The jury's out on the new five-door MINI

I AM reserving judgement on the latest MINI until I get myself behind the wheel.

Over the past 13 years we’ve had a MINI convertible, a MINI estate, a MINI coupe, a MINI van and much more so it’s still hard not to get the impression that every possible permutation of BMW’s brilliant British-ish hatchback for the 21st century has already been invented.

With the notable exceptions of a reinvented Riley Elf and a Moke for the 21st century the MINI is the automotive My Way, because there are only so many different cover versions you can do.

Which is why I need to reserve judgement on the latest offering - the new MINI five-door hatchback.

On paper it sounds like just another hatchback - the ingenious twist on the MINI formula this time is, in their own words, that “two additional doors facilitate entry to the rear, where three seats are available”.

The MINI five-door hatchback is, in fact, a hatchback with five doors!

Some reviewers have been quick to say the new model is no better proportioned than the Morris Marina Coupe before it went out of production.

Another asked how the new model, which enjoys its official world debut at next week’s Paris Motorshow, can still legitimately be called a MINI when it’s so much larger even than the three-door car it’s based on.

However you must appreciate that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder.

Don’t get me wrong – if my experiences with the visually challenging MINI Countryman are anything to go by it’ll be a hoot to drive and impeccably built.

It’ll also have that MINI trump card of a wonderfully detailed interior – in fact, I still don’t think most other manufacturers have caught up with 2001’s original MINI, 13 years on!

I’ll reserve my own judgement until I’ve driven it, but a MINI five-door hatch does prompt one very big question. Why? Stay tuned for the answer!

THIS is the new Nissan Pulsar. Will it succeed?

SADLY Nissan's official pictures of its new Pulsar weren't released in time for this week's Champion column, but here is the company's new hatchback hopeful in all its glory.

What can you expect? Well, it's an all-new hatchback using an entirely turbocharged range of engines - a 1.2 litre petrol lump, good for 115bhp, a 1.5 litre turbodiesel which thumps out 110bhp, and - most excitingly of all - a 190bhp 1.6 litre which lands beneath the Pulsar's bonnet early next year.

There's no word yet on prices, but Nissan reckon they can conquer what your fleet manager unceremoniously calls ‘the C-Segment’ - as in the hotly-contested territory currently fought over by the likes of the Focus, Golf and Astra - by blending gadgets on the inside with nifty design detailing on the outside. In the company's own words, Nissan is taking over where the Almera left off six years ago by "using the same design approach and original thinking that produced the Qashqai, X-Trail and Note".

  
Will it work, or will the Pulsar end up stealing sales from Nissan's own Juke and Qashqai models? Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the firm's family-friendly contender.

Is it possible to buy a £1,000 car in just one morning?

SIR BOB Hoskins used the long Good Friday to stop terrorists tormenting his gangland empire. I used it to find a cheap used car which – I hope – won’t blow up as soon as it’s delivered to its lucky new owner.

Thanks largely to an unfortunate incident involving a Suzuki Wagon R, a wet night and a kerb, my girlfriend’s mother is suddenly in need of a cheap secondhand motor. That’s why I was given the task of sourcing a cheap ‘n’ cheerful replacement which would be practical and easy to live with.

Surely not a challenge for Mr Champ Motoring Correspondent, whose day job is talking about clapped out old cars and who’ll happily waste an hour at Wetherspoon’s spending an imaginary budget on automotive tat? However, this particular mission involved spending someone else’s actual money on a real car, and I had just a grand to play with. Worse still, I had just one day in which to nail the deal – a bank holiday, no less. Is it possible to find a cheap used car, on a day when almost everything’s shut, before the sun sets?

The first thing I discounted was asking my usual pals if they had anything cheap knocking around, on the basis I didn’t want to lumber my girlfriend’s mother with a mouldy MG Midget or an Austin Princess that needs a light restoration. The big car supermarkets were out too, not offering enough choice of cars costing hundreds rather than thousands, and most of the private deals belonged to folk who – quite rightly – would much rather spend their bank holiday arguing with family or traipsing around IKEA.

In the end, salvation came from the places I’d expected to be the first to shut up shop for the Bank Holiday – small dealerships, who had plenty of gems knocking around if you dug deep enough. Among the cars within a 15-mile radius of our Maghull starting point were a 12-year-old Fiat Punto with plenty of life left in it, a Peugeot 206 which offered a low mileage and lots of history for a tiny bit beyond the budget, and a Toyota Corolla which had just done its 100,000th mile without so much as a hiccup.

In the end, the car of choice went to a family hatch I’ve always had plenty of time for – a Peugeot 306, which came with six months’ tax, a full MOT, and a more than healthy stash of service history. Yours for just £750, which proves you CAN pick up a decent secondhand car on a Bank Holiday if you dig deep enough.

So the better half’s happy that a reliable, affordable, family-friendly hatchback is now taking up the spot the misfortunate Suzuki once occupied. That the 306 has always been hoot to drive has nothing to do with it…

The Focus is (still) the best family all rounder

THE OTHER day I stayed in a hotel room with the world’s most sophisticated shower as its top trump.

I was briefly amazed by the way it had mood lighting, an inbuilt radio to allow you to tune in to The Archers mid-rinse, and an in-shower telephone so you could ring your mum to counter those horrendous I’ve-forgotten-my-towel scenarios you only ever encounter once you’re truly ensconsed in the wash. However, the hotel itself didn’t have a bar, so it failed immediately in my imaginary Tripadvisor review.

Another suite I tried had – get this, Life On Cars readers fortunate enough to own an S-Class – electrically-operated curtains. Again, this hugely impressed me, right up until the point I wanted to show off this marvellous invention to the rest of the world and promptly found out I’d be charged a small fortune to access Facebook. Given that WiFi these days is about as important as water, you’d expect to be included in the (already hefty) hotel bill.

My point is that all hotels seem to offer a perfect blend of things you’d want for a night away – but never at the same time. In much the same way that nobody yet offers the perfect family hatchback.

For years, I’ve argued to anyone who’d care to listen that Ford’s Focus offers the best compromise of a decidedly mixed bunch – and a few hours blasting across Britain’s countryside in a 1.6 diesel version confirmed that it’s still one of the best contenders out there. You’ll love it because it’s a hoot to drive when it’s off the motorway, your other half will love it because it’s quiet and refined when it is, and the kids in the back are unlikely to complain about the generous helpings of space.

But – not unlike most of the hotels I’ve been putting my head down in lately – you get the feeling it’d be improved immeasurably if it borrowed a few more ingredients from elsewhere.

The 2.2 litre diesel Honda uses to such wonderful effect, for starters. That it manages to move something as hefty as the CR-V around with such aplomb is a miracle in itself, but mate it with the Civic and you have a powerhouse that manages to be startling quick and eerily quiet while refusing to do less than 45 to the gallon. Imagine how much better all family hatches would be if they had one under the bonnet?

The Italians should be put in charge of styling, if the Alfa Giulietta is anything to go by, while Volkswagen’s best engineers must be kidnapped from Wolfsburg and set to work on the interior for the perfect family hatchback. Nissan would take the lead on marketing, judging by the sales phenomenon it has created with the Qashqai, and the French would be in charge of all those tempting cashback deals.

Blending the Focus’ talents as an all-rounder with the shiniest gems from the opposition would create one heck of a family hatchback. Which you’d all ignore, because you’d still want a 1-Series instead.

How Citroen came up with the C4 Cactus

THE Parisian schoolboy put down his Crayola and hit the pause button on his Magic Roundabout DVD.

“Daddy”, he shouted excitedly in French which I’ve had to translate into Layman’s English. “I’ve managed to sort out that new hatchback you’ve been struggling with.”

The young designer’s dad, the boss of one of the biggest car companies in the whole of France, was astounded.

“That’s impossible”, he explained with an anguished tone of surprise in his voice. “My team have been working for months on this car, because it’s absolutely crucial that we come up with a rival for the Nissan Juke. You’re only seven years old. How have you managed to design it in twenty minutes?

"More to the point, what exactly are those things on the side supposed to be?”

The French firm’s brilliant new design guru paused reflectively and considered putting The Magic Roundabout back on again, but then he remembered how important this bit of extra homework was. This wasn’t just any old car doodle. This had to take on not just the Nissan Juke, but all the other jacked-up, supermini-sized hatchbacks that had already been launched to take it on.

“This is a lot more sensible than all the other cars I design when I’m at school – it’s only got four wheels, and there aren’t any machine guns or rockets on it. It’s just a normal car, like the one you and Mummy take me to school in.”

The boy’s father repeated the question. “But what is that thing on the side of it?”

“Oh sorry, dad, I forgot about that,” the youngster said. “I dropped a Dairy Milk on the paper and it melted, and now it’s stuck there.”

Dad was impressed. “Brilliant! I love it. It’s so avantgarde – no one but Citroen would think to launch a hatchback with a giant chocolate stuck to the side of it. Love the wheels too. I’ll get it signed off for production tomorrow.

“The only problem”, he explained to his pre-pubescent protégé, “is I’ve no idea what to call it. People love the Juke because it not only looks like it’s got landed from another planet, but it’s got a mad name too. So has the Vauxhall Mokka, and so has the Renault Captur”.

Citroen’s new chief designer smiled and instantly turned to his dad with a suggestion for this new, taller version of the company’s C4 hatchback, which goes on sale across the UK later this year.

“Let’s call it the Cactus, daddy”.

SEAT needs to find its signature dish

WHEN Withnail and I paid a visit to Penrith they demanded the finest wines known to humanity. When my companion and I ended up there, on a soaked excuse for an evening last week, we ended up staring at the menu outside a Spanish restaurant.

I mention this because – even with every other restaurant in town shut for the night – we still preferred to pop to the nearest chip shop instead because we just didn’t fancy Spanish cuisine. There’s nothing wrong with Spanish cuisine, of course – we just decided we’d rather dine on something slightly more familiar.

It’s exactly the same, I reckon with Spanish cars – by which, of course, I mean SEAT. So far this year, I’ve tried both the new Leon and the hatchback it replaced, and both ticked all the buttons in a nourishing, one-of-your-five-a-day sort of way. Both were effortless when they were on the motorway, entertaining when they weren’t and built with the sort of attention to detail that’d give a chess champion a headache.

Great cars, then, but I can’t think of a single reason why you’d buy one.

SEATs are supposed to be the sportier Spanish cousins of VWs but they aren’t – they are, especially if you look at the Mii and the Alhambra, VW models with a slight nip ‘n’ tuck and a different badge. If I want a VW with a sense of mischief, I’ll get a Golf GTI.

"But SEATs are usefully cheaper than VWs, aren’t they?" I hear you cry. Again, SEAT’s usurped on this one by Skoda, who not only make their cars cheaper than VW’s but more interesting and engaging too. The Yeti, in particular, fills a niche nobody else at Europe’s biggest car maker does by being the perfect car for anyone who owns a Labrador, while the Superb caters perfectly for anyone looking for a car with an overly confident name. They might as well have called it the Skoda Awesome or even the Skoda Screw You, It’s Better Than Your Car, Mate.

SEAT, on the other hand, produces a range of cars that are just as good as anything VW, Skoda and Audi can come up with but there’s no signature dish to woo you with its exotic aromas. There’s no impossibly powerful Leon Cupra R any more, or a small sports car to fill the gap the Fiat Barchetta and the MGF left. Reheating what was admittedly a great dish – the old Audi A4 – in the microwave is not going to get my tastebuds going.

For now, my vote’s still with fish and chips. The Ford Focus, in other words.

Fire up the... Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost

JOURNALISTS have feet made of lead and a need to get absolutely everywhere as quickly as possible.

That's one of the curious conclusions I've drawn from driving the new EcoBoost version of Ford's Focus, which mates a clever, award-winning new engine with the A* student of the family hatchback class. Make no mistake; it's an intruiging take on one of Britain's selling cars, especially given that nearly a fifth of Focuses being sold are EcoBoosts.

The key ingredient is the engine, which you can also find slotted into the Fiesta, Kuga, B-Max, and, in the fullness of time, the Mondeo too. The top pub fact about this extraordinary new powerplant is that it's physically small enough to fit on a sheet of A4 paper, but thanks to direct injection and a turbo this 1.0 litre, three-cylinder motor more than punches above its weight, being not only the winner of a string of car industry awards but also being potent enough to work in the real world. Smooth, nicely revvy and equipped with 125bhp and 170nm of torque, underpowered this Focus ain't.

The Ecoboost engine works well in the Focus too, with the light weight and characterful performance complimenting the car's reputation for being the family hatch with a sense of fun - keener drivers are going to love its fluid handling in particular. It's keenly priced too, with the Zetec S version I drove weighing at a shade over £19,000, putting on a par with a similarly powerful 1.6 engine but cheaper to run and kinder to the environment.

Or is it? Ford reckons the Focus EcoBoost should be able to get you more than fifty miles for your gallon of unleaded but a quick peek at the trip computer on the particular car I drove showed the journos who'd been driving it around before me had got a shade over 36mpg, and a few minutes in Google's company revealed stories from other reviewers - and owners - who struggled to get anything like the official consumption figures.

I think the Focus EcoBoost is a great package which mates an already accomplished car to an award-winningly good engine, but on the crucial issue of fuel economy I can only conclude either a) it's not quite as frugal as you'd think or b) us car reviewers really are too hamfisted and heavy-footed for our own good.

Until Ford let me borrow one long enough to really how much fuel it sips the jury's out on an otherwise thoroughly good contender for your cash.

It's Sportage versus Focus in the Champion family car battle

AFTER several months of of fruitless debates I'm finally able to put a longstanding argument at the Champion offices to bed. Focus or Sportage - which is better?

It all started earlier this year when one of the office petrolheads asked what's the best new car money can buy, provided you're a family man with roughly £18,000 to throw at your pride and joy. Easy, I reckoned. If you want a family car that's fun, comfy, roomy, good value and is either very good or brilliant at just about everything, then really Ford's Focus is the best bet. The end.

But I was met with a slightly exasperated look. How, the man from the Champion production department suggested, could I seriously reccommend the Focus over Kia's Sportage? Had I gone mad?

So it went on, but to be honest there was one very good reason why I couldn't suggest the Sportage - until this time last week, I hadn't driven one. That was until last week, when at a media test driving day in Yorkshire I finally got a go behind the elusive Korean contender and, for good measure, the clever new 1.0 litre Ecoboost version of the Focus too.

To be fair, the Focus and the Sportage are both very different beasts - one's a good ol' fashioned five-door hatch, while the other's a sort of pseudo-off roader - but if it's a straight cut question of which you'd splash your eighteen grand on, it's a much closer call than you'd think. The Sportage is never going to thrill you a windy road the way a Focus will, but it handles that side of things surprisingly well before pulling out its trump card - the sort of headroom, legroom, and boot space Focus Man would kill for, and it looks good too, in a slightly over-chromed, chintzy sort of way. It's a good car. Annoyingly, verge-of-argument-losingly good, in fact.

Not that I'm going to concede defeat that easily of course. The Focus scores highly on the sort of the things I look for in a car - ride, handling, comfort, gadgets and so on - but if you put style, value for money and a cavernous interior at the top of your shopping list, then the Sportage is the easy winner. Call it an honourable draw.

Obviously it's your call, but I know what I'd go for if I had £18,000 to throw on a family motor. The Skoda Yeti, come to think of it.

Fire up the... Vauxhall Astra GTC

YOU know you're living in more stylish times when you can freely use “Vauxhall Astra” and “good looking” in the same sentence, but it's true. This new Vauxhall Astra is genuinely good looking.

There are, even if this aesthetically enlightened age plenty of cars you could call striking or challenging but the Astra GTC achieves something much more remarkable, it is one of those coupes that rings all the right visual eyes with almost everyone who takes it in.

Then again, twenty years ago the company's Calibra dissapointed drivers when it was launched, because under its equally striking skin were unexcitingly ordinary Cavalier mechanicals. In order to impress against the likes of Volkswagen's Scirocco and Hyundai's Veloster - which also offer sleek coupe lines with a hint of hatchback practicality - it'll have to offer substance to back its style up.

Like the Veedub and the Hyundai, the GTC's really more of a three-door hatchback with added glitz than a truly no compromises coupe, and while that means you might lose a little in glamour what you gain is big practicality, with genuinely useful headroom and legroom inside, even in the back, where most of its rivals lose out.

The 1.7 diesel version I tried offers plenty of punch too - it's a shame about the slightly tractoresque soundtrack you get when you start it up, but the tradeoff is a claimed 62 to the gallon and lots of low down torque to play with. Even more impressively, it's well equipped, coming with no less than six airbags and a stash of gadgets as standard.

Is it worth spending your £21,200 on? If you're looking for something with a lot of pose factor probably not - it's attractive but not attention-grabbingly so and interior's little staid for all its solidity, but if you're looking for a great looking car which appeals to your head and heart in equal measure it's well worth a look.

I'd still go for a Scirocco first but if the VW's not your bag, you'll love it.

Fire up the... Hyundai i30

FORGET the five star rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests, or the generous warrantage package. Thanks to an ingenious publicity stunt at Knowsley Safari Park, all anybody knows about the Hyundai i30 is that it'll stand up well if it's attacked by monkeys.

So we all know that if you give Hyundai's new big hitter to a troupe of baboons it'll pass with flying colours, but what about if you give it to a rather different and more discerning pack of primates - people looking to buy a mid-size family hatch? These people are traditionally some of the choosiest in the car market, and with so much on offer they've every right to be.

Luckily the Korean contender's got plenty going for it - not only do you get a five year warranty, but they'll chuck in five years of roadside assistance too, and it's got plenty of gadgets and gizmos thrown in as standard. I drove the 1.6 diesel version because it's the one Hyundai are banking on being their biggest seller here, and while it's unlikely to scare you with its performance it's very silky and smooth on the move. In fact, that's the flavour you'll get should you chuck it into a corner - if you're looking for excitement you're probably better looking elsewhere, but if you just want to act like a grown up and arrive everywhere quietly and unruffled then the i30's more than up for the task.

While the styling's smooth - if a little generic - it's clear that a lot of effort's gone into the interior. We already know that it's tough enough to survive being attacked by monkeys, so it's unlikely there'll be any woes over build quality, but what's more impressive is the quality of the materials and the attention to colours and shades. It really is a nice place to be.

At a whisker under £18,000 its price is pitched straight at the likes of the Focus, the Megane and the Astra, but I reckon that's fair game because in terms of quality and packaging it's more than a match for some of Britain's best sellers.

Hyundai i30 passes The Monkey Test at Knowsley Safari Park

HYUNDAI has headed to the north west to put one of its models through the toughest test Merseyside can throw at it - a trip to Knowsley Safari Park!

A troupe of baboons based at the wildlife attraction were let loose on the new i30 to test the toughness of the hatchback's interior and exterior fittings - and unlike many a motor that's had the odd mirror or two knocked off by the animals - it was still fighting fit at the end of the visit.

David Ross, General Manager at Knowsley Safari Park, said: “For a baboon, to have a car to play with for a whole day is manna from heaven! If you put them on any car they will scour it for the weak points and find any faults. At one point there were 40 monkeys in the car, pushing it to its limits – that’s ten times the size of the average human family.

"I’ve seen thousands of cars pass through this enclosure, get mobbed by monkeys, and none have lasted the distance as well as this Hyundai. These baboons are incredibly inquisitive."

 

Hyundai said the car's paintwork had been smeared and scratched after being attacked by the monkeys, but otherwise the i30 had emerged unscathed from the experience.

 

Felicity Wood, i30 Product Manager at Hyundai, said: "At Hyundai we believe in new thinking, which is why we decided to take a new approach with this durability test. You have to be pretty brave to subject a car to the most rigorous quality testers in the world, and the monkeys certainly gave our i30 a thorough examination!

"The fact that it survived with only a few scrapes is testament to the way a modern Hyundai is designed and engineered. We really do give a monkey’s about building tough cars!"

 For more information about Knowsley Safari Park visit www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk or call 0151 430 9009.

The Skoda Rapid is the ideal Golf that's not a Golf

YOU'LL have all seen the ad's simplistic strapline by now. Why buy something like a Golf when you can buy a Golf?

Ironically, it'll become a much tougher question than you'd think when Volkswagen itself launches a Golf that's a bit like a Golf a little later this year. Only it'll be made by Skoda and chances are it'll be cunningly cheaper. We've got the Chinese to thank for the new Rapid - apparently, it's been designed with their booming market in mind - but it means that for the first time the Czechs have got a car that'll compete directly against the Astra, the Focus and the million other mid-sized hatches on sale right now. Oh, and against the Golf, the flagship of sister company VW's range.

Admittedly, it's got a slightly naff name in the finest Skoda tradition, because go-faster yoofs will realise it ain't as rapid as it says on the tin (note to Skoda: get cracking on the vRS version) while older readers might gag a little at the connotations of the godawful Rapid, a rally winning rear-engined oddity you could buy in the bad old days of Skoda being run by resentful communists in the old Eastern Bloc. But then again, Skoda also produces the equally odd-sounding Superb, which really is what it says on't tin, and the Yeti off-roader, which isn't at all abominable but is quite good on mountain terrain.

I haven't driven the Rapid yet - it goes on sale here at the end of the year - and the all important question of prices still hasn't been answered, but the signs are looking good. In fact, the car itself looks good; swipe the Skoda's badges and stick four interlocking rings on the grille and you'd swear it was a new Audi. Say what you like, but it's a fine looking thing.

While everyone else has been fretting about the environment or slimming down its range in reaction to the recession Skoda's been quietly getting on with making cheap, practical cars, which is why they're absolutely everywhere these days. Yes, I know that the Golf is the best-selling car in Europe and it's nice to drive and built like a bunker, but it's priced as though it's been made from unobtainium. The only reason you'd buy one over a Rapid is because you're either going for the Golf GTI (in which case I don't blame you) or because you're a bit sniffy about Skodas. Beneath the skin they're almost identical.

I've no doubt the Rapid will describe the speed it flies out of the company's showrooms but the big question will be whether it can topple my favourite something-like-a-Golf-that's-not-a-Golf.

The Ford Focus.

Fire up the... Kia Rio

I DON'T know if there's an award out there somewhere for Most Improved Car Maker but surely Kia must be in the running for it.

You can snigger all you like but I reckon that owners of the Korean company's cars can now join their Skoda-driving counterparts in switching their smiles to smug mode, because they're having the last laugh nowadays. Generous warranties and aggressive pricing are always going to count in a car's favour, but thanks to the massive strides the company's made with the likes of the pretty Picanto, the Top Gear-starring Cee'd and the strikingly styled Soul, it's increasingly closing the gap on its European rivals.

But if ever there was a dint in the company's armour it was the Rio, which despite its keen pricing never quite excited UK buyers enough to take on the Fiesta/Polo/Clio establishment. That's why the Koreans have gone to town with this third generation model, which on aesthetics alone is a huge improvement on its two lacklustre predecessors.

Slickly styled with plenty of neat detailing, the new Rio is much more like it it, pulling off the trick of looking slick and sophisticated without making its five door package difficult to access. The days of new Kias arriving in the showroom with black plastic bumpers and awkwardly proportioned angles, thankfully, are long gone.

It's just a shame that the interior still lets the side down; yes, it's very spacious and well equipped, but the actual quality of the plastics and the switchgear involved still give the impression of being made to a price, and not a particularly high one at that.

Nor is the Rio the most exciting car in the handling or performance stakes but nor will it ever let you down either, with handling that's reassuring rather than race car exciting and a ride and steering feedback that's smooth rather than jerkily informative.

On its own terms the Rio doesn't quite topple the Fiesta off its perch but it's an intruiging alternative, but that's before you factor in the seven year warranty and the price (the Rio starts at a shade under ten grand). Once you do the prospect of a Kia and cash in your pocket becomes a very tempting alternative.

So much so you'll be laughing all the way to the bank...

Fire up the... Honda Civic

SPOT the difference is a game I've never been especially good at, but it's one you'll be invited to play the first time you get a glimpse of this accomplished new Honda.

Give the new Civic the most casual of looks and - without wanting to be cruel - you'll be wondering whether the company's been spending its money on photocopiers rather than car designers. It does, if you're not paying attention and one passes you in the street, look almost identical to the outgoing model.

But there's some clever thinking behind the evolutionary rather than revolutionary styling. It seems you, The Great British Public, loved the looks of the old one but got a bit hot under the collar about a couple of niggles. The spoiler cutting right across the rear window, for instance. Or the slightly weird and very glassy rear lights. Or the fact you banged your head as you got in the back. That's why the new one's seems the same despite being compellingly different on closer inspection.

Admittedly it's business as usual at the back window because the spolier still cuts across it, but now at least it doesn't obscur the rear view so much it annoys you. The rear lights are a lot more conventional and straightforward, and anyone hoping to get out of the back has got some good news. Your scalp will emerge unscathed!

The new Civic isn't as much fun to drive as Ford's Focus or as achingly attractive as Alfa's Giulietta but goes for your head instead of your heart. It isn't the life and soul of the party but with its roomy and beautifully built interior, its punchy diesel powerplant and its intuitively easy controls, it's definitely the brains behind it.

So it's a single step back and about five steps forward for Honda. The new Civic is a little but duller, but an awful lot better.