The car under review here has one distracting feature that is as likely to take a driver's attention away from the road as using a mobile phone, or driving through a district of a certain Dutch town where there happen to be a lot of red lights in the windows. The distraction is not a fancy 'infotainment' centre such as BMW's I-Drive. No, it is a simple yet alluring dial in the instrument cluster of the Civic IMA, showing you whether the battery nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery is being charged or the electric motor is assisting the engine.

It becomes a personal challenge to have the dial either charging or neutral. This is no mean feat, as a quick trip down the M11 to Stansted airport proved during rush hour traffic. The Civic IMA will quite comfortably cruise along at the generally high pace of UK motorways, averaging nearly 50mpg, and if needs be will even charge the battery under these conditions. There is a downside.

As soon as the inevitable truck-number-1-overtaking-fractionally-slower-truck-number-2 scenario takes place, brake lights ahead signal the use of the incredibly efficient regenerative braking. "What the ...?!" The act of slowing down may be recovering usually wasted energy, but if car makers such as Honda hope to use such technology in cars biased towards drivers in the future then the brake pedal feel needs a lot more consideration. Sadly you can feel the braking effect of the generator through the pedal. The slowing effect continues for a second after releasing the pedal, much like a sticking brake calliper. There is no consistency to the feel either, nor the force required to stop.

Five or ten minutes later, with truck number 2 now being happily tailgated by truck number 1 the traffic begins to pick up pace again, so you put your foot down. Then you check to see if the handbrake is still on, or if the engine has stopped. Alas no, despite the full assistance of the 13bhp motor there is little discernable acceleration. Even dropping a gear only helps marginally, and once over 2800rpm you are reminded to change up by a little flashing green arrow. Unusually, despite there being a "DOWN" section to the rev counter, I never managed to get it to prompt me to drop a cog. This is despite trying to stall the Civic in 3rd gear. Trevor experienced the same thing when he drove the car at its launch last year. I couldn't swear by it, but I don't think the UP arrow lights if you have the accelerator all the way down, which is a neat bit of thinking for the Japanese boffins.

IMA system aside, this Civic is a competent motorway cruiser. Its ride is comfortable and body control is excellent. Wind din is quite well suppressed, though the road noise is audible most of the time, with the sound of grit, etc. hitting the inner wheelarches being louder than I would have expected. Despite high winds during my time with the car, and finger-light uncommunicative steering, the Civic is impervious to crosswinds. My comfort was compromised on the motorway though by a lack of support from the relatively short seat squab.

The interior is best described as inoffensive. The Civic IMA is based around a four-door saloon version of the Civic not normally sold in the UK. Regardless of this, the Civic holds its own against regular European rivals. It is well-equipped, with leather, air-conditioning, electric windows all round, heated front seats and alloy wheels as standard ??? I must admit that I was surprised to see this high specification, imagining that Honda would make the Civic IMA as light as possible in order to maximise the headline grabbing fuel economy figures. The list of kit seems at odds with the lack of trim on the boot lid and the frail panel between the boot and the rear seat back, where the Ni-MH battery is stored. In my opinion it was a good move to make the IMA as normal a car as possible with regards to standard equipment. It is the only way for hybrid technology to be accepted. As it is, the price may be a little on the dear side, as it will be seen to compete with the likes of the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra.

The IMA is still a Honda though, and with that comes well-oiled and tactile switchgear and slick driving controls, even if they are lacking un their usual feedback. I am all for new technologies to help the environment, but buyers don't like compromise. They will want their IMA Honda to be good to drive and as well appointed as any other Civic. We managed an average of 42mpg in a week with the Honda. No doubt some owners will better that figure, but it takes effort and a lot of patience. Perhaps the distraction of the IMA dial will keep you from boredom...