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Has anyone bought or driven this car yet? What do you think?
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I went for a test drive after being invited by Honda.
Lovely car and a massive upgrade from the FN2, but for a daily driver I find its actually too powerful. The turbo kicks in from around 1500rpm and the torque seems to be limited in gears 1-3 which is useful for town driving.
Suspension is improved on the previous model and the inside seems better screwed together. The ride is fairly composed but not as smooth as seat's FR. The ride is still pretty good, although slightly bumpy and the cornering is amazing (must be fitted with lsd's). Sound intrusion into the cabin was average, was hoping for better.
Downside is the massive hike in insurance in comparison to the FN2
On the a roads, economy was around 40mpg which is reasonable given the power available, but it needs a longer top gear IMO as the gearing works out at around 22mph per 1000 revs in top gear which can become tiresome on a long journey.
It would be nice for Honda to make a type S which sits somewhere in the middle of the standard model and type R. They are looking at a turbo 1.5 in the 10th gen civic apparantly which will give 170bhp, that's probably the one I'd go for
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10th gen is a complete rebuild on new chassis so it may be better than 9th, with a different shape more to public opinion I think, Type R will follow with improved power output so I gather with S or Si before the type R comes out
I may buy the tourer later this year with 1.6 diesel
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2015 Honda Civic TypeR GT-driver experience, tomb
Thanks for the interesting imput chaps. Have now driven the car. Vastly impressed with oomph.In this area a harsh ride on low profiles & I imagine front tyre degredation severe & expensive. Pity about the over flashy rear wing & coloured seats. Agreed, a mid range power unit would be good& better in lower speed traffic.
Will I buy? My wife (both 74) says the red one looks amazing, so any argument is lost already. A 3 month waiting (Built to order) time, just right for her birthday!
Present Honda is the 2014 Civic Tourer SR. Fabulous spacey vehicle with a superb 1600 diesel engine. 18000 clocked & present indicated consumption at around 62-63 mpg with normal driving.
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Not really a surprise on the insurance front, given the car is so much faster and more expensive than the mk1 & 2. The problem, as you've discovered, is that it isn't an 'everyday car' (as the other two [or at least the mk1] were to some extent), more of a track day car you take out at the weekend, not drive to work/the shops. Its sky-high price puts it in direct competition with the German marques, which will do far better on the day-to-day usage stakes.
Shame really - I think Honda have concentrated too much on building a 'super-hatch' to beat the 8 min Nurburgring time and not enough on building a new equivalent to the increadibly successful Civic Type R mk1 and their F1 engine. To be honest, they'll be lucky to sell 500 a year in the UK (discounting the initial interest) over its lifetime. I was hoping they make a decent mk1 successor after the disappointment of the mk2. Oh well.
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That was what the design was for the Nurburgring, and the Type R wasnt released untill they got the record,(just after)
If, as they say the new Civic comes out next year it may be a better car (wait and see)
The Type R was never going to please everyone as the standard car didn`t
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That was what the design was for the Nurburgring, and the Type R wasnt released untill they got the record,(just after)
If, as they say the new Civic comes out next year it may be a better car (wait and see)
The Type R was never going to please everyone as the standard car didn`t
Rather a pointless and costly (loss-making) exercise if they are going to bring out a new Civic next year - they should've based the type R on that car instead. The current one is based on a model that is far, far less well regarded and popular than the good-looking 2001-2005 Civic 3dr (that also helped as 3rd hot hatches often look better than their 5dr brothers).
What is up with Honda at the moment? Rubbish F1 engine, poor range of dull-but-worthy cars...where's the innovation they used to be known for? The latest Type R is I'm sure some rocket on the track, but on the road? All their expertise is being channelled into the wrong areas in my view. You used to see loads of Civics (and Hondas generally) 10-15 years ago - now they are quite rare, apart from the Jazz (and there's far less of them than the mk1 around).
Seems that all the good car designers/stylists in Japan are currently working at Mazda, perhaps even a good deal of those engineers in charge of the handling of the cars. Now all they need is a bit better (not much) engineering quality and ride comfort and they should have the market sown up for Japanese cars (assuming they can produce a proper sports car to replace the defunct RX-8) - nearly all the others (apart from the exterior of the Toyota GT86 [interior is hideous 1980s rubbish IMO] and the Nissan Qashqai) to me are insipid, badly styled and not that good to drive.
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It happens in a lot of businesses, but it's more 'public' with car makers - they each rise to a peak of popularity, then gradually wane.
In the mid-80s Vauxhall had the Mark 2 Cavalier - the only time I ever seriously thought about having a Vauxhall - and in the late 80s / early 90s Peugeot could do no wrong with the 205 and 306. Ford's star rose gradually in the 90s - Mondeo, Ka, Focus - and in the early 2000s Honda, as you say, had a great time. The 2002-06 Civic was a very good car, especially the 2.0 Type S.
Recently it's been Skoda, who may yet be pulled down by the VW scandal. Who's next? Mazda? Volvo? Vauxhall may think it's their turn again. I suppose with the quantity of fleet sales, Ford and Vauxhall are not too worried as long as the cars sell.
BMW, Audi and Mercedes have never really lost favour - yet!
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Not so sure its a pointless exercise but then I`m not sure what the sales are like for the Type R, and as I recall, it was brought back because of public opinion, and as it is very rapid shows the engineering works
Not sure about the F1 engine, bearing in mind they have not been in F1 for some years (taking a time to catch up)
the 8th and 9th gen civic imo are the best Civics they made, I have an 8th gen and the only fault I have is suspension, but it does everything I want and very economical though not up to the 1.6 Diesel in the 9th gen, poss the tourer which I`m after next
I dont like Mazda never have, Honda over the years have served me well but as I said they are not for everyone.
And wouldnt it be a weird and boring world if we all liked one car, good thing we all have a choice eh!
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I must admit that the thing that Honda has always got right is the customer experience - when I was trying to choose which car I wanted in 2005/6 (when I eventually went for a 1.6p Mazda3 TS2 mk1), both the Honda Jazz (ok to drive [far better than my old K11 Micra] and very practical) and 3dr Civic (nice to drive) were on my list as well - I actually preferred the looks of that Civic (especially the 1.6 Sport [I couldn't quite afford the Type R due to the high insurance premium at the time]), and the sales team at the dealership were excellent - very accomodating and helpful without being pushy, and I have yet to come acorss a Honda owner who isn't satisfied with the post-sales experience.
What swayed it for me was that a) the super deal I got on my Mazda (I was increadibly lucky to get it brand new for £10,300 at Motorpoint [times of oversupply] given the next cheapest [broker] was £11,400 for TS model) compared to the Hondas (cheapest was £11,300 for the lowest spec Jazz 1.4 [little or no discounts on offer], similar with the Civic 1.6 Sport at £14k+) and that my local dealer (where I would have it serviced) was both well-regarded and a multi-dealer site that also included a Honda dealership. I've probably been quite lucky to get a good dealer experience, given I've read some Mazda dealerships are less than satisfactory, and that Mazda UK aren't so well regarded as Honda and Toyota.
Its a shame Honda aren't (at least for the moment) going to be producing a sporty car like its old S2000 (not the CR-Z) or something equivalent to the Toyota GT86 (great except for that hideous 1980s interior) and seem to be dropping the more sporty engines on their UK cars (e.g. the HR-V not having a 1.8 petrol).
Let's hope things improve soon.
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