2007 HONDA CIVIC

Honda Civic FN2 Type R, nearly 190k miles on the clock and old enough to drink. Milano Red, except for all the bits that aren't. MOT until 24-OCT-2026.

I bought this car in 2022 for three main reasons: I had space to park it behind my house, I was on ebay, and I was drunk. Originally only intended to be a bit of fun to tinker with and zip about in, it was promoted to full time family car duties when our main car caught fire a bit on the way home after Christmas. It's been surprisingly brilliant at this, but family life has limited my tinker time in recent years and it's time to move it on. This is very much a head over heart decision - I think these cars are great (alternative opinions are available), but the niggly jobs are piling up and I'm not keeping on top of it.

So what have we got?

All the usual Type-R stuff - high revving V-Tec yo, six speed gearbox, great handling, cruise control, auto lights, auto wipers, and a CD player. I realise that not a lot of people have CDs these days, but I can burn you a copy of a dubstep version of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds if you like. Pilot Sport 4 tyres all round, with a good amount of tread. "Genuine" TYPE-H floormat on the driver's side (nope, me neither).

It also has a lot of of other usual Type-R stuff - that is to say, lacquer peel and faded red paintwork, a slightly notchy 3rd gear (they all do that, sir), and that bit of silver plastic on the driver side door handle has slightly come free at one end. The exhaust has had a slight leak since before I got it, enough to make it slightly more obnoxious than standard but - crucially - not bad enough for it to fail an MOT. The aircon doesn't blow cold, and it doesn't just need a regas - the system doesn't hold pressure, so you'll either need to replace some bits or just wind the windows down if it gets a bit sunny.

You'll see from the MOT history that it's needed a few patches of welding on the sills over the years; and that it currently has a few advisories on the rear brakes (amongst other things). I bought discs, pads and even a new pair of dust shields a year or so ago, but never got around to fitting - these parts are included in the sale so the next owner can continue to procrastinate on my behalf (or fit them, whatever). Currently my biggest niggle is the dashboard lighting, which has a tendency to go dark at inopportune moments, and only come back to life with repeated mashing of the dimmer switch. I read on this new thing called The Internet that it just needs a little dab of solder to fix it; but of course that assumes that you can get to it, which would require the removal of some dashboard first...

I realise I'm perhaps not doing the best job of selling this, however I'd like to be as honest as possible about this car. Although it seems commonly regarded as the ginger stepchild of the Type-R family, I genuinely think it's a great thing to drive and I would urge anyone that hasn't had a go in one to try it. It's a true hot hatch - compact, with enough poke for you to make some progress, whilst still bewilderingly practical.