HONDA'S Civic has been named Britain's most comfortable car for the second year running.

The small hatchback tops a field of 40 contenders priced between £7,295 to £53,950, in this year's survey by What Car?

The Civic, which has already been named best small hatch by the magazine, earned praise for its easy access, logical controls and comfortable seats, leading to a winning score of 83 per cent.

The judges said: "This is a car which leaves you to get on with driving, rather than being distracted by an aching back or fussy controls."

The British-built Honda is priced at £12,460, but it defeated cars with price tags almost five times as high.The Lexus LS430, at £49,950, scored 80 per cent to reach second position but shared it with the Skoda Fabia 1.9 TDi (£11,255) and Toyota's RAV4 2.0 (£19,695).

The new Mini scored a disappointing 39th place out of 40, because of its poor access and hard seats.

The Jaguar X-Type fared worse still, collecting the wooden spoon for its seats which are "over-bolstered and awkward to adjust," plus its complex touch screen radio and air-conditioning controls.