diff --git a/Eigen/src/SVD/SVDBase.h b/Eigen/src/SVD/SVDBase.h
index cc90a3b75..3d1ef373e 100644
--- a/Eigen/src/SVD/SVDBase.h
+++ b/Eigen/src/SVD/SVDBase.h
@@ -180,8 +180,10 @@ public:
   RealScalar threshold() const
   {
     eigen_assert(m_isInitialized || m_usePrescribedThreshold);
+    // this temporary is needed to workaround a MSVC issue
+    Index diagSize = (std::max<Index>)(1,m_diagSize);
     return m_usePrescribedThreshold ? m_prescribedThreshold
-                                    : (std::max<Index>)(1,m_diagSize)*NumTraits<Scalar>::epsilon();
+                                    : diagSize*NumTraits<Scalar>::epsilon();
   }
 
   /** \returns true if \a U (full or thin) is asked for in this SVD decomposition */
diff --git a/test/jacobisvd.cpp b/test/jacobisvd.cpp
index 72007bff5..70fbe321a 100644
--- a/test/jacobisvd.cpp
+++ b/test/jacobisvd.cpp
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ void jacobisvd_method()
   VERIFY_IS_APPROX(m.jacobiSvd(ComputeFullU|ComputeFullV).solve(m), m);
 }
 
+namespace Foo {
+class Bar {};
+bool operator<(const Bar&, const Bar&) { return true; }
+}
+// regression test for a very strange MSVC issue for which simply
+// including SVDBase.h messes up with std::max and custom scalar type
+void msvc_workaround()
+{
+  const Foo::Bar a;
+  const Foo::Bar b;
+  std::max EIGEN_NOT_A_MACRO (a,b);
+}
+
 void test_jacobisvd()
 {
   CALL_SUBTEST_3(( jacobisvd_verify_assert(Matrix3f()) ));
@@ -122,4 +135,6 @@ void test_jacobisvd()
   CALL_SUBTEST_9( svd_preallocate<void>() );
 
   CALL_SUBTEST_2( svd_underoverflow<void>() );
+
+  msvc_workaround();
 }