Costs & verdict
Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is
The Honda Civic Type R is a pricier cash buy than the Ford Focus ST and Toyota GR Yaris. The starting price is roughly the same as the Volkswagen Golf GTI’s and it tops out at similar money to the BMW M135i and Mercedes A35 AMG. It’s a better drive than all bar the GR Yaris, though, so justifies its price to an extent.
PCP finance deals are usually competitive, in part because the Type R has residuals to rival the more 'premium' Golf GTI. The limited production numbers for the GR Yaris make its resales values even stronger and its PCP finance is cheaper still.
The standard Type R comes with 20in alloy wheels, single-zone climate control, ambient lighting, privacy glass, adaptive cruise control and keyless entry. You also get lots of safety technology, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning and automatic high beam assistance.
We'd recommend upgrading to Sport Line or GT trim if you can. You'll add blind-spot monitoring and cross-traffic alert on the safety front, plus two-zone climate control, power-folding door mirrors and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. These trims also add the parking sensors (front and rear), better stereo and sat-nav that we mentioned before.
When it was crash tested by Euro NCAP in 2017, the Civic scored the full five stars overall. Yet looking into the individual category scores, both adult and child protection were deemed to be a fair way behind most of its rivals, including the A35 AMG and Golf GTI.
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