Honda Civic Tourer spied

Honda has confirmed the estate version of the Civic will use the name Civic Tourer when it goes on sale in the UK in early 2014. Shown here in our latest set of spy pictures, the full production car will make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September.

Honda has already confirmed that the Civic Tourer will be built right here in the UK, at its HMUK plant in Swindon, and expects that the estate will make up around 20 per cent of total Civic sales.

And the test mule spied here shows how close the Civic Tourer is to the concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year. The bold rear wheelarch surfacing and big rear wing have been toned down slightly, but you can see that the Tourer retains the swoopy look of the concept. The rising shoulderline is still there, as are the swept-back tail-lights, sloping roofline and small spoiler that doubles as a light bar that runs along the bottom edge of the rear window.

The concept’s neat roof rails have also made it onto the final production model, while the car spied here ditches the concept’s centre exhaust layout, and gains a rear windscreen wiper.

The stylish look isn’t to the detriment of practicality, however, as the spy pictures clearly reveal the car’s large, rectangular tailgate that cuts right down low into the rear bumper to make loading heavy objects easier.

No boot figures are available yet, but the firm did say that the Tourer will have "class-leading cargo space". That suggests it’s load area will easily eclipse models like the Ford Focus Estate and Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, which have 1,502 litres and 1,550 litres of boot space respectively.

The engine line-up will include Honda’s new 118bhp 1.6-litre i-DTEC diesel, and although no figures are available yet, this is likely to emit less than 100g/km. Also likely is a more powerful 2.2-litre diesel, plus 1.4 and 1.8-litre petrol models. A Type-R version with a 300bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged engine is also under consideration, to rival the Ford Focus ST Estate is also under consideration.