Honda Civic Type-R 2007 review

This year has seen the launch of Audi's S3, the Mini Cooper S, Mazda3 MPS, Ford's Fiesta XR4 slotting in just below the Focus XR5, the Volkswagen Golf GT joining its even hotter sibling — the legendary GTi — and Volvo has even entered the fray with the funky C30.

Not to be left out, Honda has joined the field with the first Civic Type-R to come here (although many people will have fond memories of the Integra that also wore the R badge here for several years).

Coming in $10 under the psychological $40,000 barrier, that badge is intended to give an echo of Honda's racing heritage — and a warning right from the start that this Civic is no docile little shopping trolley.

It looks wouldn't leave you in doubt about that anyway, with bold futuristic styling, especially around the tail where myriad angles and planes suggest that the car might unfold Transformer-like and reveal the true little beast within.

The rear wing adds to the sporty look but severely limits vision for reversing, or even keeping an eye on the few vehicles that might attempt to overtake you.

The enveloping Alcantara sports bucket front seats — with harness-ready holes — almost suction you into place, and with tilt and reach adjustment on the steering it's easy to find your perfect driving position.

Rear seat passengers don't fare as well. It's a bit of an awkward task to clamber in there, and once you succeed there's not a lot of legroom to reward you.

Likewise the boot capacity is fairly limited — even though it carries a space-saver spare — although dropping the rear seat helps.

Despite the abundance of nasty plastics, the cabin still has a thoroughly sporty feel, aided particularly by the red-lit instruments. At night you can indulge in fighter pilot fantasies.

The Type-R comes equipped as standard with automatic airconditioning, cruise control, sports suspension, trip computer, drilled aluminium pedals, foglights and leather wrapped gearshift and multi-function steering wheel.

The safety list includes stability control, six airbags, and anti-skid brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution and brake assist.

The car is built in the UK — although the power heart and soul are shipped there from Japan — and a plate in the cabin bears the individual build number.

Where many of its rivals get a turbo boost, the Type-R carries a punchy little naturally aspirated V-Tec engine — a high-revving 2.0-litre four cylinder that develops 148kW of power at 7800rpm and 193Nm of torque at 5600rpm.

This is claimed to get it to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds and to a top speed of 235km/h.

Where it definitely will get you — if you're not careful to keep it leashed — is explaining yourself to a very nice person in a rather fetching blue uniform.

The little monster just demands to leap forward and attack the bitumen from the minute you raise the garage door.

Luckily, you need to have the tacho sitting well over 4000rpm to really get the hottest action, but the engine happily revs all the way up to 8000rpm, and inadvertently illegal speeds (honestly, officer, we had no idea) are a risk even in first gear.

A slick six-speed close-ratio manual gearbox — with a wonderfully satisfying precision in the shift movement — drives the front set of 18" alloy wheels.

With responsive steering and sharp handling, the car almost demands that you tests its limits, and the switchable stability control system doesn't intervene until you've really started testing your own.

Low-profile tyres made for a lot of roar on our northern roads, but otherwise the car was reasonably quiet.

Any prospective buyer will already expecting the McPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension to be quite hard, and this set-up is a large part of the Type-R's agility through corners, but is tiring on long trips.

While the car is an exhilarating drive out on the highway or back roads, around town all the factors behind that enjoyment make it temperamental and tetchy in traffic.

But that shouldn't stop the fans. The Type-R has been a sell-out success in Europe, which has limited supply. Australia will get only 100 Type-Rs a month, and there's a waiting list.