Honda Civic Hatchback (2017 - 2022) SR 129PS VTEC Turbo 5d Owner Review

I have only had the car for 9 days, but I have been driving various Civics for over 10 years so part of this is in comparison with the previous versions. While I am about to list various issues, I really do like the car, these are just niggles that I would love Honda to sort out. Boot space - with my previous Civic there was 'under floor storage' that you could happily use as permanent boot space by simply dropping the lid into the space itself, this new one has a different set up so you can't leave the space fully open. While it is not a straight forward oblong shape I am sure they could have come up with a way to make the space always open. User interface - while this has improved over the previous version it is still not brilliant and settings are hard to find. Why isn't there a smartphone app that will only connect when plugged in that allows you the same access to the settings? It could have a nice friendly search facility enabling you to find the required setting much quicker than taking a guess as the correct heading and then scrolling through a couple of pages wondering if you are looking for the right word, e.g. looking for 'tyre pressure' when it is under 'tyre deflation'. Active Cruise Control - nice idea, but poorly implemented. Perhaps I am biased on this one as my wife currently has a shoulder problem that means jerky driving causes her pain. The car happily follows the car in front, maintaining the distance set (incidentally, the distance control needs a rocker or +/- switch and not jump from the closest distance to the furthest distance in 1 press!) until someone moves in between you and the car in front, whereupon it slams on the brakes until the distance opens up to the correct amount even if the car that pulled in front has just overtaken you and is going faster so the distance would increase without any change in speed. I understand there are safety issues, but surely computers work fast enough nowadays that it can effectively instantly calculate if the new distance between the cars is increasing or decreasing and if it is increasing, but closer than the minimum distance, then maybe ease off the accelerator until that distance is reached. I do like the Lane Keep Assist, it is not perfect, but I very quickly got used to the steering wheel nudging itself to go round bends, keep up the good work ! I have the 1.0L turbo which is quicker off the mark than my previous 1.8L, but in gears 1 and 2 it hits the rev limiter really quickly. When joining a dual carriageway from a side road you want to be able to get up to speed pretty quickly, especially when you don't have a good view of what is coming due to a bend in the road. A beep at 4500 or 5000 rpm to let you know to change up would be nice (again, configurable through a nice interface on my phone !). It is a shame they have moved away from the high level digital speed readout, I really liked that. Having to look down at the dashboard proper means taking your eyes away from the road, still, I can always get a separate one or use DigiHud on my phone. As I mentioned earlier, these are just niggles or options I won't use. Actual driving is great, I find it very comfortable and easy to drive, it feels very solid on the road. Gear changes are nice and positive.