How often do you take a Marshall stack and a pair of guitars to a test drive? The huge sunken boot, the fold-flat seats and the roomy cabin all impress. The styling? I love it – but that’s an objective issue. The result? You become a more disciplined driver. Consequently you think more about your driving you plan more. The lack of torque? Yes – a Golf GTI has more pull but the Civic’s sweet gearshift and perfectly stacked ratios make it a joy to actually use the ‘box. Pick up the pace and the suspension reveals a fluidity hitherto absent at low speeds. The ride is hard… but only on short, town journeys (your typical test drive, in other words). The Type-R isn’t designed for short test drives it comes into its own when you live and breathe it every day. But spend some time with it as I have over the last three months and the Type-R worms its way into your affections. It has no torque, a rock-hard ride, Marmite-styling and an interior by Atari. On first impressions the Type-R struggles to impress. Unique character, engine, handling, gearbox We can’t recommend anything else in its price range, and we’d go as far as saying that even if you’ve got the extra £2000 for a Golf GTI, try a Type-R before you buy. Running costs were low too - £133.83 per month on fuel and a splash of oil and that’s it. Truly unique among its (mostly turbocharged) competitors the Civic is fast, fun, reliable, roomy and utterly reliable modern hot- hatchery. Still, none of these were enough to spoil our year with the Type-R.
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What else? Oh, the rear visibility is dire and you can’t dial out from a Bluetooth enabled phone or transfer phone contacts.
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The ride is harsh at low speeds, but our car improved with age – especially at higher speeds. Grumbles? The seats! Arghh! Honda can engineer a walking robot but can’t give us front seats that return to position after entering the rear. We could’ve done without the sat-nav and phone – a TomTom does it so much better these days – and saved £1400, but overall the Civic was nicely spec'd for its price.
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Our Honda came with the £1000 GT pack (dual-zone climate control, foglights, cruise control, folding mirrors and a refrigerated glovebox). There were times when some of us (well, me) would’ve preferred a little more adjustability from the rear – but this wasn’t one of them… Chasing a 911 at Brands Hatch in the wet, and eventually overtaking it, was a particular highlight. And we liked that characteristic especially on trackdays where the Type-R’s surefootedness and unglueable (is that a word?) front-end put it among much faster cars. The Type-R’s engine demands a disciplined, confident and precise technique from the driver.
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Simply put, you can’t rely on torque to pull you out of a tricky scenario because the Type-R has none. You plan your overtaking manoeuvres further in advance and you ensure that you are always in the right gear on the exit of a corner. In the real world we discovered that the peaky engine demands a different driving style to its turbocharged rivals. Initially the Type-R felt slow – Golf GTIs and Mini Cooper Ss provide much greater shove in the mid-range – however, once the needle whips past 6000rpm the Type-R flies. After a tortuous running-in period limited to 4000rpm we began to ride the 198 horses found mostly in the i-VTEC zone.