Honda Accord Tourer estate (2008-2015)

The Honda Accord Tourer offers everything that you could want from a Honda – excellent build quality, outstanding reliability, good standard equipment and a decent range of petrol and diesel engines that are quiet and efficient. What's more, it's just as good to drive as the saloon and easily as comfortable and quiet on long motorway journeys.

Sadly, though, it's still a Honda, so it'll never be as desirable as a BMW 3 Series, Volkswagen Passat or even Ford Mondeo to keen drivers. It's a sensible buy, although things aren't perfect – the estate's main failing being that it's not quite as spacious as many of its rivals. However, standard equipment is very generous and there are plenty of safety features.

The Accord comes in four main specifications – entry-level ES, ES GT, EX and top-of-the-range Type S. Each one gives you a lot of car for your money.

The most efficient engine, the 2.2-litre i-DTEC diesel with a manual gearbox, is claimed to return 51.4mpg and emit 143g/km of CO2. The least economical and most environmentally unfriendly is, unsurprisingly, the 2.4-litre i-VTEC petrol with a manual gearbox, which returns only 32.5mpg and emits a hefty 201g/km of CO2 for a £290 road tax bill. The rest of the engine and gearbox combinations flutter around the mid-40s mpg mark, with CO2 emissions from 150-170g/km.

Insurance ranges from group 22 to 27. Honda's servicing is also a little bit more expensive than some of its more mainstream rivals, such as Vauxhall and Ford. Overall, the Accord is quite affordable to run, if not class-leading.

The diesel engine on offer in the Accord Tourer is by far and away the best option. The estate has the same choice of engines as the Accord saloon: 2.0-litre and 2.4-litre i-VTEC petrols and a 2.2-litre i-DTEC turbodiesel.

The petrol engines do offer good performance and a smooth ride – the 2.4-litre in particular – but they're overshadowed by the truly excellent diesel. The 2.2-litre produces 148bhp and delivers punchy acceleration wth strong bursts of power. The Tourer also has accurate steering and minimal body roll through corners, which is especially surprising for an estate.

Once you're cruising on the motorway in your Accord Tourer, virtually zero wind, tyre or road noise gets inside the car. The ride is comfortable most of the time, but less so on winding or rougher roads due to the slightly firm suspension set-up.

All the seats are soft yet supportive and the excellent driving position is easily adjustable to suit you. Even though there's enough room inside to comfortably carry five adults, the Accord Tourer still not as spacious as the Mondeo estate – but thanks to its longer roof, there's more rear headroom than in the previous model. That said, the Accord's sloping roof and tapered windows can make it feel tighter than it actually is inside.

The Accord Tourer is frustratingly impractical for a family estate car. Weirdly, the boot actually has less space than the saloon car when the back seats are in place – just 396 litres. With the back seats down, capacity increases to a better, but still below-par, 672 litres.

The boot is also somewhat awkwardly shaped and not as easy to load luggage into as most of the Accord's rivals. The rear seats split and fold 60:40, and there's some handy armrest storage space along with deep door pockets and a useful compartment under the boot floor. Legroom in the back is also limited, especially when compared to the front, which is actually quite spacious and comfortable.

Coming equipped with six airbags, electronic stability control and anti-whiplash front headrests, the Honda Accord had no trouble achieving the full five-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash test.

Reliability has also always been a strong point for Honda and the Accord is no exception – the current model ranked 25th in the top 100 cars of our Driver Power 2013 customer satisfaction survey – its first appearance in the poll. The same is true for Honda itself, which was number six in the manufacturers list, scoring particularly highly for reliability.

There's no doubt that the Accord is a car that brings peace of mind and it'll keep maintenance costs relatively low just by being dependable.

When compared to its more upmarket rivals, such as the Audi A4 Avant and BMW 3 Series Touring, the Accord Tourer is reasonably competitively priced. However, it looks somewhat expensive in comparison to more mainstream competition like the Ford Mondeo estate. On the plus side, resale values on the used-car market are an improvement over the previous model.

Standard equipment is impressive, though, with all models getting automatic climate control, cruise control, electric windows, electric heated mirrors and a CD stereo with an MP3 player connection and remote central locking.