Long-term test: Honda Civic Type R

Verdict

Few cars can ever be described as perfect and the Civic Type R is no exception. However, while it has a few foibles that really irritate us, there’s no denying that Honda’s hot hatchback is a truly fantastic car. We’ll certainly miss it.

• Mileage: 4,501 miles
• Efficiency: 29.2mpg

So after six months and a whisker over 4,500 miles, my time with the last Civic Type R in its current shape is up, and so what do we think? Is the last Type R also the best? Has Honda finally attained perfection with this car or are there still areas in which it could be improved? The answers are complex, and not perhaps entirely what you’d expect.

19

On the one hand I’ve enjoyed driving the Type R even more than I expected to, which is saying something. When I say driving I mean just that, so not just ambling about in it but pedalling it properly – as its creators intended. So ideally on quiet roads, sometimes before the sun came up, when I could fully indulge in its rev-hungry power delivery and rabid acceleration, make the most of its fantastic brakes and gearchange, and get nicely in tune with its chassis, steering and suspension.

Used - available now

2021 Honda

Civic

28,735 milesManualPetrol1.0L

Cash £12,500

View Civic

2021 Honda

Civic

66,906 milesManualPetrol1.0L

Cash £9,590

View Civic

2018 Honda

Civic

41,049 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L

Cash £16,102

View Civic

2021 Honda

Civic

31,480 milesManualPetrol1.5L

Cash £17,649

View Civic

Drive the Type R hard over a great road – as I did on many occasions – or better still around a track at full chat and you will be amazed at what it can do. For a front-wheel-drive car it is outrageously fast and engaging. Then there’s the raw, uniquely delicious feel it provides – to your hands via its steering wheel, to your feet via its pedals, and to your backside via its fantastic seats. Together, these elements combined to make the latest Type R a deeply intoxicating car to drive, perhaps one of the very best hot hatchbacks there’s ever been.

It’s also a fair bit more civilised than any previous Type R when you’re not going for it, with a ride quality in comfort mode that’s just about the right side of firm, and a cabin that has just enough luxuries to make it acceptable, if not luxuriant to live with as a daily driver. Plus it has a gigantic boot, one that with the rear seats down managed to swallow no less than eight wheels and tyres. It’s a shame the four-seat-only configuration limits its ability to carry more than four people though.

So a total thumbs up then? Not quite, for there were certain aspects of the Type R that drove me mad during my time with it, such as its 45-litre fuel tank. In theory this should have provided a range of at least 270 miles at my 29.2mpg test average, but in reality the on-board computer was so cautious with its calculations – telling me the car was empty when it still had at least five litres in the tank – the realistic range was little more than 230 miles – ridiculous for a petrol car these days.

Similarly, the pantomime that was required to switch off the lane-departure system and/or its speed-limit warning buzzer, every time the car was started, became pretty major irritants. The lane-departure system was just clumsy to turn off because it required the car to be moving to do so, and I had to take my eyes off the road to find the button down by my right knee and then scroll through another menu on the steering wheel. 

19

Turning the speed-limiter chimes off required a seven-stage process that I couldn’t be bothered with eventually. Instead I just put up with the chimes or drove well within the speed limit (which is I guess the purpose of such technology, but is also hard to reconcile with in a car that’s so obviously focused on high performance).

So in the end I had mixed feelings about the Type R overall. It was sensational in most ways, oddly frustrating in others, the main hindrances being its over-zealous safety systems. When tuning the steering, chassis and engine to be so exciting, it would have been nice if the engineers had been allowed to also tweak the safety systems to be more in keeping with the Type R philosophy. 

Instead, a quite brilliant driver’s car has been saddled with the same safety systems fitted to every other Civic, and the result is like the curate’s egg: inconsistent to say the least, which is a pity. Then again, where it is good the latest Type R is pretty incredible. Brilliant enough to be my choice over the other hot hatch on our fleet, VW’s Mk 8.5 Golf R, which I swapped into over the festive period and couldn’t wait to swap back out of.

In light of which, its faults are easier to overlook when the highs the Honda Civic Type R delivers are so very high. Overall, it’s still one heck of a car, and then some. 

Honda Civic Type R: second fleetwatch

19

After 22 miles of driving while showing zero range, we calculate that that the Honda had many more left in reserve

Look carefully at the range number in the photo above. But before you send e-mails to the editor telling him how irresponsible his writers have become, consider this. I did another 22 miles in the Civic with the range on zero (and with my teeth well and truly clenched) before I found a petrol station with the right fuel for a refill. 

And when I did, I could only squeeze 41 litres into the TR’s 45-litre tank, meaning the range was reading zero when there was at least another five litres to go – or 40 miles driving on eggshells. Why’s that? Why make drivers paranoid about running dry when there is no need? Answers on a postcard addressed to me, please. 

Honda Civic Type R: first fleetwatch

19

Our Civic Type R experience nearly ends in disaster

I very nearly had a huge shunt in the Civic in the underground car park at my local Waitrose supermarket. Tottering back to the car with armfuls of shopping, I pinged the hatchback open with the key, as you do, and to my horror I then watched, frozen momentarily in a panic as the tailgate swung open, sending the spoiler up and into the car park’s roof. 

Somehow I managed to avoid a full- on spoiler-roof interface by dropping everything I was carrying and frantically catching the wing at the very last second. But the shopping bags – and their contents – took a big hit. 

My better half was thoroughly unimpressed by my actions and then walked back to the shop silently to buy some more eggs. Either the car park’s roof needs to be higher or the Honda Civic Type R’s wing needs to be smaller. Or maybe a bit a both...

Honda Civic Type R: second report

19

The last ever Type R looks like it’s also going to be Honda’s best ever

• Mileage: 2,571 miles
• Efficiency: 30.2mpg

It’s a special kind of car, the Civic Type R. Yes, an acquired taste, perhaps, but for anyone who truly ‘gets’ cars, it is that rarest of things – a machine that somehow manages to transcend any traditional notions of value.

In its way, it’s as rare and intriguing as any Porsche or Lamborghini. As such it almost doesn’t matter how much it costs. It is the latest, greatest and, sadly, also the last of the Type Rs, so it really is one of life’s ‘enjoy it while it lasts’ moments.

And enjoy it I most certainly have – on each and every day since it arrived on our fleet just a couple of months ago with less than 500 miles showing on the clock.

So far I’ve done just over 2,000 miles in it at an average of 30.2mpg. I’ve driven it to Anglesey circuit in Wales and back, going the cross-country route on the way there (where it was immense), then on motorways and dual carriageways all the way back (when it was better than it might have been).

I’ve also used it plenty for the daily grind as well, and driven it to – and across – my favourite road at Beachy Head. And with only a couple of small side issues, it’s proving to be every inch as good as we expected.

How so? For starters it is far easier to live with everyday than I feared it was going to be, or indeed compared with any previous Type R. Yes, there are compromises, the short gearing in sixth and consequent absence of true motorway refinement (and economy) being the most obvious. 

19

Yet even here it is just about quiet enough when cruising and still returns over 30mpg on a long motorway run, so neither can be considered a serious issue. Having said that, I do wish it had a seventh gear so that the revs could drop back to 2,000rpm at motorway speeds to make the car both quieter and more economical.

What’s far better than I feared it might be is the car’s ride. True, in Type R mode it is pretty dreadful, but in its Comfort setting the suspension becomes soothing enough to be just about okay, even on crummy town roads.

As is its packaging, especially its vast boot, into which I’ve managed to somehow squeeze eight wheels and tyres. However, the fact that there are still only four seats, not five, will dent its overall appeal for some.

I suspect many (me included) would also want a fast-shifting dual-clutch auto gearbox, too, were one available. But that was never going to happen, according to Honda. And fair enough, because the Type R’s six-speed manual ’box might be a bit of a pain in heavy traffic compared with a DSG auto, but on the right road, or on a track, it is a defining quality of this car. Why? Because pound for pound, it is probably the best manual gearbox of any car, ever, so fast and beautifully precise is its shift.

The less good bits? I still find some of the safety features too intrusive, specifically the faffs that are required to disengage the speed warning and lane-departure systems, both of which are on by default at start-up. Being picky, I also wish the nav delivered live traffic info – but then Apple CarPlay is standard fit.

Other than this, I’m seriously struggling to find fault with the car. Instead, I find myself discovering new reasons to fall even more in love with it on most days. As I say, it’s a special kind of car, one that will mark the end of an era once it is gone.

Honda Civic Type R: first report

19

Civic Type R is as fun as expected, but with some irritating technology

• Mileage: 999 miles
• Efficiency: 30.2mpg

There are no two ways about it, the latest Honda Civic Type R has become an expensive and indulgent kind of car. In this day and age, you could even call it a misfit, with its eye-watering £52k price tag, six-speed manual gearbox and four-seat configuration.

But where it counts – on the road, or better still on a track like Brands Hatch – there is no other hot hatch that can touch the latest Type R. It is, quite simply, the fastest and arguably most thrilling front-wheel-drive car there has ever been. So we were more than a little excited about the prospect of running one for six months, just to see how much more civilised (or otherwise) it might be beside its more raucous predecessors.

There are precisely zero options fitted to our car, mainly because there are almost no options that can be specified anyway. Instead, pretty much all you can choose is a colour, in this case Championship White, which I reckon looks great when combined with the standard-issue matt black 19-inch alloy wheels and liquorice-thin 265/30 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres.

19

Despite this, the latest Type R is nowhere near as lairy as its predecessors visually. Yes, it has a huge black wing on its tail and, yes, the wheels and tyres are enormous for a hot hatch. But despite these elements it manages to blend in far more successfully than its immediate siblings. At a glance it could almost be a regular Honda Civic. Almost…

I happen to think it looks stunning, and the more intimately you examine its details, the sexier it appears. From its massive Brembo brakes to its lower, wider stance, the Type R is rippling with energy, even though most folks might not notice it.

And beneath the surface it still has all the practicalities of a great daily driver. The question is, does this blend of exclusivity and value mix with its brief to remain a practical daily choice, or has the Type R become a different kind of car? Has it become too special, too valuable to be used every day?

We have six months to find out, and so far the messages are as clear as pure Fijian water in some respects, but have become curiously confusing in other ways.

19

The dynamics we already knew about, but even after a few hundred miles, it’s obvious there are still a lot more secrets to unlock. I’ve already learned to steer well clear of Type R mode on the road, for instance, because it makes the ride too hard and the steering too heavy. But in my chosen ‘Individual’ settings (most aspects set to Comfort, exhaust on Type R) I’ve discovered how to make it more usable – and therefore likeable – as an everyday car.

On the other hand, the fact that you have to go through a seven-stage procedure to turn off the speed limit-warning beeper every time you start it is somewhat baffling, not to mention irritating. As is the pantomime that’s required to turn the lane-departure system off, which you can only do once you’re on the move – something that seems entirely counter-intuitive in terms of safety.

Maybe I’ll get used to these aspects and they’ll stop bothering me, but right now they are (slightly) spoiling an otherwise incredible car. One I’m already quite extraordinarily attached to, despite the intrusion of its so-called safety features.

*Insurance quote from AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

Buy a car with Auto Express. Our nationwide dealer network has some fantastic cars on offer right now with new, used and leasing deals to choose from...