A few weeks ago, my far more learned colleague Matt Prior summed up the new Civic thus: “In a class being neglected, Honda arrives with a car that’s one of the most compelling and best to drive.”

In a stroke, Matt neatly summed up why this car excites us at Autocar. Finally, an everyday hatchback that we can all actually look forward to driving. It’s not only Matt: Kris Culmer borrowed it for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed every minute, while Rachel Burgess came back off the international launch raving about the car. I’ve only had it a week and already I can see where they’re all coming from.

It’s not just that there are encouraging signs about how well it drives and commutes – although it effortlessly absorbed a 480-mile series of commutes in my first three days with the car – but also what it represents. Twenty years ago, I would never have thought that I would one day be waxing lyrical about a family hatchback, but the contrast in SUV land is a welcome one.

So to the actual Civic that we have. There’s only one powertrain, so we very wisely stuck to that option. It’s a hybrid system, with a 181bhp electric motor doing most of the motive work while a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine powers the generator that charges up the battery. It’s clever stuff, and it has so far yielded an average of 55.2mpg – impressively close to the official economy figure of 56.5mpg.

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