HONDA CIVIC TYPE R

Type R gets a standing ovation as it bows out of the UK on a high

- Steve Sutcliffe

SO after six months and a whisker over 4,500 miles, my time with the last Civic Type R in its current shape is up, and so what do we think? Is the last Type R also the best? Has Honda finally attained perfection with this car or are there still areas in which it could be improved? The answers are complex, and not perhaps entirely what you'd expect.

On the one hand I've enjoyed driving the Type R even more than I expected to, which is saying something. When I say driving I mean just that, so not just ambling about in it but pedalling it properly - as its creators intended. So ideally on quiet roads, sometimes before the sun came up, when I could fully indulge in its rev-hungry power delivery and rabid acceleration, make the most of its fantastic brakes and gearchange, and get nicely in tune with its chassis, steering and suspension.

Drive the Type R hard over a great road - as I did on many occasions - or better still around a track at full chat and you will be amazed at what it can do. For a front-wheel-drive car it is outrageously fast and engaging. Then there's the raw, uniquely delicious feel it provides - to your hands via its steering wheel, to your feet via its pedals, and to your backside via its fantastic seats. Together, these elements combined to make the latest Type R a deeply intoxicating car to drive, perhaps one of the very best hot hatchbacks there's ever been.