Auto Express – July 30, 2019

SpecialIssue 81

Climate control

Therearen’tenough

air-con controls on

the Civic’sdashboard

–most areaccessed via

the touchscreen.This is

frustrating, because it’s

notaresponsivedisplay

Charging

The wireless smartphone

charging plate is useful on GT

models, and there’splenty of

storage underneath as well

Materials

Thereare plenty of hard

plastics inside, but the superb

sports seatshelp to make

the cabin feel morespecial

Running costs
31.2mpg (ontest)
£59 fill-up/£145 or 37%tax

Practicality
Boot(seats up/down)
420/1,209 litres

!

Braking
70-0/60-0/30-0mph
46.3/31.8/10.8m

Performance
0-60mph/top speed
5.9seconds/169mph

OWNERSHIP

Bothcarsreceiveda

five-starsafetyrating

fromEuroNCAP.The

CiviccomeswithAEB,

adaptivecruisecontrol,lane-keep

assist,traffic-signrecognitionand

blind-spotmonitoringasstandard.

INFOTAINMENTGT trim comes

with aseven-inch touchscreen as

standard, but it’snot agood

system; the screen is sometimes

unresponsiveand the menus are

toocomplex.At leastAndroid Auto

and Apple CarPlayare included.

DRIVER POWERHonda was

seventhinour2019 satisfaction poll,

which waswell ahead of Renault, in

19th place. Honda’s dealersfinished

in second place, with Renault’s27th.

INTERIOR &

TECHNOLOGY

Bothcarshaveexcellentsportseatsthat

givearealsenseofoccasion,buttherest

oftheHonda’scabinisn’tasexciting.

Thedashisclutteredandthematerials

aren’tasgoodasthoseintheMégane.

ȕȕ4L 4 L

ȎȎ4L 4 L

score

4.0

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THROUGH

THE RANGE

Which trim levelsuits you?

THEREaretwoversionsoftheCivic

TypeR:thebasicmodelandtheGT.

Theentry-levelcarcomeswithall

thekeypartsofwhatmakestheTypeR

great,includingadaptivedampers,a

limited-slipdifferentialanda316bhp

2.0-litreengine.Italsooffers20-inch

alloys,sportsseats,aleathersteering

wheel,LEDheadlightsandevenApple

CarPlayandAndroidAuto.

Witha£3,000depositonathree-

yearPCPdeallimitedto10,000miles

annually,thestandardCivicTypeR

willcostyou£458permonth.

TheGTcosts£493amonth,andalso

hassat-nav,dual-zoneclimatecontrol,

blind-spotassist,frontandrearparking

sensorsandwirelessphonecharging.

Thoseextrasareworthhaving,but

ifyoucanmakedowithusingyour

phonefornavigation,thenthebase

carisbettervalue.Thebuilt-innav

actuallyisn’tasclearoreasytouseas

thesmartphonesystemsanyway,so

we’davoidusingitevenonGTcars.

Ourchoice:

Civic Type R

NEXTCAR