The 2016 Honda Civic is a roomy and sensible family hatchback that’s reasonably good to drive and offers an enviable array of advanced safety equipment as standard. It also features angular, dramatic styling, which helps it stand out from the crowd, but won’t be to all tastes. What will be to all tastes is the likely reliability of one – Hondas are some of the most dependable cars you can buy. Unfortunately, the Civic also has a lot of very capable rivals, many of which feel better built (the Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia and Kia Ceed), or better to drive (the Ford Focus and Seat Ibiza).

Strengths:

Dependable family transport
The Type R hot hatch is tremendous fun
Choice of frugal engines

Weaknesses:

Frustrating infotainment
Interior quality could be better
Regular models are rather ordinary to drive

Is the 2017 Honda Civic better than the 2017 Ford Focus?

Perhaps the 2017 Honda Civic’s greatest rival is the Ford Focus. The Honda proves its mettle by offering a roomier cabin and more luggage space, but the Ford Focus counters – fairly convincingly – by being better to drive and offering a more comprehensible infotainment system.