Honda Civic 3 doors Type R 2007

The Honda Civic 3 Doors Type R had its full launching last Friday in Brunei as invitations for Honda owners as well as the public were asked to view this nice car. There was also lucky draws for guests and unfortunately for me who owns two hondas with two available tickets for the draw didnt even get one hit.

The pictures above doesn't give the car the credit it deserves, it so much nicer when viewed in the showroom. With 201 ponies in its bonnet, it zooms to 0-100km/h in late six seconds. The car catalog mentions it being a conservative 7.1 seconds, but car magazines rates it as low as 6.4 seconds! Not bad for a car that weighs just around the 1,250kg.

The first shipment to Brunei is only 10 units, and the car comes in black, Crimson Red or Silver. Unfortunately all 10 units were booked even before the launching. According to the salesmen, the second shipment will be in early August and bookings as well as deposits are required to avoid disappointments.

Quality
Currently built only in the Honda factory in Swindon, England, the construction is solid, compact and very well fitted with each components. The doors felt pretty heavy for the hot hatch, this is probably due to the large glass windows on each side of the driver and front passenger much like the feel of the Honda Odyssey. My guess is depending on where it is built, the demand for safety and quality construction is very much in the agenda, it feels more like a European Car rather than a Japanese car.

Image
Being a typical sports hatch, the Type R has a small side skirt spoilers, deep front spoilers with air intakes as well as a noticeably large triangular front fog lamps. A black mesh grille on the front has a red "H" badge that marks it out from the normal mainstream Hondas (usually with shiny "H" badge). This car seems to have triangles as its main concept, because at every angle you look at the car, you will notice triangular shapes all around. Even the door handles is long and triangular in shape. From behind, the first thing you notice is 2 large triangular exhaust tailpipes integrated nicely into the back underspoiler. A more overt rear spoiler hangs on the glass panels enough to show that this car is no typical hot hatch. It sits on 18 inch (was it 7 spokes or 5 spokes I cant remember) rims, enveloped with a sticky Bridgestone Potenza RE050 225/40 tyres and the suspensions is obviously lowered and sporty. You can see a red coloured braking system through the rims signifying that this is no play play kindda car.

Driving
The Civic Type-R may not have on-paper power output figures to top its class - it's 40bhp down on the Astra VXR and Leon Cupra - but, with its light weight, its 0-62mph acceleration time is competitive. With the VTEC variable-valve and camshaft timing technology now kicking in earlier down the rev range, and more smoothly, the engine feels more flexible, and it's altogether more driveable at lower engine speeds. In the old Type-R, you may as well have been driving a base-model 1.3 until 7,000rpm, which meant for a pretty dull drive in most normal road conditions unless you redlined it, but this car feels more special for day-to-day driving, with less effort. And when you want to unleash the full screaming, race-engine effect, the option's still there - the full 198bhp peaks at 7,800rpm (400rpm higher than before), so you can wind it right up before the 8,000rpm limit. It's a far more versatile all-round set-up. Other improvements to the power delivery, and the way it's transmitted to the wheels, include a new electronic drive-by-wire throttle and a shorter-throw gear lever for the six-speed manual 'box. The sixth gear final-drive ratio has been lowered a little, to ensure that the Type-R just keeps on a-comin'. - (taken from car magazine) - I believe the writer coz we were not allowed to bring it for a spin that time.

Equipment

The sports seats were comfortable and snuggly, two toned red with black sides and was not too narrow for the wider hipped. The wraparound shoulder/neck design however hinders one from looking too far around the back. The upholstery was as I remembered correctly was leather though, all seat adjustments were manual, but it was enough to provide you with the driving position that you want. The rear seats were ample to it in 3 medium sized men, although I would say that 2 guys sitting behind on each side would be ideal. The cabin appears relatively roomy due to the also large glass rear window and flat floor.

The dashboard potrays a nice tri-spoke sports steering with cruise control buttons on the right side of the spoke and the left controls the radio/CD system. The red "H" logo sits right in the middle of the steering wheel to remind you that youre not in some common jalopy. The first thing I noticed on the dashboard is this huge RPM dial with the red line indicated around the 8k and a bit mark. The speedometer is digital where it is allocated right above the RPM dial. Then you have the other indicators on the right showing the temperature and fuel gauge. The left are smaller indicators such as hand brakes, headlights, etc. One indicator I noticed which I have never noticed in other hondas is the VTEC indicator. Trying to be a smart alec, the VTEC indicator lights up when the VTEC function is faulty? The smiling salesman next to me explained that the VTEC indicator lights up when the VTEC is on. Oh wow... thats nice, not really necessary but nice to have anyway. Switching on the lights, the instrumentation and gauge is lit with a high tech red and that really give some wow-ing amongst the on-lookers. Below on the foot stow are nice metal pedals, with rubber dots to hold your foot in place in times of slip? The type R has a manual 6 gears with a metal knob placed placed on a 45 degree incline. Although the shift throw is unexpectedly longer when you enter the gears, but it was precise and felt study, a feeling that you normally associate with sporty cars.

On the far right of the dashboard is a nice red Start button, something of a standard these days for European cars and the luxurious Lexus marque, but on a honda? Yeap, I'll take that too.

Now, whats the damage for this big gadget? Brunei dollars $51,600. Excuse me? Did I hear that correctly? Yes.....$51,600 on the road. Maaaaaaan......this little sports car costs more than my 3.0 V6 twin VTEC 250 pony 0-100kmh 6.2sec 2003 Honda Accord 4 door disguised wolf in sheep's clothing! Uh ah......not having it.....I think I will save my moolah for something more affordable.

Ratings:
Quality: 5 stars
Image: 4 stars
Driving: -
Performance: -
Safety: 4 stars
Equipment: 4 stars

Overall Rating: 4 2/5 star