2006 Honda Civic Type R from UK and Ireland - Comments

Nothing at all.

Still running the car in for the first 1000 miles.

Car is great looking and gets admiring looks whenever I am out in it. It is a last of the line Type R with the tinted windows and red recaro seats. Well done Honda.

Only negatives I would say that I have noticed in my short time of owning this car are:-

1) The seatbelts are hard to reach when putting on.

2) Everyone wants to race you from the boy racers in their Corsas to the old guys in their BMW's. I encounter this everytime I'm out in the car, and it gets annoying when they are sitting inches off the bumper of your new pride and joy.

As I have not yet run the car in fully, I am not aware of and cannot comment on its performance yet, but have been told various figures 146mph flat out and 6.6 seconds 0-60mph. Although I was also told by someone who has had a few of these cars, that it would hit 155mph no problem and that 60mph comes up quicker than 6.6 seconds and would have been in the fives if the limiter had not kicked in at 58mph in second, requiring a gear change into third. How much of this is true I do not know.

Comments, figures achieved and experiences by other Type R owners would be appreciated. I bought the car for its looks, street cred and the attention it gets first of all, but curious as to the true performance of this car. I love going out posing in it when it's all polished up - it really looks the part. But I also bought the car partly for a bit of performance and acceleration when needed for overtaking, but certainly not taking it to its limits.

So far very impressed with the Type R, and know I made the right decision buying this car. The new Type R is out in January 2007, and looks smart and does 60mph in 6 seconds and 150mph, but what I am waiting for is the Type RR whenever that comes out. Not sure exactly when, but heard it could have 240bhp. That will be some machine!!! Looking forward to reading about that.

Overall, very impressed with my new Type R, it puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it.

You can tune your civic engine to 240 for around 1500. Guaranteed the newer models will be heavier because of new safety regulations, so yours would be quicker.

Glad to hear that you like your Type R! I have owned mine for around 6 months now, and can honestly say that I love it. I have read a few comments on other threads about people with problems, but to be honest I cannot fault my.

When you’ve worn in the engine (and make sure you do), let us know what you think. I know that for the first week of ownership, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when the v-tec cuts in.

Only downside is that it drinks petrol. I very rarely get over 300 miles to a full tank (except on long journeys), but on average probably around £260ish miles. Having said that, I don’t use the car for work, just a play thing at weekends, so I guess more often then not I have a heavy right foot!

I must say that it's very bumpy on the twisty stuff, certainly more so then my previous cars (306 GTI-6 and Clio Williams), but will undoubtedly out pace/handle many other more expensive cars. My friend has a 330ci and cannot keep up with me on our regular B roads, but I know this may also be down to the driver.

I have only made one modification and that’s the fitting of a induction kit, not for the extra bhp (claimed at 10-12bhp…Hmmm…) but because of the sounds that it makes, it's truly awesome! A real must for any Type R owner! K&N Typhoon cost around £140 and takes 15 minutes to fit. I’m also eating through front tyres, but to be honest couldn't care less, only do around 7K a year so if they need replacing once a year, then so be it!

I have had to adjust my driving style in order to get the best out of the car. For example a work colleague has a new Golf GTI (2.0t), and although on paper they are fairly similar in performance (CTR marginally quicker), I do need to drop it a couple (or few!) gears in order to keep up on say a motorway. It's very easy to get “caught out” when some boy racer comes flying up behind, you need to be on the ball. Having said that, when you do get used to the car, it's very rewarding.

Anyway hope you enjoy it as I have done. I would certainly buy another and am waiting for next year to see what the new Type R brings, or RR for that matter.

Thanks for your comments, I have had the type r now for two months. When I past the run in period and opened it up for the first time I was amazed at the performance of it and overtaking ability. It is a remarkable car. Read on an internet site that it is supposedly one second slower to 60mph than a subaru impreza turbo (not the sti) but two seconds FASTER to 100mph than the subaru. Whether this is true I don't know. Still enjoying driving the car and still makes me smile everytime I get in it. An awesome car!! Got letter this morning through post to go on the MAC driving course that you get with the type r. The letter is in the post now. Looking forward to it hope its good fun.

I'm not a Type R owner (Golf TDi 150) but I am a honda fan and I love that gear change wow! It's a great hot hatch.

I considered buying one, but it was a little too hardcore for me so I went for the Golf.

Glad your enjoying it!

Just to answer a question of the previous commenter. No the civic isn't 2 seconds faster to 100 than the normal WRX, its over a second slower in fact at 16.9 (WRX 15.7). Its only about 25 BHP behind the WRX on power, and its lighter too, but its way behind on torque, 144 lbs compared to WRX's 222 lb's. But the civic is very fast for a 2.0 N/A car.

Depends where you read mate. The CTR 0-60 is around 6.8 and the WRX aorund a second quicker. This due to the 4WD on the WRX and the fact that the CTR's gear ratio only alows the CTR to reach 58mph in second gear, thus needing a gear change before hitting 60 and ultimatly taking longer.

Now onto the 0-100 and again depending on where you read the CTR does 0-100 in around 16 seconds dead. The WRX in the late 16's. So making the CTR quicker between 60 and 100 by a second or too. Even if you said they both had the same 0-100 time the CTR has more pace from 60 onwards.

Its more than just the 4WD (although it helps a lot with grip), its the fact that turbo's accelerate a hell of a lot better than N/A cars (unless you got a 4.0 litre) because of the extra torque, but type R is very good for N/A 2.0 litre. As for time's, the 03 onwards WRX has 225 BHP 222 lb's of torque and 0-100 in 15.7 (or very close). I don't think a civic with 144 lb's would have more pace, at least I've never been behind one in a challenge.

I have a late 04 type r and have come across several wrx imprezza's of similar age and from 60 onwards they are left! Its funny when I'm sat on their bumpers when they are giving it some right foot, approach traffic of bends or both and they just let stupidity take over them and they fly off overtaking etc. All because they don't like the fact they're beloved chariots no longer the roost!!

Sti is still up there though!

Well what ever you say friend, I can only speak from experience, so can you. When ever I race I don't go mad on twists on turns or through traffic being dangerous. It might sound boring, but when ever I race its very often on long straight duel carriage ways A roads or motorways, all the places I've out paced civic type R's. No offence, but it shouldn't be a surprise to the civic drivers.

Thanks for the comments. I was sure the Civic Type R was faster up to 100mph than the Subaru Impreza WRX. Four wheel drive on the Subaru and no third gear change to 60mph is what made it quicker to 60mph than the Type R.

Have had the car four months now and think that it is an excellent car all in all. It has the looks, amazing performance when you need it, and also excellent fuel economy. 40-45 mpg is what I have seen when taking it easy. No Subaru offers all that.

The CIVIC TYPE R truly is the KING of hot hatches.

But their not faster, they might get near an impreza turbo 2000 with 208 BHP to 100 just, but not the WRX, take a look on youtube "civic type R vs impreza WRX" its proven, and it was from 2nd gear. 0-60 isn't just about 4WD grip, its about turbo acceleration.

Review writer here again. Still loving the type r. Amazing car! Has anyone heard anything about the type rr and whether or not it will be made. I have been searching all through net. I have heard it will have a 2.4 litre engine with 250bhp and four wheel drive. As a big honda fan and owner of a type r I would be very keen to see this car put into production. With the likes of the focus st, astra vxr and golf r32 (soon to be r36), honda really need to do something to claim back the crown of hot hatch king that they had with the type r. My suggestions are up the red line and limiter on the v tech engine bring the v tech in lower down for a longer v tech rev range and stick a turbo on it for good measure give it 300 bhp + and blow away all the competition with the four wheel drive and regain that hot hatch crown, leave the other hot hatches behind and start chasing scoobies and evos. I for one will buy this car if it is made. Hoping that honda do have something like this up their sleeve and are just waiting to see what these lesser cars have to offer before giving us something really wild! Hope honda are reading things like this and listening to what their customers want.

I couldn't imagine what would happen if any of you got your hands on a REAL performance car. your all getting so excited over a milquetoast hopped up economy car try driving a BMW M3, Chevrolet corvette, or Honda s2000. You just might learn the REAL definition of performance. And never forget knowledge is power a Honda civic is not.

Yes, but how much do those things cost compared to a type r? for the money the type r is a great car, fast, good looking and not really that far behind an m3. About a second and a half and 23 grand cheaper so not really that bad. And I guarantee a type r driven by a good driver could keep up with an m3 on a country road anyday!

"And I guarantee a type r driven by a good driver could keep up with an m3 on a country road anyday!"

Riiiiight... come back to the real world please. 333 hp ~3400 lb BMW vs 200 hp ~2450 lb Honda then add the BMW's huge torque advantage and the fact that it's rwd. I know the honda is much cheaper, but why bother with a goofy half and half car? Buy the regular 1.8 civic and then save up for one of the cars I mentioned before.