Once a year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) round up the UK press offices and a selection of their fleet cars for a one-day event at the Millbrook Proving Ground. It's a chance to catch up on colleagues and new personnel as well as an opportunity to drive some of the latest vehicles on the high-speed bowl and entertaining 'Hill Route'.

Some outlets write full 'road tests' from the day's activities, though time in each car is fairly limited. This year I got behind the wheel of no less than 25 different cars, which goes to show perhaps how little time I did spend in each, though that included at least one lap of the challenging Hill Route in each car. There are so many new cars being launched this year that we thought it would be worth compiling my first impressions on these cars. Many we will test in depth at a later date.

Honda Civic
Model tested: Honda Civic five-door 2.2 i-CDTi Sport manual
Price: £16,595 on-the-road.
0-62mph: 8.6 seconds
Top speed: 127mph
Combined economy: 53.3mpg
Kerb weight: 1409kg
Relevant links: All Honda road tests.

Honda's most radical looking Civic to date was launched last year and the SMMT day was our first chance to drive it. More traditional buyers may suffer a little culture shock on sitting into the new Civic for the first time thanks to its multi-layer dashboard, ultra-modern graphics and funky rev counter. Even 15 minutes with the Civic was enough to become accustomed to the layout and it is quite logical and easy to use. I particularly liked the 'Economy' and 'Revs' lights either side of the digital speedo.

On hand to drive was the Sport version with Honda's excellent 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine driving the front wheels. Despite the dropping of the Civic's traditional double-wishbone suspension all-round, the new Civic handles with confidence yet remains comfortable. It is good to drive fast or slow and the diesel engine is grunty enough to make decent progress while also making claim to some pretty impressive fuel consumption figures.

In July, we'll be driving the 1.8-litre petrol version for a week, so watch out for the full review then. Of course, the new Type-R version isn't far away either.

Shane O' Donoghue - 31 May 2006