2002 Honda Civic SE Executive from UK and Ireland - Comments

This car felt more like a van to drive. The driving position was much too high.

The fuel consumption dropped dramatically when driven at motorway speeds.

The air-conditioning had to be permanently on to keep the windscreen clear.

The car tended to roll excessively when cornering.

Any ever appear to be driven by retired people (except for the Type R)

You're having a laugh.

The Honda out performs the Focus in all areas.

Just because you are having problems with your car is no reason to put people off. I know several people that can't praise the Civic enough.

The car is three times Whatcar comfort test winner (small car), plus Honda has better build, better retained value, and is more exciting to drive and own.

Instead of all this, you want to be one of the boring gang and own a Ford.

Was the ford focus not the best seller when it was launched?

And it was said that the focus was the car that broke the mold? when the focus was launched it was the best thing on the market with loads of extras. Not really my place to say as I've owned none of the 2 but as someone currently choosing between the two cars in question I can say that the focus does appear the stronger.

I would definitely go for the Focus. I own a 2000 2.0 esp a Bluefin chip costs £400 and 0-60 is easily done in 8.4. It outperforms all the Civics except the Type r, but the handling is the Focus' party piece. It is one of the best handling hatches on the market; miles better handling than the Type R. And I do know, my twin brother has a Type R, and down country roads and roundabouts he can't keep up.

I own a CIVIC, but have driven numerous Focusses (mk1 & mk2).

The Focus imho is better built (quality of plastics etc), but the Civic is a better design for internal space. I chose the Civic because we have a small child, and the Civic is brilliant for children; easy to secure them in their child seats plus it is easy to move within the car. They can climb to what ever door is safest to exit from.

The Ford has better handling and ride; the Civic leans too much in corners and it's suspension cannot cope with potholed A & B roads. The Civic's 1.6litre petrol engine is better than Ford's 1.6 litre for both performance and economy.

The Civic also had better equipment as standard (air con + sun roof + cd + ABS + 4 air bags).

If we did not have a child I would have gone for a Focus.

The Focus was not the best seller, and it appeared as reliable as the Contour's did at debut. That is not acceptable for any car to be this poor in reliability or build quality like the Focus was. A big no no.

Any 1.6 would beat the Focus; the Type R would demolish it. I have a 1.6 vti, 94 model, and it does 60 in 7.2 seconds... I don't think your Focus would keep up.

Don't think your 94 Civic would keep up with my 2006 Astra VXR? And they weren't even discussing that era of Civic; they were talking about 99 onwards when the Focus came into production. And that's besides the point, they weren't talking about the top model, the review wasn't about a Type R, nor were any of the comments about the Focus' top model. So if you really want to go there, the Focus RS would beat any Civic that's ever been made both on acceleration and handling.

Where did the Astra VXR come from? It may be quick, but it's a Vauxhall at the end of the day.

The discussion is about a Civic and a Focus, and by the way, around a track the Civic Type R is quicker than the Focus RS. Do your research.

I have done my research thanks. On Top Gear and Fifth Gear, the Focus RS was faster then the Civic Type R. And the reason I mentioned my VXR is because that guy mentioned his old banger 1.6 vti as if he had something better; as if he has a good car, when nobody was talking about the vti. That's why I mentioned the VXR; just as someone could now say to me that they own an M3 or whatever.

The banger 1.6 vti would last a lot longer than your unreliable Astra VXR. I've seen examples with over 200 000 on the clock still going strong. By the way, have a look at the new Civic Type RR; it's got 260bhp, don't think your Astra would keep up with that.

You need to watch fifth gear again, cos Tiff needle said that the 182 and civic type r were about a second quicker around the track than the focus RS.

I nearly fell of my chair laughing at that last comment. The new Type R only has 198 bhp and a 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds, so no it wouldn't be beating the VXR; and as for reliability, as far as I'm concerned it will be perfect during my ownership, and in two years I will get rid of it. Why on earth would I want to keep a car until it does 200k miles when I can sell my VXR in 2 years and buy the new BMW M? If you can afford a better car, you get a better car.

OK, then go on youtube, type in focus rs vs civic type r, and just watch the Focus beat the Type R, and Tiff's exact words are "the Focus RS is definitely the hottest of the hot around a track". And on Top Gear, the Focus was a lot faster than the Type R.

The japanese version has 260bhp, and I'm sure they will be imported here. Stop talking about the VXR like it's something special; any manufacturer can get that much power using a turbo. Honda get soo much power out of their engines with reliability as well. If you remove the turbo from the Astra, it would only probably make 140bhp, if that.

But I'm sure the version in this country has 198 bhp. Why think about one on the other side of the world; it's not here and you can't buy one, so forget it.

And as for needing a turbo; who cares how cars get power as long as they get it. You could say Honda need to use a v-tec to get power, but who cares? The fact is about 6 years ago the Civic Type R was king of the hot hatches, but now it has been left behind the Astra VXR, Focus RS, Focus ST, Golf r32, Audi S3, and Renault Megane, which are all faster.

The new Type R was a waste of time; it's not an improvement on the old one; no faster, in most people's opinion not better looking, and the interior is horrible. It was a huge disappointment.