In this world of cross over’s and multi purpose vehicles, there is still no substitute for having a couple of different cars for different tasks. In reality this is a luxury that few can afford, but when it is possible it leaves you wondering how you managed with out them.

It all started for me a couple of months ago, when a work colleague was telling me about the fate of her 2003 Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC. The cam belt had gone, lunching the engine and because the car had 140,000 miles and keyed body work, she figured it was time to call it quits and buy a new vehicle. Unfortunately, not being car savvy, she tried to pedal the car, by phone, to various local scrap yards, which produced offers of between £50 and -£150 to take the car away!

Being the sort of nice guy that I am, not the profit sensing Del boy it may appear – well…. - I decided to take a gamble and offered her £300, which covered the costs of recovery (why do people with a car that age and mileage not have road side recovery!) and took it off her hands. Everyone happy! Due to a lack of time, I took it straight to my local Minty and Garry garage for them to do the work. A couple of weeks before Christmas the call came that the car was ready.

With the weather getting colder and the gritter lorries pounding the roads, I decided that it was time to rest up the 968 and Integra and use the unloved Civic for the harsh winter period. The first time I jumped in the car and turned the key I was quietly impressed. Whilst the engine (apart from the top end) had 140,000 miles on it, ran as smoothly and quietly as the day it left the factory. The interior, whilst grubby, was intact and barely worn, the suspension solid, knock free and tight. Fair enough, the exterior looked like it had seen better days, a large oxidising key gouge running the length of the passenger’s side of the car not looking too great and the bumpers peppered with stone chips and scrapes, but on the whole not bad.

Don’t get me wrong though, the Civic as a car is not perfect, it is certainly no enthusiast’s tool. The electrically powered steering is completely feel free and the engine, despite being incredibly refined doesn’t really press any of the right buttons. That said, I do have a great deal of respect for it. It is a very easy car to drive and it is incredibly competent at everything it does. It just lacks any character, emotion, real feeling. In some ways though, this is the Civics strength and this is what I have found out over the past couple of weeks.

This year, over the Christmas period, I did some volunteer work for the Crisis charity at one of their residential centres in London. As I didn’t mind when I did it, I was allocated a couple of overnight shifts, something I am unaccustomed to (night shifts, not working you understand!). Leaving the centre after my first shift, I was shattered. At that point, the Civic was the perfect companion. Getting in to the car, I was greeted by a firm, but wide driver’s seat, plenty of room to just spend five minutes relaxing and when I did finally muster up the effort to drive, a quite, refined fatigue free journey home. Even the compulsory stop at the McDonalds drive through in Docklands for a double sausage and egg McMuffin was made easy, with well located cup holders and a wide flat centre console for my much needed sustenance. At this point the car made complete sense. I’m not sure I could have faced the journey in the 968, a car which is surprisingly comfortable, let alone the hard riding, effort requiring Integra.

Since then the car has seen a couple of additions that make it even better. A portable Parrot hands free device – a highly recommended accessory for any car – and a radio frequency iPod adaptor thing. It has also been used as a bit of a work horse, to clear out my late Grandfathers garage, help a friend move and generally transport me back and forth to work in the grimy, mucky conditions that are the British winter.

I never expected to like this car but it has managed to weedle its way in to my life. My respect has just continued to grow, so much so I am going to treat it to a new set of front tyres (the Chengseng Death Masters that are fitted to the front are getting a little tired), and a little bit of a polish when the weather gets better. Don’t get me wrong, the faults are still there and when you are in the mood this car can’t cut the driving mustard but it was never designed to.

Let’s just hope in these modern days of one size fits all, cross over this and multi-purpose that, the manufacturers don’t forget that cars like this do still have a place and we are all allowed to have our choices, be they focused hot hatch or relaxed refined family car.