Can the 2018 Honda Civic Type R work as a daily commuter?
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The 2017 Honda Civic Type R is a load of fun on the track and there are 100 YouTube videos that will tell you as much, but how does it handle the rigors of daily life.
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Is this a hot hatch where you can have your cake and eat it too?
[SOUND] This is a day in the life with the hottest Honda to date.
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With 306 horsepower being routed to the front wheels, the Type R is not exactly your average Civic.
That said, the Civic remains one of the most popular non-cross-overs on the market.
And given its pedestrian underpinnings, there's plenty of sensibility hiding behind those garish body panels.
Let's start where most drivers do, the morning commute.
The Civic type R is not just a vehicle for warm weather.
But it is missing one key creature comfort that I think Anyone outside of the west coast would need, and its heated seats with the price approaching $35,000 you might think that Honda would include heated seats but, no, not here.
I don't know about you but I would gladly pay the $500 or so extra that would to get heated seats in this guy.
Now as for the shifter it is Giant piece of aluminum, and thus when it gets cold out it's like a ball of skin adhering ice metal.
So unless you want your hand frozen to your shifter for the entire ride, I recommend gloves.
The single trim of Type R we get here in the states comes with adaptive dampers linked to a mode switch.
The car defaults to sport mode which is refreshing since most cars don't.
That said, if you do want the smoothest ride to work possible, slap that bad boy in comfort.
As for how it drives, it's pretty close to a normal setting.
It is a little stiffer, being a performance car, but you do have adaptive dampers that you can set to comfort, which offsets some of that.
It's relatively easy to drive smoothly, as well.
The clutch has a very obvious bite point.
And the throttle can be manipulated in small amounts relatively easily.
And then there's the shifter.
My God the shifter is so good.
It is so precise and it feels like it was just ripped out of an S-2000.
It just makes you want to snick, snick, snick through the gears all day long.
And now that it has automatic rev matching on the downshifts, you can do that all day long and actually have it be smooth.
Simply put, it's a very easy daily driver.
But, as I experienced, the Civic Type R is rather low, and if you have a driveway that's on the steep side like mine is, your lip will kiss that driveway over and over until you learn.
The magic of the diagonal approach.
Slow and steady wins that race.
Obviously commuting isn't everything though and that's where the Civics humble underpinning begin to shine.
Let's say you need to grab some groceries on the way home.
This car is just a hopped up Civic hatchback so you get the same cargo capacity which is more than ample.
And since the car is easy to drive smoothly, you won't get home with a trunk full of rearranged perishables.
Daily drivers tend to accumulate tons of crap like receipts or cups, or you name it.
Thankfully, there is ample storage inside the Civic Type R, so you can overload yourself with that kind of Junk until you have no choice but to go to a gas station so you don't drown in [UNKNOWN].
Even with 306 horsepower on tap, you won't be stopping at every single gas station you see.
The Civic type R is rated by the EPA at 22 mpg city 28 highway.
And I've been seeing stretches on the highway in excess of 30 so.
There is still a good bit of economy in this economy car even if you have to spring for premium.
The real dividing point on this car is the exterior.
I mean look at it.
It's like a gundum shoved into an ill fitting shoe.
Now me personally, I love the aggressive front lip, big wheels and breaks.
I mean hell, I'm even warming up to the dining room table that passes for a rear wing.
But I understand it's not for everyone.
And compared to the Type R's of years past, especially the 90's models, this one really does ride that line between hardcore and outright garish.
Something like the Volkswagen Golf R, might be more your style.
It's much closer to what one would consider a normal car, but with all wheel drive, additional creature comforts, and a result in price tag that is nearly $6,000 higher It's also a much more expensive proposition.
For what it's worth, I'd still stick with the Civic.
If you don't mind the looks, you get a real performance car at a price that's not to hard to swallow.
And when you do get the time to take it to the track or some twisty back roads, you'll immediately remember why you bought it.
Just watch out for that front lip.
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