Were it not for reading Honest John's Road Test, a more balanced and fair appraisal of the Civic than many, then I wouldn't be driving one now. This car has suffered so much unfair criticism from other motoring journalists that it must be deterring many potential buyers from getting anywhere near a Honda showroom, myself included. And with the UK still in recession it can't be helping our fellow Brits at their plant in Swindon.

Agreed, it could look a bit more attractive, as could other aerodynamic masterpieces such as the new F35 Fighter and the humble bumblebee, but if wind tunnel tests conclude that this is the profile for a lower coefficient of drag, and hence better fuel consumption, then that's fine by me.

Rear visibility is another area that comes in for some stick, but there are plenty far worse vehicles out there, and in fact the split rear screen has the added advantage of masking the headlights of any tailgaters. Which is brilliant. And when it comes to parking, most models come with a reversing camera anyway. How these complainers would cope with driving a van, lorry, artic. or coach etc is a mystery.

The interior has a real feeling of quality, with the leather seats being particularly comfortable and supportive, and heated for those wintry days. And if a black interior is too dull for you there's always the option of grey leather and trim to lighten the mood.

To make swifter progress the engine does need to be worked, but the Honda engine never complains, and spins up like a high-speed sewing machine. Coupled to a smooth drive train and super slick gearbox it makes manual driving a real pleasure.

But the best aspect for me is it's high-level information display with Aircon., Speedo and Trip, Speed Limiter and Cruise Control, Audio, Phone, SatNav Turn-by-Turn Directions etc., most of which respond to voice commands. There's little need to take your eyes far from the road, or hands off the wheel, and it's not until you drive a car with the conventional arrangement of instruments only visible through the steering wheel, and some even further away like a Mini, that you begin to appreciate just how good the Civic's are. Admittedly there are three dials visible through the steering wheel, namely rev. counter, temp. and fuel gauges, but these only require the occasional glance. It's the nearest thing to a head-up display until they become available, and interestingly one or two other cars are starting to adopt a similar layout now.

And there's no problem accessing 'Range to Empty'. Press Sat Nav switch 'INFO', then touch 'Trip Computer' on the display, and your 'Range to Empty' appears in the top right-hand corner. Couldn't be much simpler, AND YOU DON'T NEED TO STOP THE CAR!

Tyre pressure monitoring also comes with the EX model.

My, and my wife's, past below par experience of owning a Golf and a Polo deterred me from going down that route again, confirmed recently by Warranty Direct's research which exposes the German cars' reliability 'myth' with Audi, BMW and VW all finishing in the bottom 10 out of 36 makers. So, as one journalist wrote, if you're a non-Golfer like myself, then the Civic might well be the car for you, and being a Honda it's nicely put together, devoid of any rattles or squeaks, it's manufactured in the UK, but more importantly EVERYTHING WORKS!

So it's a big "Thank You" to you Honest John.