It seems the Civic will soon have a sibling in the form of a Tourer version that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

I have high hopes that it may resolve some rear-seat shortcomings that are apparent in our long-term hatchback.

I was recently demoted to the back row and found the exterior styling made for much less headroom than I expected.

At 5 feet 8 inches I am not particularly tall, but my head pressed firmly against the roof if I let it lean on the headrest.

It is difficult to be certain from the first pictures of the Tourer Concept, but the longer roof should provide a bit more space for rear seat passengers.

It would also be a good opportunity to make a couple of other minor tweaks that I would really like to see introduced.

The first is the placing of the fuel cap release. Its current home is out of sight in the driver’s footwell, next to the bonnet release.

It’s very hard to reach and almost impossible to see without actually getting out of the car and bending under the steering wheel.

The second niggle nestles under the bonnet.

A shortage of washer fluid had me reaching for the cap to top up the reservoir, at which point it dropped into the engine bay, a problem a little loop of plastic linking the washer bottle to the cap would avoid.

These are only minor niggles, but every little helps in the battle for company car drivers.