It was our final day on the road with the 2016 Honda Civic Type R and time for reflection was ample. Todays undertaking would see almost 10 hours of driving back through three countries. Many hundreds of kilometres would be clocked and, as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, we also had a plane to catch. We would be taking it to the redline!
Getting free of the hustle and bustle in Hungry took some time, but the sun was shining and the scenery was plenty impressive. Hitting the main motorway it was a case of setting cruise control and hoping for a lack of traffic. Considering the vast distances covered on this grand tour, the Type R has proven comfortable. Whilst the engine does drone a bit at constant motorway speed, its bolstered seats are supportive and not once did I exit the car feeling achy or numb. This conclusively proves that anyone who moans on about these seats in a negative capacity is clearly too fat for them! Personally I think that is their problem and not Hondas.
Venturing into Austria I longed for the astonishing roads that we traveled on heading in the opposite direction. This car has been so much fun, but needs must and so the silky smooth tarmac of the motorway remained beneath our wheels. Interestingly the Civic Type R over the past few days averaged 26 MPG (before this long haul) which is pretty good considering that they have not been driven gently and did spend a prolonged period of time on arguably the worlds most challenging race track.
Germany brought showers and a slowing of our pace. Maniac lorry drivers and road works were primarily the cause, but this combined with a lunch stop back in Austria meant we had some time to make up. Blessed relief came when hitting a section of derestricted autobahn where I managed to take the Type R to the redline. Beating my previous personal best in this car of 152 MPH, I recorded 167.7 MPH. Officially speaking that is 0.7 MPH more than the Type R should be able to do. It was stable and reassuring even at these slightly unhinged speeds. I’ll tell you something else… It was still pulling when I had to hit the brakes! I think 170 is easily achievable and that this engine is only really limited by gearing. Very impressive indeed!
Our dirty fly spattered car arrived at its drop-off in similar fashion to a Le Mans racer. Its filthy body told a story of dramatic adventure. Mosquitoes embedded from the autobahn, road filth in every nook collected on some epic Austrian roads, tiny specks of rubber collated from hitting the Nurburgring. I felt somewhat sad leaving my loyal steed in the car park. It had served me well and I had grown particularly attached to this Championship White hero. I took one last glance at the machine that had delivered my 1,621 mile incredible journey across four countries in total. Whilst I was leaving it behind the one thing I will always have with me are the memories of this spectacular hot hatchback and that time we spent taking on Europe.
