AFTER years of plummeting sales, Honda says it is back in the business of growing in Australia, thanks to vital new product like the Civic Hatch.

Now in its ninth-generation guise, the five-door-only VTi-S and VTi-L take the fight right up to the Mazda3, with distinctive styling, a sweet 1.8-litre petrol drivetrain, and palpable improvements to handling, ride, steering and refinement.