Honda wasn’t pulling a fast one on us when it said the production Civic Tourer would look very much like the concept – the Japanese carmaker has let loose images of the swoopy Swindon-built estate, and we can see that all it’s omitted from the concept are the outrageous wheels, LED lamps and the rear diffuser with its integrated central twin tailpipes.
The Honda Civic Tourer can hold an impressive 624 litres (up to window line) of luggage with the back seats up and an even more impressive 1,668 litres (up to roof line) with them folded flat, edging it ahead of the Volkswagen Golf Variant (605/1,620 litres).
Designed and developed in Europe and for Europe, the Honda Civic Tourer is based on the Euro-market Civic hatch (which is due for a refresh soon). They share the same wheelbase and hidden rear door handles, but the estate gets a 235 mm longer rear overhang, an extended rear quarter window and a new tailgate with a 137 mm lower loading lip.
Features include Honda’s new world-first rear-axle Adaptive Damper System and Magic Seats. The latter enables the back seats to fold down in one easy movement – similar to the system on the fourth-gen Honda CR-V.
Announced engines so far are a 120 PS/300 Nm Earth Dreams 1.6 litre i-DTEC turbodiesel and a 142 PS/174 Nm 1.8 litre i-VTEC. European sales are set to begin next year, after the wraps come off at next month’s Frankfurt show. Find out what else Honda is bringing to Frankfurt here.
