It seems as if we are being over-run with estates these days. When even traditionalists such as Jaguar are about to offer glorified "hatchback saloons", you have to sit up and take notice, writes Michael McAleer
While estate sales here are not as high as those on the continent, we may reap some added variety in our purchasing choice thanks to more segmented tastes elsewhere.
As with many in the estate market now, the more spacious variants are given variations on their titles to avoid using the term estate. At Honda the name of choice is the the Accord Tourer.
The first feature that struck us on our weekend test-drive was the sizeable rear boot. Driving it immediately after the Alfa 156 Sportswagon, it was noticeable just how spacious the Tourer is, with a load volume of 576 litres with all seats in place, rising to 921 litres with the rear seats folded.
While there may be larger estates on the market, few manage to combine the utility and design so well. A nice touch is the standard automatic rear door which closes at the push of a button.
Given that we were more than a little disappointed by the appearance of the saloon version, we found the Tourer more than compensated for this, and represents the high point in the model range.
So what's it like on the road? We found that not only does it handle well for a car of its length , but the 2-litre engine we tested offered plenty of mid-range acceleration. In the lower revs and when pulling off, however, we would have preferred the 2.5-litre version. We were surprised to find the car is actually quite fun to drive.
The test car featured leather seating and all round interior quality was as good as some of the German entrants, although the dials and dash layout look dated and lack the pinache of the body styling.
Prices range from €39,533 for the 2-litre 155 bhp-powered model with manual transmission and €43,169 for the 2.4-litre 190 bhp unit.
In our view it's a far more tempting executive package than its saloon sibling.