Our new long-termer bowls over tester John Kendall.

Honda Civic e:HEV Advance hybrid

P11d (BIK): £35,625 (27%) MPG/CO2: 56.5 (combined) 114g/km Test MPG: 50.1mpg

Early impressions are that the fit and finish on the Honda are excellent and the driving experience is a pleasure

Report 1:

Is this the best long-term test car I have ever run? If it isn’t, it is doing a very good impression of it. The 11th-generation Civic comes only in e:HEV hybrid form, combining an Atkinson Cycle 143hp 2.0-litre petrol engine with a pair of electric motors delivering 184hp. It offers four drive modes – Normal, Eco, Sport and Individual – and variable regenerative braking, adjusted using the steering wheel paddles. It means the driver can choose to either optimise economy, maximise performance, or pitch it somewhere inbetween.

It’s probably the best-looking Civic ever, with a sleek five-door hatchback design which still offers good headroom in the rear seat. Our test car comes in top-spec Advance trim, which includes a comprehensive equipment list from LED matrix headlights – the best I have come across – to heated front seats and steering wheel, induction phone charger, glass sunroof, all-digital instruments, reversing camera, Bose sound system and 18-inch alloys, among others. The fit and finish are excellent and the driving experience a pleasure. Dislikes? I’m still trying to set the sat nav up so it doesn’t send me along single-track roads, but I’m not there yet.

On the road, the Civic offers a good compromise between firm suspension for good handling but with enough compliance for good-quality ride. Given our deteriorating roads, that’s a good thing. Engine noise is well muted but the downside of wide, stiff tyres is that road noise does get through, but it’s not as intrusive as in some cars I’ve driven in the past few years.

I’ve mentioned the matrix headlights, which will blank off those likely to cause dazzle while maximising the light elsewhere. Only a Volvo V60 I ran some years ago comes close. Unfortunately, the Civic is only with us for a couple of months, but perhaps if I stop answering phone calls and emails from the Honda press office, they might just forget about it…