Christmas in a Civic Type R: PH Blog

Christmas cracker or Christmas turkey? Matt spends the festive period in a Civic Type R

The Civic Type R is a car that spent a lot of time on PistonHeads in 2015. There was the show reveal, the first drive and the Megane twin test just for starters. We spent a lot of time waiting for the car and, by and large, it delivered.

Can you see the speedo? Neither can Matt

But in total that's nothing more than a few days with the car at best, and days where the excitement of it being actually the new Civic Type R probably hadn't worn off. So when the offer came for a Civic Type R loan over the Christmas break it seemed the ideal opportunity to do some 'normal' miles in the car. It helps that I really, really like fast Hondas.

What those first drives hadn't quite revealed was just how, well, annoying the Civic can be though. Yes, sorry to start on a downer, but there are a fair few details that could well infuriate. The turning circle is dreadful, which made negotiating the multi-storey on Christmas Eve rather stressful. That after nearly whacking my head with the gigantic boot lid while loading up. The stop-start is rather grumbly in traffic, labouring to turn the engine off and on. And with the seat where I like to sit, the speedo is completely obscured. As are the shift lights.

Cold, clear, crisp and bloody good fun!

But before this becomes a tirade, it's worth pointing out the Civic was perfectly liveable on the tedious drive home back to Suffolk. The radio might be a pain but the Bluetooth and iPod integration are fine, plus if you want to use a CD the dash folds out like something from a Max Power special. I thought that was quite cool. The seats are ace and it's capable of 40mpg.

The news gets better. After a couple of days trundling up and down dual carriageways, I was itching for a proper drive. Having only driven a Type R on warm, dry tarmac, I was really intrigued to see how a 310hp Civic would cope with grimy, bumpy B-roads in December. In a word? Brilliantly.

Traction is superb, the composure over bumps is excellent and the way it scythes through faster, smoother bends like a circuit racer is absorbing. I can't wait to try one on a track day. The gearbox is one of the best on sale, the brakes are great and the whole car is imbued with this sense of urgency and excitement that makes you want to drive and drive until the tank runs dry. Which is quite soon, because it's only 50 litres.

It'll be down there very quickly

But best of all was the public response. Really. People waved, chatted at fuel stations and, yes, wanted to race on occasion. It's fun to drive something that incites a reaction, especially so when it's far more positive than expected.

So it was a revealing Christmas with the Type R, a car that appears to combine the deeply irritating with the totally captivating. Would I recommend buying one over the many other hot hatch alternatives? I'll let you know after some time in the pending PH long-termer. Bring on March...

Matt