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Used test: BMW M135i vs Honda Civic Type R: costs
These two used hot hatches couldn’t be more different in character. But should you favour the BMW M135i’s stealth or the Honda Civic Type R’s flamboyance?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety
The BMW M135i was the more expensive car to buy from new, but after seven years it's suffered more depreciation and become the cheaper option – by only a mere £1000, mind you. As of writing, it will set you back around £16,000, while the Honda Civic Type R comes in at £17,000.
Official fuel economy is another area where the Type R earns points over the M135i, but by a small margin. The former has an official average 38.7mpg and the latter 35.3mpg. In the real world, it's actually the M135i that comes out on top – just.
Neither of these cars is particularly cheap to tax, but of the pair, it’s the Type R that works out the least expensive, with an annual cost of £220 per year. The M135i will set you back £240 per year.
Servicing costs could be more expensive with the Type R. In our original 2015 test, our three-year predicted running costs put it at £1295, while the M135i came in at £1088. In terms of insurance, it was £2595 for the Type R and £2841 for the M135i.
A DAB radio, a USB socket, Bluetooth and audio connectivity and a colour multimedia screen were standard (from new) on both our contenders. The Type R also gets cruise control, automatic emergency braking and a reversing camera, whereas BMW charged original owners £480 to add rear parking sensors and cruise control to the M135i.
Still, the M135i counters with standard automatic headlights, rain-sensing wipers and leather seats, and sat-nav was a popular option when new, setting buyers back just £595. By contrast, Civic Type R buyers needed to add the £2300 GT Pack to add sat-nav to the Type R. That said, the package also gave you auto lights and wipers, lane departure and blind-spot warnings, as well as adaptive cruise control.
The Civic Type R was absent from our latest What Car? Reliability Survey, and so was the standard Civic of this generation. The 1 Series made an appearance in the family car section, however. It placed first out of 24 cars. BMW as a brand came 13th out of 30 manufacturers featured, while Honda ranked 14th.
Both the 1 Series and Civic received five-star safety ratings during crash testing conducted by Euro NCAP.
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