Honda Civic Type R review

For the driver, easily the best driving environment available in any hot hatch. It’s all about the touch points. The seats, as we’ve already mentioned, are spectacular, the Alcantara steering wheel is a delight to hold and operate, so too the metal gearlever and all the pedals. The brakes come in for special praise here.

It’s a cleaner layout than the last one, with neatly integrated vents hidden behind the mesh panel that runs the width of the dashboard. A rocker switch on the console allows you to choose modes (Comfort, Sport, Individual) and a button in front gives access to the full house +R mode. You can disable the rev matching if you plunge into the menu system, and Individual mode allows you to cherry pick your preferred settings for the steering, throttle, engine noise, suspension, traction control and more. 

What about the inevitable screens?

Get Apple CarPlay or Android Auto running as soon as you can. It’s not that the screens are particularly tricky to use, but that the graphics feel dated. There’s plenty of information, especially driving data for when you’re on track in the LogR screens, but we’ve seen much better-presented set ups.

The biggest disappointment are the shift up lights – they are in the right place above the digital dial display, but they look like something from a primary school project.

Is it well made?

It’s a Honda, what do you think? Don’t expect top-notch materials, but do expect them to have been assembled beautifully with minimal panel gaps.

How do passengers fare?

Pretty well as long as there’s only two of them. The back seats do feel a bit basic, there’s no flip down armrest, and the plastic moulded cupholders are crudely inserted between the two seats. When you’re paying this much money, that ought to have been done better.

You can’t complain about the space though, especially the generous legroom, and the boot is a decent 470 litres that expands to 1,212 litres with the rear seats folded. If you’re a family buyer with two kids, this will do holiday duty as well as, if not better than, many crossovers. One to think about. Oh, and the red front seats/black rears with red carpet is your only option in terms of interior trim. We love it.