# Honda’s new estate breaks cover



## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Honda's new Civic estate, or Tourer as it's called, has been specifically designed and developed for Europe, in Europe and will be built at the Japanese company's factory in the UK.








The Tourer will make its public debut at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show, and in charge of the development is Brit Adrian Killham, Honda's first-ever project leader in Europe. His challenge was to produce a car with class-leading cargo space while generating a style that looks dynamic.

"We have achieved that with a best-in-class 624 litres of cargo space in a car that is only 235cms longer than the five-door Civic on which it is based. We didn't want to package this up in a boxy shape and I think we have achieved this as well", explained Killham.

"The Tourer has the same face as the five-door but there is a bold line from the A-pillar back to the D-pillar which creates the impression of a floating roof. This would have been impossible to achieve using the same rear doors as the five-door so these have been changed."

Wheelbase is unchanged, as is the front overhang, with the additional length behind the rear wheels.

Killham added: "As well as the exterior styling changes there have been a number of changes under the skin. We have added some 'weight' to the power steering, changed the dampers at the front and we have developed a new adaptive damper system for the rear wheels only, the first time this has been used on a production car."

Engine options will be the 1.6-litre iDTEC diesel first seen in the new Civic hatchback or Honda's 1.8-litre petrol iVTEC, although the diesel is expected to be the biggest seller.

The Tourer will go into UK showrooms early next spring said Lee Wheeler, head of corporate operations at Honda UK. He added: "Around 70 per cent of the fleet market for estates are diesels and the C-segment is dominated by the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra so we will be pitching the Tourer more against the likes of the Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia. We will also be targeting D segment estates because we can beat them on cargo space as well."


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