Faults:

Paint quality is very poor! Chips and scratches just looking at it!

The air-con was not working 100%. Even after a re-gas, it would just be 'enough' and never very cold. It worked though and did the trick, but it must have had an issue somewhere.

General Comments:

This was a bit of a strange one. In many ways, this was a great, great car. In others, it left me a bit... cold and unimpressed.

Good stuff:

Looks great! Inside and out. And still does, in my opinion.

Very clever design and very spacious. The car has really good space in the rear, once you get in via the quite small rear doors. Leg and headroom is very good for this type of car, probably about the best there was, I reckon.

The boot is also very large and deep - but I think it was because it didn't have a spare wheel. The boot hatch was also huge and wide opening, so it was a very practical car to use.

Interior design was great, really futuristic. Mine also had sat nav, so it had the screen which was really nicely integrated into the design of the dash, not just 'stuck on' like many cars. The graphics were really dated though. You were reminded this was a 2007 car with 2007 technology.

High spec, dual zone climate etc etc. Very nice.

Fantastic steering wheel design and great looking speedo display right in front of you. It felt a really good place to be from the driving seat.

Very clever 'Magic Seats' in the back. Fold up to vertical and also fold right down out of the way. A very clever design, all cars should have these!

Quality wasn't great though. It felt, overall, like it was made of fairly cheap materials and was a bit creaky in places. Not bad... but not great.

Economy was good for a 1.8 petrol, around 38-42 MPG in normal use, pretty good.

The gearshift was very nice. Not the best I've used in 'normal' cars (that still probably belongs to the Ford Puma).

The less good:

Generally, the driving and refinement for me, let this car down.

I'd read reports about this and sure enough, I mainly agreed with them.

The engine - didn't do it for me. It was nice, quiet in gentle use - but not super smooth. AND - I think - in an attempt to give it decent MPG and CO2 figures (which it did have, pretty much better than anything else of the same engine type/power) - they unfortunately managed to dial out the perkiness of the VTEC engine. They added variable cam timing, but to me... it just made the engine... flat.

On a typical VTEC 16v engine (for example I drove a 2002 Honda Accord 1.8 at around the same time) - you get a nice crisp response. Maybe feeling a bit flat at low revs, but then in contrast really coming alive at high revs.

The Civic just didn't. The response was more linear... and the engine never really woke up, or at least felt like it didn't.

0-60 in 8.5s is a good figure for a 1.8 'family hatch' and it could do it... but it just felt like it wasn't interested. It also wasn't particularly smooth or nice sounding at high revs.

Refinement wasn't great. At 60mph, it wasn't that quiet. There was quite a lot of wind and tyre roar. Enough to make me notice it, even compared to similar cars of the time.

The ride was also quite poor. Sure, the 17" alloys looked great on the car... but the ride was jittery. The steering was also pretty lacking in feel (although it was quite sharp to use).

Oh and the paint - really poor. Mine was a non metallic red and it was absolutely peppered with stone chips, which have just gone straight through the paint to the metal. You would have to be so, so careful or basically not use the car for the paintwork to stay in good condition. Maybe metallics were better, but this wasn't good. It also faded a bit, which I know red paint can be known for.

It struck me how poor it was. I've owned many cars, both newer and older - which haven't been affected as bad as this, even with many more miles.

So - overall - great family car (if you accept it's got small back doors), very clever and stylish cabin, lots of space. Nice to use, easy to drive, fairly low tax and good MPG - BUT - if you are interested in a really good driving car, like me... a possible let down.

Faults:

So far nothing.

General Comments:

Lovely car to drive. You do have to ask it to work for the performance by going over 5,800 RPM, but when you can do that it really changes character, and goes from being a comfortable cruiser to quite perky! And don't forget you still have 3,000 RPM to go. As with all Honda's the build quality is excellent, the controls are perfectly placed and it even has a good sized boot.

Before buying this I tried all the other usual suspects (Mazda 3 MPS, Seat Leon Cupra, Golf GTi etc.) and although not as ultimately quick as some of those, the Honda is just far nicer to drive, far better built and more practical in day to day use. It did take a while to find one that ticked all my boxes (red, low mileage, full service history, not messed about with exhaust or induction kits and so on), but really pleased and intend to keep it for many years now.

One thing, with any car of this sort it's very tempting to compare 0-60 times, but the Honda is sold a bit short on this measurement. It hits the rev limiter at 58 mph so 0-60 involves an extra gear change compared to most of the opposition, and that will make a difference of, at a guess, 1/2 second?

Although I haven't owned it very long so far, I know Honda build quality (I also own a Civic 1.5 and an HRV) and really don't expect any serious problems.