Features

There's a bewildering array of materials strewn about the swooping, driver-focused interior, selected to deliver a message about modernity and agility; anything but the sedate decline into old age.

The driver grips hold of a deeply dished three-spoke steering wheel, with the windscreen raking sharply over their head. The low, sleek profile - assisted by some well-hidden rear door handles - belies the fact that the boundary-breaking, new Civic is every bit as spacious inside as the old one. Claustrophobia only intrudes for the rear passengers, as the fat C-pillars curve round and restrict visibility.

There's innovation going on in there too. The 'Dual Zone' cockpit places a digital speedo read-out in its own pod, built in right at the base of the windscreen, so the driver doesn't have to look too far from the road ahead each time they take a look; the blue LED-backlit circular rev counter sits in a second, lower cluster. Alongside, a series of shift lights give warning of when a higher gear ratio should be reached for.

Peer rearwards and the ingenuity continues. A single handle tumble-folds each 'Magic Seat' flat into the floor without the headrests having to be lowered... just like that. There's also a large storage box set into the floor of the boot, with a lid that folds neatly out of the way as it retracts.

Being the perfect size for the battery packs allied to Honda's Integrated Motor Assist petrol-electric hybrid system, this storage space gives a big clue to a version of the five-door Civic that we can expect to see on sale in Europe by late '07.

First, in '06, we'll be getting a version based on the also-new Civic saloon, complete with a 20 per cent power and five per cent fuel economy boost over the current-generation Civic IMA.

The four-door bodyshell sits on a different floorpan from the Europe-only five-door, one shared with the also-new Civic Coupe that's similarly been developed to suit the tastes of US buyers. Given the already coupe-style (or 'super wedge', as Honda prefers to call it) profile of the five-door hatch, the Coupe looks unlikely to be Europe-bound in the foreseable future.