50-year-old hatchback's sophisticated reinvention is a matter of Civic pride

THE Honda Civic and I go back a long way. In fact it was not until I started writing this review that I realised just how long.

- BY MAGGIE BARRY

To put it into context, this car is now in its 11th generation and I bought into it about generation number three - that would be mid 1980s.

From the first generation, way back in the 1970s, we are talking about 50 years - and it is still going strong having sold around 28million vehicles around the world.

Today’s car is not much like the little hatchback I bought, but that is no slur on the compact, sleek sedan sitting on my driveway.

Somewhere around 2000, the Civic metamorphosed into a much more sophisticated model.

It has a lovely silhouette, a neat roof antenna and a sporty nose and all of that encases a rather pretty car that is not too massive - think supermarket spaces.