Practical magic

The Civic Type R is dressed to impress. Paul Acres finds out if it has the go to match the show rear diffuser and outrageous rear wing all work towards reducing drag and improving downforce and, consequently, producing a stonking ride.

Climb inside – no mean feat given that you’ll be dropping yourself into low-slung twopiece bucket seats – and Honda have succeeded, mostly, in distancing the Type from its less salubrious siblings.

The seats are, once you’ve squeezed yourself into them, wonderfully snug and comfortable. Covered in red and black Alcantara with contrast stitch- ing they look pretty special too. There’s more Alcantara lining the doors and the covering the centre storage compartment while the steering wheel wears read and black leather. So far, so good.

There are also some Type R specific meters that show g forces and sprint times, as well as a row of LED gearshift indicators that illuminate as you approach maximum revs but, other than that, the dashboard is identical to what you’ll see in the standard five-door.The plastics are still hard in places, something that’s unwelcome in a car that costs north of £32,000

The Type R is available in two trim levels. LED headlights, cruise control, climate control, keyless entry and ignition, Bluetooth and reversing camera as standard. However, sat nav is only available on the GT version which costs an extra £2,300.

That extra money will also buy you parking sensors front and rear, auto lights and wipers, front and rear parking sensors, dual zone climate control as well as a host of additional safety features that includes blind spot indicators, forward collision and lane departure warning and cross traffic monitor.

To cut the costs of production the Type R will only be available as a five-door which means that it remains a very practical car. Rear legroom is reduced