Honda Civic Type R

There are cars that I see around that make me want to own them more; Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche Boxter, BMW M3, any Ferrari and the Citroen DS3.

Recently I have started to notice the Civic Type R more and more. Honestly I liked it when I first saw it but not to the point where I thought I'd ever want to buy one but still, I liked it. These days I've started to like the Darth Vader styling (look at the back of it if you do not know what I'm on about) and after a recent spell playing with one I have grown to love the interior even more. The Holographic Display for the speedometre is something in particular that I like.

The highlight of the Type R experience is it's engine. The old car produced 197bhp so, naturally, you'd expect the new one to produce a few more brake horses, twenty or so more. But it doesn't. It produces one more horse, so strap a horse to your old car and then you'd have the same amount of power! Interestingly enough power isn't important, it's the revs and the character it creates. This thing can rev straight up to 9,000rpm without complaint. It makes the car feel like it wants to be driven fast. The gutteral scream you get when you rev it sounds like a clear your lungs and let off steam scream, like you do on a rollercoaster. It's absoloutely fantastic to push on in this car.

The new car is a lot heavier than the old one which means no prizes on how the handling has changed. Not the best of changes. If the engine is great the handling isn't really. The old car would give really sharp turn in and famously would lift its inside rear wheel in big corners. The new car doesn't. It's not bad per say but it does understeer more than the old car. It sits on the baseline for performance hatchbacks.

But what's important is that it has more character than the others. There is a certain apsect of theatre about this car. The revs, the styling, the interior, they all combine to create a spectacle. So what if the thing isn't the fastest, sharpest and quickest around corners, 85% of the time that just isn't important. What is important 100% of the time is how it makes you feel, the Civic Type R makes you feel happy and alive.

I think that's the most important thing, the other important thing is that this car is starting to drop in price in the used sector. There are more and more that are starting to look like good bargains and in terms of the initial purchase it is, the only thing to remind yourself of is the cost to run it. The high revving engine is like Freddie Flintoff, it drinks a lot. The other thing is that the insurance isn't what you'd call cheap.

Still, I think it's worth a punt.

Thankyou for reading and I hope you return soon to have another read.