Should you buy one?

The Civic saloon is the grown-up, less funky sister to the Civic hatch, but as it retains many of that car’s most impressive features it’s still a sound buy.

Its driving experience, engine line-up and passenger space are all well up there with class leaders, and should make the Civic saloon a really pleasant car to own and operate. Poor infotainment aside, there’s very little in this car to annoy or irritate on a long trip, and plenty of smart touches that make the daily slog just that little bit easier.

The Civic saloon’s biggest issue is that it’s so much less practical than its hatchback sibling. While passenger space is excellent, the narrow, awkward boot and small load-through hatch makes travelling with luggage or large loads more of a liability than it should be. Put simply, the saloon boot adds extra complexity to proceedings, without much benefit – the improvement in looks is subjective and the larger overall litreage is limited.

With this caveat in mind it’s no wonder the Civic’s competitors in the compact saloon market are so limited. In fact, we think its biggest rival isn’t a saloon at all, but the Skoda Octavia hatchback. It can offer comparable performance and far greater versatility than the Civic, all with only a slight impact on equipment levels. It’s well worth cross-shopping the two.

Choosing a Civic saloon should be easy. We think there’s enough equipment on the base SR grade to make upgrading to EX a luxury rather than a necessity. The simple engine line-up doesn’t really have a poor option in it, and we’d simply recommend that low-mileage drivers stick to the excellent and efficient petrol while those covering higher mileages go for the diesel.

For those who perhaps don’t like the look of the Civic hatch or relish the looks or security that a saloon boot has to offer, the Civic saloon is a thoroughly accomplished choice in a market sector that’s diminishing fast.