Honda Civic Type R GT Road Test

The driver’s seat deserves some criticism for the fact that it is hard to find the ultimate seating position, the seat recline is controlled via a lever rather than a rotary dial so you cannot get that finite control. Plus if you access the rear of the cabin from the driver’s side it seems to be hit and miss as to whether the seat will return to its previous position. All round vision is pretty good, of course people will moan about the rear spoiler hampering rear vision, for us it all depended on your seat height and whether you were on the level or climbing up and down hill we got used to it being there.

Front seat passengers enjoyed the dual climate control, as they could control their side of the car from a rocker switch in their door. Rear seat passengers have a fair amount of room, although some taller passengers may not think so. The rear seats can be folded down to give you a reasonable amount of carrying space, increasing from 485 litres with the seats up to 1352 litres with them down.

The Honda Civic Type R GT features cruise control, which is set up via controls on the steering wheel; but we were not too sure that it is of great benefit in this type of car. We were surprised too see that the Type R does not feature Xenon headlights as standard, which we would have traded for the standard cruise control. Although the headlights automatically come on at dusk and when entering tunnels, etc. The windscreen wipers are rain sensitive. The door mirrors can be power folded in, which is great for parking the car on the street or when entering tight garages.

The in-dash single slot CD player/radio is not particularly good. I am not too sure whether it can be replaced as it is integral to the dashboard, although there are speaker upgrades, which might do the trick. You can control the CD player/radio from the steering wheel. If you want Honda’s integrated DVD Satellite Navigation system that will cost an extra £1400 but you do get a hands free telephone system as well.

From a safety perspective there are front, side and curtain airbags (no curtain bags on the standard Type R), ABS, Vehicle Stability Assist, Emergency Brake Assist and Brake Force Distribution. The security is taken care of with a Thatcham Cat 1 Alarm, Rolling Code Immobiliser and Deadlocks.

The Honda Civic Type R GT is not the fastest or the best handling hot hatch but it is probably the most complete all round car. It is well built with a bomb proof engine and although it has to be worked hard to reward - REWARD it does and for this very reason the Honda Civic Type-R GT comes highly recommended.