RE: Honda Civic Type R: Driven

[WCZ]

sounds like it drives very well, looking forward to test driving one!

[SidewaysSi]

knebworth01 said:

What the hell is wrong with all you people? Since when has a true petrolhead been so bothered by brand and the way a car looks?
TVR, Impreza, Nissan GTR - all challenging looking beasts but great engineering and real drivers machines.
Hats off to Honda, keeping in the tradition of great engineering and two fingers up to the German white goods brigade!
I'm not a 'chav' and dont tend to veer towards the tacky things in life, but I for one will be buying one of these. Loads of space for my kids, stands out from the crowd, goes like stink and built to last.
Well done the big H!

Totally agree. A white Integra DC2 with red seats wasn't exactly sophisticated in the looks department but there seems to be a lot of fuss about this car. Likewise the new 911 RS is a bit OTT.

Frankly all I care about when buying a car is how it drives and if this is a "practical Megane", they will have nailed it. I have no interest in a Golf or S3 and even the WRX STI does not seem as good as this.

The last 2 generations of Civic were a bit poor in the driving stakes so I am glad Honda is back on form.

[moffat]

You would really need to be a an extreme enthusiast to buy this car given it's appalling looks both interior and exterior.

I loved my Honda S2000's and could forgive Honda for the very average interior due to the amazing 9000rpm redline and crazy sounding engine but I really could never buy this car.

The problem as already mentioned is that it is based on one of the ugliest cars on the road. I can't see past that.

This car would sell in much higher volumes if 1) it looked better and 2) it was slightly cheaper. A Focus RS will sell better as it's marginally better looking.

[Zoon]

Matt Bird said:

HP and PS are the same measurement, 310hp is 306 brake horsepower. Same as the EP3 was 200hp or 197bhp.

So not the same measurement then, or they'd be the same?
HP is horsepower
PS is pferdestärke

PS is the metric equivalent, but not the same measurement.

[Tickle]

I like it, if I was ever forced down the one car route I would consider either the Honda or Renaultsport over the VAG options.

[Uncle John]

I love it! It's what a hot hatch should look like.

As if it's driven off of a Touring Car grid or a Rally Stage.

Good review also, well done Honda!!! Thanks be that some manufacturers dare to be different.

[otolith]

Zoon said:

So not the same measurement then, or they'd be the same?
HP is horsepower
PS is pferdestärke

PS is the metric equivalent, but not the same measurement.

"metric horsepower" seems a bit of an anomaly when there is a perfectly good SI unit for power.

[Martin_Hx]

Uncle John said:

I love it! It's what a hot hatch should look like.

As if it's driven off of a Touring Car grid or a Rally Stage.

Good review also, well done Honda!!! Thanks be that some manufacturers dare to be different.

Totally agree, ill have one in white please! *Can someone give me the money please?

I've much prefer this to a Golf R etc

[Dion20vt]

Anyone know what sort of PCP deals are to be had on these yet??

[Hackney]

Ali_T said:

knebworth01 said:

What the hell is wrong with all you people? Since when has a true petrolhead been so bothered by brand and the way a car looks?

So a true petrolhead are happy to that everyone thinks they're a nobend chav? Gotcha. In that case I'm a false petrolhead.

Edited by Ali_T on Wednesday 3rd June 12:00

A true petrolhead wouldn't care what anyone else thinks, especially the non-petrolhead

[10b0b]

Im on the fence slightly with the styling, i like the bold an aggresive nature of it, but it is not very well exectuted especially on a car which looked a bit grim to start with.

The manual 6 speed and no prospect of piped in engine sounds and all the tech and engineering that has gone into this car have wet my appetite though, certianly a breath of fresh air compared to the putrid fumes coming from the VAG Cauldron of Dullness in recent times.

Looking forward to a real world and through test/review.

[lauda]

I really don't get some of the comments on here. Sure, it looks pretty OTT but then again, the Focus RS MkII and the Megane R26.R aren't exactly paragons of visual restraint and plenty of people still seem to love them. It's a hot hatch, not a hearse.

[Squirrelofwoe]

hwajones said:

Looks awful...
Who in their right mind would buy one over an RS/Golf R?

It will be those people who view the Golf R etc as something akin to a decent winter coat- well made, great at what it does, the discrete looks even make it suitable for a whole number of social occasions- but not something you would ever get truly excited about wearing. The safe option if you will- the kind of thing your mum would tell you to wear because it 'might' get chilly later on.

No idea where the Civic fits into that analogy, probably something akin to casual sportswear- something you can wear all year round if you like- but it's not always the best thing for the job and outside of the gym you will look a tit!

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is the Golf R does absolutely nothing for me, on any level whatsoever. I see it and I just see another Golf- to add to the 5,345,231,784 other Golf's I've seen to date. Some people absolutely love that aspect of them- the anonymity.

But in a hot hatch I want something that appeals to the slightly childish, immature side of me. We seem to spend 90% of our lives these days making sure we conform to this or that, worrying how our image might get perceived by others. If I spent £30,000 on a car for me, I want something that excites me! This new Civic Type-R in all it's brashness does exactly that.

Although sadly my entire argument above does fall somewhat flat on the basis that in reality I would almost certainly buy the other Civic Type-R alternative you mentioned- the Focus RS

[macky17]

Would we, as petrolheads, really think someone with one of these on the drive was a tit? I mean, I don't like the way it looks either but I totally get why someone would buy one - because just possibly it's the best hot hatch on sale (remains to be confirmed of course). I would assume they bought it in spite of the looks for its capabilities and ask if I could have a ride (or even a drive). Wouldn't you?

Always think people who buy certain cars to avoid looking like a chav are actually compensating...

[Oz83]

Theophany said:

Looks like a damn fine alternative to the usual post-imaginationectomy patients with their VAG motors.

It's also given me a snigger to see how people faun over a Lamborghini looking utterly mental and being completely impractical, yet bemoan a Jap hot hatch of all things for daring to do the same.

Hardly a fair analogy.

I'm sure most people who drive a Lambo don't use it everyday for the school run, share it with their other half, and generally live with it day to day. I'm sure the attention would eventually become tiresome if you did. Not only that, a Lambo costs £££, it's a rare piece of exotica built from the ground up to be a supercar.

This thing is the opposite. More expensive than it looks, based on a cooking model car, with a tacky unresolved design that was finished by the accountants. Shame.

[gashead1105]

Dion20vt said:

Anyone know what sort of PCP deals are to be had on these yet??

According to top gear, you can get it for £299 a month. But have to put 10k down, which kind of defeats the point on the PCP deal in my view.

[Ali_T]

gashead1105 said:

According to top gear, you can get it for £299 a month. But have to put 10k down, which kind of defeats the point on the PCP deal in my view.

Over how long and what's the final payment (which is a good indicator of depreciation)?

I was offered a better deal than that on a Giulietta QV and those are meant to be a nightmare for depreciating!

[gashead1105]

Ali_T said:

Over how long and what's the final payment (which is a good indicator of depreciation)?

I was offered a better deal than that on a Giulietta QV and those are meant to be a nightmare for depreciating!

From the Honda website, based on the standard model at just under 30k

£8740 down
36 payments of £299
Balloon of £13,600
5.9%APR, interest rate of 5.77%

[Dion20vt]

These pcp deals don't seem as good value as they used to be??

[dc2rr07]

Zoon said:

Matt Bird said:

HP and PS are the same measurement, 310hp is 306 brake horsepower. Same as the EP3 was 200hp or 197bhp.

So not the same measurement then, or they'd be the same?
HP is horsepower
PS is pferdestärke

PS is the metric equivalent, but not the same measurement.

I believe Matt is correct PS is the German equivalent of HP, BHP is the power measured out the crank which is why it is slightly less than the quoted HP/PS