Honda Civic Type R 2007 Review

Another week, another hot hatch. The calendar is crammed with touchdown times for compact cars as more and more makers introduce stars in the booming compact class.

This time it is Honda putting the punch into its Civic, using a hotrod Type R hatch being shipped from Britain.

It has taken more than a year to nail the deal, to give Honda a car to run up against everything from the Ford Focus XR5 to the Volkswagen Golf GTi, but there is plenty to like.

The Type R has a hot 2.0-litre engine with 148kW, a six-speed, close-ratio manual gearbox, big brakes, alloy wheels, sports suspension and tightly wrapped bucket seats. All at a benchmark $39,990, despite the potential threat of exchange-rate variations between the pound and dollar.

Even better, the Type R looks hot.

The three-door hatch has all the flair and fun factor that is missing from the regular Civic sedan, which is built in Japan and aimed at conservative customers who would never consider a Type R.

Then again, the youngsters who will fall in love with the R car — despite, or perhaps because of, its raucous, revvy engine and go-kart suspension — would not look twice at a standard Civic.

They are expected to shop it against the XR5 and GTi and all the rest of the hatch hotties, but also to run it up against a Subaru WRX or Lancer Evo as a potential funtime friend.

Honda says the Civic R will sprint to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds and has a top speed of 235km/h.

Fans of the R car are going to have to move fast to get one because Honda Australia is getting only 100 cars a month. It's a simple numbers game because production in Britain is limited by the number of R engines coming from Japan.

Then again, Australia has been allocated 1200 cars a year and Singapore — is far smaller than Melbourne — which is getting 800. But bling is beyond big in Singapore.

“We believe this car will reinvigorate our brand in Australia,” Honda Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley says. “For Honda Australia this is a branding issue, not a profit issue.”

The new Civic hatch is the first Type R in the local Honda line-up since the Integra coupe, which wrote the book on extreme street machines. There were two models and both were beyond harsh and beyond noisy, but sold strongly and gave Honda some much-needed bragging rights.

It will be the same with the new Civic, which was aimed at Australia from the day the Type R was unveiled as a motor-show tease.

But there are some questions and some concerns.

The Australian Type R is punchy, but the Japanese equivalent has more than 160kW, a difference Honda Australia puts down to local fuel. And there is only a manual, no auto.

The bodywork comes only in red, silver or black. With a red/black cabin.

There are also noticeable production flaws in the British-assembled cabin that would not be seen, nor tolerated, in a Honda built in Japan or even in Thailand, which supplies most of the models sold in Australia.

On the road

The Type R looks great and it is a top drive. The styling finally puts some real Gen-Y excitement into Honda showrooms, in everything from the cabin trimming — and red instrument lights, in place of blue in the regular Civic — to triangular exhaust tips. It is a car that has been built to look good.

It would look even better if the plastics in the cabin actually matched and were assembled without blemishes, and if there were no rattles.

But the Civic R is really about driving. It is smoother and quieter than we expected, at least from early British reports, but still has great cornering grip, nice balance and instant response to the steering and slick six-speed shift.

The engine takes some work and does not even get going until 5500 revs, but will scream happily to the redline at more than 8000.

It's in sharp contrast to the turbo engines used in most other hot hatches in 2007, including the XR5 and GTi and Mazda's rampant 3 MPS, which is good and bad.

It has more character, sounds great and is fun to thrash through a set of bends.

But you have to work harder, there is little torque for instant hit and the engine can be a cop trumpet.

The brakes are terrific, there is no more noise from the tyres than expected. The traction control is not intrusive and can be switched off.

There is plenty of standard equipment including cruise control, twin-zone airconditioning and the airbags.

The back seat is surprisingly roomy once you get in, and the car is easy to park.

The driver's seat is set too high, despite a height adjuster and the front buckets — which were excellent Recaro seats in the earlier Integra R — would be a lot better with more than just a click-change adjuster.

Still, there is an awful lot to like in the Civic Type R and it is a true fun runner.

Honda Australia will have no trouble selling its allocation of 1200 cars and their owners are going to be happy.

Inside view

Honda Civic Type R

Price: $39,990 on sale now.

Body: Three-door hatch.

Engine: 2.0-litre iVTEC four cylinder.

Power: 148kW at 7800 revs.

Torque: 193Nm at 5600 revs.

Transmission: Six-speed manual, front-wheel drive.

Safety: ESP, ABS, front-side-head airbags.

Economy: 9.3 litres/100km (Claimed, ADR81/01 combined).