A Japanese hot hatch for the price of a city car? We found these used Type Rs

Honda has brought a long-awaited sprinkling of kei car magic to British shores with its new Super-N. And what a fab thing it is too; a narrow and thus nippy device, emitting no emissions from its tailpipe as it merrily sashays through traffic. Perhaps most notable of all for people like us is its taste of manual gear shifts and faux-Type R engine noise, bonus features that make its £18,995 price tag look a steal.

Or is it? That same sum of money can secure you a real Type R in fine fettle. A mere fraction of the sum gets you something older, shabbier but little less fun. We’re talking about the Honda Civic Type R hot hatchback, a car that’s been with us through six generations and recently retired form UK showrooms quite plausibly declaring itself the most composed and competent front-wheel-drive performance car in history.

Really?

Yep. The FL5-gen Civic Type R launched in 2023 with a ginormous, Porsche Cayman-troubling fifty grand list price, but promptly hit a home run thanks to the carefully polished evolution of its forebear’s dynamics. A brilliant car was now, um, brilliant-er, and quite a lot less challenging to look at, too. Dealers were given teeny allocations as buyers queued up to lay down a deposit. Even now you won’t pay much less than £45k for an average-mileage (and still warrantied!) example. Far be it from us to declare it a future-proof classic with the resale value of a rare mineral, but in the short term it looks a safe financial bet. One that’s also mesmeric to drive.

I’d like to pay less than that.

We hear you. The FK8 before it is little less superb to drive – arguably more so, if you like a firmly focused ride and a more blasé attitude to rolling refinement. This is essentially the rawer genesis of the FL5, offering similar 320bhp-ish performance in a lighter package. Its 229bhp/ton power to weight ratio is therefore a mite better and you still have a fabulous six-speed manual to slot around and a snappy limited-slip differential transferring all of its turbocharged torque deftly to the tarmac.

It feels like a road-legal touring car, with the wings and bulges of a race warrior to go with it. Plenty of contemporary criticism surrounded its looks – if you can stomach its design, it’s a knockout car. If you can also stomach a high mileage, prices drop teasingly close to £20,000, though expect to pay £30k (and beyond) for a fresher example. Proof that good cars hold their money.

Things to look out for? That it’s been looked after properly, ideally. A no-brainer on any used car, of course, but check that its tyres are matching brands, that the clutch operates easily and there’s no knocks from the suspension on a test drive. It’s a car that demands to be driven hard – no great shakes if it’s been appropriately looked after, but have a thorough poke around to be sure. Pursue a fastidious attitude to servicing and avoid questionable modifications that might be costly to insure (or reverse).

You promised less than a Super-N…

That’ll be Honda’s first turbocharged hot hatchback, the FK2 Civic Type R. It lived a curiously short life, sold between 2015 and ’17 before the FK8 promptly took over for a fuller, seven-year stint. This earlier car lives in the shadows as a result, perhaps considered a less desirable toe in the water for the rejuvenated Type R brand. Everyone forgets it’s really blimmin’ good too, which is terrific news if you want to spend less than £20k on a still fabulous-feeling car.

It uses the same 2.0-litre turbo four VTEC as its successor, producing marginally less power (306bhp) but the same torque (295lb ft) to ensure its 5.7-second dash from 0-62mph and 167mph top speed don’t pale in comparison. It kicked off Honda’s Nordschleife obsession, too, briefly nabbing honours from Renault to claim ‘fastest front-drive car’ honours around the ‘Ring in 2015 with a 7m50.63 lap. It was beaten a year later by Volkswagen (and its majestic Golf GTI Clubsport S) but even the recently departed FL5 Civic is only around 10 seconds swifter around the Green Hell than this FK2. Not bad when the older car can be bought for a third of the price.

As above, it’s a fairly hardy car, and a cursory check of its wear and tear – to gauge how hard it’s been used – is the best advice. Some early cars had head gasket issues, and examples with an awkward to operate (and thus very traumatised) gearbox should be avoided.

Let’s go cheaper still…

We have three more generations of Civic Type R to choose from. The effervescent performance treatment first appeared on the sixth generation of the venerable Honda hatch in 1997 – the Japanese market EK9. It was never officially sold in the UK – we instead got the luminous yellow Civic Jordan, a striking 500-car run in 1999 – but JDM examples occasionally dwell in the classifieds. They’re rare, so expect to pay the same money as the FK2 above.

Better value is the first Civic Type R officially sold here, the ‘breadvan’ EP3. It was even built in Britain – at Honda’s now sadly defunct Swindon plant – and it performed well in a bustling hot hatch market, going toe-to-toe with the Renault Sport Clio 172s, Citroen Saxo VTSs and MG ZR 160s of the early Noughties with fine handling and a revvy VTEC powerplant. Fun things – and yours from around £7,000 with a fair wind.

The biggest bargain of all, though? That’d be the FN2 which followed it. Slotting all that was good about the EP3 beneath the spaceship styling of the Mk8 Civic, it held plenty of promise – yet among the half-dozen heroes on this page, it’s the least revered. Still good to drive, easily sharpened further on the aftermarket, and starting below four grand, it asks little more than the deposit Honda demands for a Super-N lease.