During the launch of the Honda Civic Type-R, we asked assistant to Honda’s MD, Seki Inaba, why South Africa hadn’t received any Honda hybrid vehicles yet. His answer was one that epitomised why so many Honda customers love this brand.
Inaba explained that Honda headquarters in Japan was not happy with the quality of fuel in South Africa and it was therefore unwilling to make its hybrids available to us.
”Even if we sell 100 hybrids and one customer is not happy with the vehicle’s performance, it only represents 1% of the customer base. But, to that one customer, he is 100% of the customer base.”
Basically, Honda didn’t want to take the risk of making even one of its customers unhappy by selling vehicles that were supposed to be fuel-efficient but which might not have been so frugal if the quality of petrol wasn’t good enough.
The good news, however, is that Honda will launch its first diesel vehicle here in upcoming months, so South Africa is making some progress towards having the kind of fuel that our perfectionist Japanese friends are happy with.
Thank goodness our fuel didn’t prevent Honda from launching the Civic Type-R, because South Africans would have missed out on one of the most feisty hatchbacks I’ve ever driven.
Walking up to the fleet of black and red Type-Rs (only two colours to choose from), we sized up the vehicle, noticed the dropped suspension, the colour-coded body kit and the futuristic design that we adore, and we knew instantly that this was a car that we could easily fall in love with.
The front seats aren’t Recaro seats, but they are sports seats that are shaped to keep us firmly in place. Of course, the dashboard, speedo, and so on, are the same as in the regular Civic hatches.
At most vehicle launches, motoring scribes pair up so that one journalist drives while the other navigates. Of course, we alternate duties and if the road is long, we’re only too happy to have our colleagues drive more than half the distance.
This time, however, my driving partner and I were literally fighting to drive the Type-R, not because it’s insanely powerful or exceedingly easy to drive, but because it was such an exuberant car. The Type-R just didn’t stop giving — it was so eager to please.
The launch took place on the Cape coast, where we drove through mountain passes, such as the Franschoek Pass, and the Type-R proved to be as intoxicating as it was wicked.
The hard suspension came into play in the twisties to keep the car firmly on track and the engine howl encouraged us to push the car further and further.
Handling was phenomenal, as was acceleration and overall agility.
The Type-R, which costs R259 500, delivered a very punchy performance, letting the revs drop down into the red zone to unleash all the eager horses under the bonnet at the slightest provocation.
It’s no wonder then that the song accompanying the Type-R TV ad is the edgy and acclaimed Blue Eyes by the Springbok Nude Girls. The hard guitar riffs, the frenetic percussion and the smoothness of Arno Carstens’s voice aptly sums up the Type-R’s multifaceted personality.