Specifically created for the UK market, the Civic is the latest Honda to be labelled Type S - more special, sportier than the stock item, but more practical and less extrovert than those cars labelled Type R.
So for the Civic Type S, we get five doors, we don't get wild styling additions like skirts and big spoilers, we get subtlety and we don't get too much power for the family man.
The first thing to get clear is that the Type S is not just an up-specced version of an existing Civic, it is a new model with a unique mechanical specification, using the 160 bhp 2.0 i-VTEC engine as previously found in the Honda CR-V, and is only available with a five speed manual gearbox.
In common with all three and five door Civics, the Type S is built at the Honda factory in Swindon. Visually, you'll notice one by its unique 15" alloy wheels, Type R style mesh grille, discrete rear hatch spoiler and Type S tailgate logo.
Inside, you'll notice that the Type S features climate control, black half-leather trim, a smattering of matt silver finish around the dashboard and white sports dials in the instrument panel. The Type S shares the same three-dial layout as lesser Civics, but somehow with the white dials set into a black background, it just looked like something was missing.
Also in common with lesser Civics, the gear lever sprouts from the bottom of the dashboard rather than from a conventional position in the centre console. This just reinforced my view that the Civic is more of a small MPV than conventional hatchback - certainly it shares the styling of an MPV, if a little scaled down.
With 160 bhp to play with, I was looking forward to driving the Civic Type S. The weather on the day of the drive had different ideas; the south of England seemed to be gripped in monsoon conditions. Travelling at 60 mph on the motorway, all I wanted to do was get off, away from the spray and the suicidal tendencies of the traffic. And off the motorway was where the Civic Type S came into its element. It had been charming enough on the motorway, plenty quick enough where the weather allowed with only a little more wind noise than ideal spoiling things.
On A and B roads things were different. Initially the ride felt a little too firm, a little too bouncy, but as I started to up the pace, things all made sense. The Type S responded to whatever I asked of it, went exactly where I pointed it, with great feel as to exactly what was happening through the steering. This was just as well, although the rain had now stopped, the sudden deluge had caused drainage problems along a lot of the B roads on my test route - regularly I would round a bend and find a third or even half the road's width awash. None of this phased the Civic at all, it didn't get thrown off line, and just gripped, telegraphed what it was doing, and did as it was asked.
Some of this behaviour was quite surprising - the tyres are 195/65 R15, a little higher profile than I would have expected, but the more I drove this car the more I was enjoying doing so. I came upon my favourite roundabout, one of those large ones that sits over the top of a motorway junction. All I'm willing to say is that the last car that tracked round this roundabout so well was the front wheel drive Lotus Elan. As I pushed harder, the Type S just gripped more and more allowing me to hold a tight line all the way round.
Back to more sensible driving, I had more time to look around the inside of the car. Packaging is the same as for lesser five door Civics, due to the tall body style, there seems to be more than enough space for everyone. The cabin floor is totally flat with no hint of any central tunnel, and this combined with the tall body and short nose of the car, allows the passengers space that would compare favourably with many larger cars.
Finally, when I returned the Type S, I had time to take in the detailing and the build quality. I had already noticed that the inside gave a very high quality impression with the materials used looking and feeling good, and of course, no hint of any rattles or squeaks. Looking around the outside of the car, set off by its Vivid Blue pearl paintwork, the impression again was of a car built to very high quality standards with a deep sheen to the paintwork and tight, consistent panel gaps.
The price might be the only bugbear for sales. The Type S is priced at £14,995, only £1,000 cheaper than the 197bhp Type R. Honda might argue that the two cars are aimed at a different market, and while I would be inclined to accept that the likely buyer of the Type S will be more family orientated and older than the typical Type R buyer, maybe Honda has missed a trick here. If the price differential were larger, maybe they would sell the Type S to younger customers who could not quite afford the Type R, or its insurance. As it is, the saving isn't great enough for the younger market that might well shop elsewhere if they couldn't go the whole hog and buy the Type R. For someone like myself, a little older and with a family, the Type S proved to be a very pleasant, very entertaining car.
The Car Enthusiast has the Civic Type R for a full test in May. I suspect we will be recommending paying the extra thousand pounds for that car. Look out for the review on the main Road Tests page.
For more information:
Honda UK: www.honda.co.uk
First drive review: 2003 Honda Civic Type S
Story by Trevor Nicosia
Trevor Nicosia currently races Lancias in Britain. Find out more at his site - www.nyssaracing.com.
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