Review of the new Honda Civic Type-R

Honda's Civic Type-R is an uncompromising hot hatch built around a flawed but glorious 198bhp 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine. Few cars of this kind really feel connected to modern motorsport but this is one of them. Enthusiasts still love it.

For Honda, technology has always been at the heart of sportscar motoring. From their original S360 and S500 models in the early Sixties right through to the Integra Type-R, the S2000 roadster and the NSX supercar, all had one thing in common: a mile-high rev limit with an engine note that's the closest you'll come to a racing car on the road. Which was fine for enthusiasts but a risky thing to offer in the mainstream hot hatch sector. In 2001, Honda did it anyway, bringing us the first generation Civic Type-R.

It was certainly an uncompromising car. The VTEC variable-valve and camshaft timing technology meant that you have to rev the 2.0-litre engine to nearly 7,000rpm before it really got up and went, but the effort was well worth it, the cam-change accompanied by a glorious banshee wail. That and the hard ride ought to have restricted this car to a minority interest audience but instead, it ended up taking 15% of all UK Civic sales. Hence Honda's thinking behind its replacement, launched in 2007: keep the same engine but make it more accessible. Make the ride and handling more everyday-friendly and throw in the eighth generation Civic model's futuristic styling. Does the car make as much sense as the reasoning? Let's find out.

You don't need to be quite as much of a dyed-in-the-wool hot hatch enthusiast to own this second generation Civic Type-R as you had to be with its predecessor - but it certainly helps. After all, it's hard to think of anything else remotely mainsteam that's quite so much built around its engine. If you like it, you'll love this Civic: if you don't, you'll fail to see the point of the thing. And that's despite all Honda's efforts to make it the 2.0-litre 198bhp i-VTEC engine a little more user-friendly. Where before, you had to rev the car to nearly 7,000rpm to get it to go, there's now a broader working range for the variable-valve and camshaft timing technology, stretching from just over 5,000 to a stratospheric 8,000rpm. A clever i-VTEC indicator just to the right of the digital speedometer is illuminated once the revs rise above 5,200rpm.

"It's hot hatch Marmite, a car you'll either love or hate."

That sounds good on paper but it still means pulling power that's nothing like as accessible as it would be in a less frantic, less characterful but more conventional engine. This Honda, after all, still only offers just 192Nm of torque, compared to 320Nm in something comparable like a Ford Focus ST which gets going from much lower down the rev range. But then, if you want load-lugging torque, buy a diesel. Presumably, you wanted a hot hatch in the first place for the fun of the thing, the aural thrills and the ever-present temptation to take the twisty way home.

All this is a present and correct part of Type-R motoring. Unfortunately, the primal scream the first generation model offered when coming on song has been toned down a little but the dash-mounted short-throw close-ratio 6-speed gearbox is much improved so that the extra cog-swapping that's necessary to keep rapid progress with this engine is no hardship.

If you're quick with your shifts, you'll find that sixty from rest is just 6.6s away en route to a top speed of 146mph, about the same as you'll get from a Golf GTI and good enough to put this Honda in amongst the faster cars in this sector. But as any Astra VXR owner will tell you, straightline speed isn't everything. Just as well then that this car has been tuned around Honda's Suzuka and Sugo test tracks, with stiffer springs and dampers, more responsive steering, meatier brakes, broader tyres, an electronic drive-by-wire throttle and a stance that sees it sitting 15mm lower on its suspension than a regular Civic, with a 20mm wider track.

The suspension issue was actually a hot topic when this car was launched, Honda controversially ditching the previous Type-R's sophisticated independent set-up for a less advanced torsion beam arrangement in search of better packaging and lower costs. The Japanese engineers claim that this aids cornering stability but the end result is a level of chassis sophistication that lags behind some rivals. At least there's plenty of grip and body roll's well controlled, partly due to the way that the fuel tank's central location beneath the cabin floor helps to lower the centre of gravity. Other good news comes in the fact that this car is lighter than its main rivals, which makes it feel a little more nimble. Oh and the standard VSA stability control system has been tuned in this guise to allow Type-R drivers a little more leeway before it cuts in. If that's not enough, you can turn it off via dashboard button.

If you like the eighth generation Civic's futuristic styling, then it's a safe bet you'll love the three-door Type-R model's interpretation of it. Let's take a walk around: at the front, there's a deep front spoiler incorporating a larger air intake to channel air to the induction system, as well as triangular foglamps and black mesh inserts in the front grille. Moving to the side, gorgeous 18-inch alloy wheels tuck neatly under the body coloured arches, while at the rear, there's no missing the distinctive body-coloured tailgate rear spoiler, which follows the kick-up line from the rear quarter windows and provides added down-force. Underneath the metalwork, it's equally impressive, this car boasting one of the stiffest body structures in its sector.

Inside, it's all about the driving experience. The front seats are racing-style bucket affairs, with large black Alcantara bolsters and red stitching, red fabric seat cushions and backs. The seat bench in the back repeats the same colour combination. The effective Dual Zone, two tier dash - common to other Civic models - also features but with red illuminated dials set off by gun-metal effect switch panels on either side of the central display. The driver punches a nice round red 'Start' button to ignite that throbbing engine into life, then grasps a black, leather-covered steering wheel with red stitching, uses a set of lovely drilled alloy pedals, grips an aluminium-finish gear shift knob that looks good but feels freezing in winter and, just to make each Type R even more exclusive, a plaque engraved with the car's unique serial number is placed just ahead of the gear lever.

There are a few issues though. Visibility out isn't that great, especially at the rear where you've to poke your head round these body-hugging sports seats only to find that the view is severely restricted by the wing that bisects a back window that doesn't even feature a rear wash/wipe. In the back, there are only two three-point seat belts and smaller drivers will have to lower the steering wheel as far as it will go to be able to see the speedo. On the positive side, the rear seats fold to increase boot space from 485 to 1236-litres and leave a long flat load area, plus the bases can be flipped up like cinema seats to create a second load area in the rear footwell.

List prices suggest that you'll be paying somewhere in the £19,000 to £20,000 bracket for your Civic Type-R. To put that into perspective, it's £2,000-£3,000 less than, say, a Ford Focus ST or a VW Golf GTI - though both of these two rivals offer you a little more power. If you could cope with 60bhp less, much of this Type-R model's look and feel is replicated by its 140bhp Civic Type-S stablemate which offers a £2,500 saving.

Unlike some of its rivals, the Type-R comes only with three doors. You do get a choice of trims - standard and GT - but it's hard to see why when the basic version doesn't even include air conditioning, one reason why almost no one chooses it. The £1,000 premium required for the GT also gets you cruise control (why?), curtain airbags, front foglights, power-folding mirrors and automatic wipers and headlamps.

Unless you absolutely thrash this car everywhere, there's no reason why you shouldn't get somewhere close to the quoted combined fuel consumption figure of 31mpg. CO2 emissions are pitched at 215g/km. And when it comes to depreciation, the Civic Type-R will surely remain one of the most resilient hatchbacks money can buy, holding on to 50% of its value after 3 years and 60,000 miles, a

Overall? Well, this second generation Civic Type-R is a worthy successor to the original - and that's saying something. It's hot hatch Marmite, a car you'll either love or hate and a far more acquired taste than obvious rivals - but with far more of a unique feel.

Real performance cars require a bit of work on the driver's part if they're to deliver their best. So it is here, with this wonderful engine's character hidden from all but those not afraid to rev it thoroughly. Which means that to buy a Type-R, you'll need to remember just why you wanted a hot hatch in the first place - for racetrack feel and everday sense. This car delivers exactly that.

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