THE popular Honda Civic is now in its ninth generation and the company added a Tourer to the range back in February of this year.

This is not the first time Honda have offered a Civic estate but this time they are responding to a trend in the market for roomy estates that are more compact than the likes of the Vauxhall Insignia or Ford Mondeo but still offer huge space at a reduced price.

Built at the firm's British plant in Swindon, the Tourer is a really practical choice.

It offers the biggest boot in its class at 624 litres and this expands to 1,688 litres when you drop the three rear Magic Seats.

The Tourer is 235mm longer than the five-door hatchback on which it is based. The futuristic design of the hatch is maintained in the Tourer and the tailgate features large light clusters and a spoiler. The rear window is quite small and so the rear camera fitted to this car was welcome.

Available with a choice of six trims and two engines, prices start from just under £21,000.

The cabin is identical to the hatchback's and features the now familiar two-level dash with a digital speedo, multifunction display and a central rev counter. It works well and the driving position is very comfortable thanks to the nicely contoured adjustable seat.

The centre consule houses the infotainment system and sat nav and the small buttons take a bit of getting used to. There is plenty room for five adults to travel in real comfort and five can fit in for shorter journeys.

Even the base level S model has bags of equipment but the test car with the 1.6 i-DTEC diesel engine came in SR trim just one level below the flagship EX-Plus.

The SR offers everything you could possibly want and comes with 17 inch alloys, nav with voice activation, leather interior with heated front seats, adaptive dampers, front and rear parking sensors, alloy pedals, stainless steel loading cover, cargo net, leather steering wheel and gear knob, power folding door mirrors, dual zone climate control, fog lights, automatic headlights and wipers, cruise control and start/stop technology.

You can select from dynamic, normal or comfort driving modes and also boost economy by pressing an eco button.

The Tourer also features a wide range of all the latest safety equipment including hill start, front, side and curtain airbags, a tyre deflation warning system and electronic braking and stability systems.

You certainly get a lot for the £25,560 asking price and the star of the show is the flexible and economical Earth Dreams diesel under the bonnet. It offers bags of grunt and reaches 62mph in 10.5 seconds. It is matched to a fine six-speed manual gearbox and has a top speed of 121mph.

I did not manage to achieve the claimed combined figure of 74.3mpg but I did average over 62mpg, which is excellent for a car of this size.

The steering is light, quick and responsive and the soft suspension helps to soak up the bumps. The handling is not the sharpest but that won't matter to the vast bulk of buyers.

Honda has a deserved reputation for reliability and the Tourer is well worth a look if you are in the market for a practical, stylish family holdall.