Well that’s a day I won’t ever get back
Since when did a simple blow-out have to cause so much hanging about?
FOR THE LAST few months, the Type R has led a double life. With +R mode engaged, it’s been a red blur, seen around roundabouts, B-roads and the occasional Starbucks. But with Comfort mode enabled, it’s been a pleasant shuttle between London and Stamford, the Lincolnshire town I now call home.
And then one Sunday night this all stopped seeming like such a good idea. Ten minutes north of the Dartford crossing, I’m steering a lot to keep the car straight – even with lane-keep assist enabled. After slowing down, I hear a bang and get the feeling I’m driving on three normal wheels and one giant 50-pence piece. I’ve just had a tyre blowout, and it’s going to make my evening significantly more complicated.
The runflat gunk just won’t fix this one, so I give Honda’s breakdown service a call from the hard shoulder. After an hour the AA – which Honda uses – appear, but they can’t get the specialised rubber replaced or tow my car. Instead, they summon a recovery vehicle.
The first recovery vehicle appears and says my Type R is too low, but later a more suitable one recovers me back to London – at around 2.30 in the morning. An AA van appears without warning five hours later, and I’m told they can’t recover the Civic to the local Honda dealership. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? After a third AA person appears and says he can’t give me a tow either, we hatch a plan. Two hours and several phone calls later, the Type R is on three wheels outside my house, and we’re at Honda, with the fourth wheel, getting the tyre replaced. That smudge of rubber around the Type R’s huge alloys? That’ll cost you £250.
All four wheels are back on the car by about 4pm, which means the best part of a day has been eaten up trying to get the Civic mobile again. While I can’t complain about the car itself – or the tyre that failed – I can feel very disappointed about the breakdown service that followed. It really shouldn’t be that complicated, should it?