TOPGEAR’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED & VERIFIED

I’D BEEN WANTING TO RUN AN ALPINE A110 SINCE I FIRST DROVE ONE five years ago. I love clever, lightweight cars, and this remains the best example of the virtuous circle of engineering on sale today. Weight influences every aspect of this car and every interaction with it. Almost entirely for the good.

So let’s start with the bad. It gets buffeted by strong crosswinds and that can be unnerving. It’s not as efficient as I expected. I anticipated 37mpg, but the reality was more like 32. The cabin isn’t special enough. And the twin load bays are both poorly shaped and very small.

The good stuff starts with coming outside every morning and getting in something low, small and lovely to look at. The Sabelt seats could do with more thigh support for me, but are otherwise simply wonderful, and picking through traffic in something so deft, nimble and slim is a joy. I love introducing the Alpine to people. It’s cool and rare and manages to look both quirky and intelligent.

It’s also a riposte to everyone who thinks the future is a 2.5-tonne EV, because none of them are as considerately designed and engineered as this. Ironically, as you can see opposite, one of them is my next car.

I’d still have a base A110 over the S – chiefly to save £10,000. Don’t think these are a steal secondhand, you’ll be pushed to find a four-yearold car for under £40,000. This one has been faultlessly reliable and dirt cheap to run. It doesn’t raise hackles from other road users, is happy being ragged senseless or lightly mooching about. It carries speed without effort, is a hands-in-pockets-whistler, completely nonchalant. Yet of all the cars I’ve run, only the GR Yaris and Ariel Nomad were more pure fun than this. It’s a blissful device, the A110, and these few months have only reinforced that.

BORN INTO THE 1973 OIL CRISIS, the Civic began life as a small car that appealed because it was efficient when the world needed efficiency. It was reliable when the world needed something dependable. And it was affordable at a time of financial strain.

The Civic has grown up over the years, but its core of efficiency, reliability and affordability hasn’t changed. What has changed for this new generation is its appearance. It is noticeably more conservative than the car that immediately preceded it and so more aligned with its predecessors. There’s an appealing cleanliness to its aesthetic. It’s a good looking car, this.

However, if it’s thrusting you want, the Type R’s got you covered. Look at them side by side, and you’ll see the jump in aesthetics isn’t the chasm it used to be, because the fundamentals are fairly spot on.

It seems something unexpected has happened with the Civic. Now it’s calming to look at, relaxing to sit in and chilled to drive, perhaps it’s finally become a car you might want, rather than one you just need.

SKODA NUGGETS

Ergonomically the door pull works fine, but it’s cheap and dissatisfying for a £55,000 car

No shortage of stowage space. Practicality might just be up to Skoda standards

Boot is a giant. Two bikes, no wheels removed, in the 570–1,610 litre load bay

Headrest wears a vRS tattoo. So does the steering wheel. Otherwise subtly sporty