You do step down into the car and have to be careful not to clip your head on entry. However, once inside the Civic it is a comfortable place to be, the seats are supportive, although a little on the hard side.

I would prefer to see a dial recline adjustment rather than a lever that can leave you struggling to find the ideal position.

The controls are relatively well laid out and our test car was fitted with optional Satellite Navigation which gives you voice activated control of the heating, navigation and audio controls which I found intuitive to operate.

One thing I found unnecessary was the starting button, perhaps it was added to give the Civic sporting credentials?

I would have liked to have seen drive off locking, although there is a button albeit only on the drivers side to lock all the doors.

Cleverly the rear hatch has rain repellant glass and therefore doesn't need a wiper, it seemed to work well. All round vision is good, although you lose sight of the road behind the A pillar. The rear spoiler which split the lower half of the hatchback in two - can reduce distant rear visibility, with tailing cars being lost.

I was impressed with the size of the boot which swallowed our pram base and the usual baby paraphernalia needed on a day out. There was also under floor storage in the boot and the boot lip is fairly low for easy loading of items. The luggage area is the largest in its class with 485-litres of space when the seats are in place and 1,352-litres to the window-line, when they are folded flat.

Front and rear leg room was good - even adults will fit comfortably in the rear of the Honda Civic.

Safety and Security

The following safety & security equipment is standard on the Honda Civic 2.2 CTDi SE:

Active head restraints, dual front SRS airbags, dual side SRS airbags, ABS, EBD, EBA, high level rear brake light, side impact protection beams, front seat belt pre-tensioners, 5 x 3 point seat belts, ISOFix childseat restraint mechanism, headlight washers, front and rear disc brakes, VSA, drive by wire, three outer head restraints, rolling code ECU engine immobiliser, Honda Superlocks ) deadlocks), externally visible vehicle identification number (VIN), remote keyless entry, central locking, high security integrated audio, rear parcel shelf, lockable glovebox, perimeter security alarm and interior and perimeter alarm (CAT1).