Honda Civic Type R - long-term review 2025
Our new Civic Type-R goes one better. Forget the 100 metre test, the Type-R feels right as soon as you drop into the bright red driver's seat and clasp the cool-to-the-touch aluminium shifter for the six-speed 'box. Something about the driving position and the simplicity of it all says instinctively that you're in for a very good time.
Some cars feel right within 100 metres. The polish of their controls, the way suspension perfectly deals with the surface beneath and the accuracy of their steering makes all seem right with the world almost immediately.
Of course, we already know the Type-R is brilliant. It destroyed the 'competition' in our recent hot hatch test and really goes beyond the usual brief. It feels like a ground-up sportscar rather than a hatchback with some killer bits thrown into the mix. So, this long term test is really intended to discover if that pure sportscar feel gets wearing in every day use.
The ride is pretty tough. The manual 'box is a thing of beauty but will we be craving a dual-clutch after a stint on the M25? Especially with the new for this generation lighter flywheel that gives even greater engine response but might make trundling to the shops a little bit lumpy.
My guess, right now, is that the Type-R's purity won't hurt its daily appeal at all. So many cars seem to mistake 'breadth of ability' with an across the board averageness that the Honda's determination to be sharp, agile and exciting creates a sense of occasion that far outweighs any compromises.
So far, aside from the fact I can't turn off the speed limit warning chime, I'm loving pretty much everything about this thing. And in Racing Blue Pearl (the only extra at £700) it looks stunning.
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Close Diane Miller, Stellantis's top UK car manufacturing executive and winner of Autocar's 2025 Editors' Award, has loved cars all her adult life – preferably in very large numbers – and can vividly remember the day the obsession began. From a post-graduate job at Ford's then mighty Ford Fiesta plant in Dagenham, Essex, Miller has spent the past 30-odd years mastering ever more responsible automotive jobs around the world – for Ford, Aston Martin, GM and most recently Stellantis, in the UK, Europe and the US. Miller is decisive but modest and as a result reluctant to identify any particular secret of success. But if you converse with her long enough, she will eventually admit to one asset: 'Finding a way to get on with people.' It is for this that she is known and loved by the people who have worked for her. Having discovered its effectiveness early on, she has deployed her liking for people in every car job she has had, and she has become famous for it. 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' They knew if there was a problem and I could fix it, I'd do it right away.' Astra production ended in April 2022 – with quality levels higher than they had ever been. Then came the bombshell decision to start making Stellantis electric vans. 'It was a funny time,' says Miller. 'The whole of Europe thought this plant would never reopen, but we already knew [then Stellantis boss] Mr Tavares had decided to keep it going because he'd discovered – from the first time he visited us – that there was an ethos among Ellesmere people that we'd find a way to do whatever was needed to keep the place open. ' In order to make the changes, the factory was shut for 18 months. Staff who couldn't make cars helped move robots and build new rest areas. Managers went to Madrid, where changes planned for Ellesmere had already been made, to see exactly what was needed. Everyone adapted, in no small part because Miller's can-do culture had spread throughout the place. 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