2004 Honda Civic Type-R review from UK and Ireland

No faults with the car at all, but it's Honda, and after reading review after review about their reliability, it just seems to make Honda one of the top car makers.

Well I've had a numerous amount of different cars, and I have to say this is the best I have owned so far.

In the summer I had the MG TF as you've gotta have a soft top for the summer!! Build quality is rubbish but expected, still a great looking car and was fun to drive, even if it did rattle.

Sold that and have had a Clio 172 and 182, which are awesome cars, and still love the look now, but just didn't feel the car was built to last. The 172 in my opinion was crap at handling compared to the 182; it just seemed too warped every time you turned the wheel, and I had a major problem with the underneath with the 182; had a big hole in the cat from rust!!

Got rid of that as I didn't wanna leave it to chance to wait for something else to go wrong; don't get me wrong, it didn't feel badly built, it just didn't feel good either.

Always liked the Type R, but never really bothered with it as I loved the look of the Clio. I found one in black and had a good look over it, took for a test drive, fell in love straight away! It just seems like the car is on rails, and the seats just hug you and feel comfortable.

Driving it everyday puts a smile on my face and the sound of the engine sound beautiful!! I drive a lot in the countryside, and it just blasts round brilliantly, whether you're putting your foot down and getting vteced, or just plodding along in 6th at idling revs it just feels great. To me the torque, if you're not in vtec mode ain;t as bad as everyone makes out, it's quick enough under vtec mode in my opinion and it pulls in every gear (the gear change is the best I've ever felt).

Couple of things I've noticed are the ride is a lot firmer than the Clio, but have read that was to be expected, and I'm not that fussed as it's part of the thrill of driving the car. Also it has the worst turning circle in the world!! It's laughable, but then it's still to me nothing that is going to bother me much.

If you like driving and you're into hot hatches, then I would recommend this car. Then again I would recommend all the hot hatches as they to me all have that appeal of the wow factor in some way or other (VXR sexy as fxxk, Focus ST awesome sound, new Type R out of this world looks, Golf GTI - it's a Golf!!).

The most important factor that would sway me to get the new Civic Type R or another Honda is the build quality, as it feels they are built to last!!