But it’s more fun to engage with the Type R and maximise its performance. As with the A 35 and Golf, you simply keep your foot to the floor and the electronics do all the work for you. Of course, it doesn’t have the four-wheel-drive security of its rivals, but the Honda feels more alive as a result. Even with its pumped-up looks, the Civic Type R is still very practical. It has the biggest boot of the three cars with the rear seats in place, at 420 litres, and there’s plenty of leg and headroom in the back. Storage space around the gearlever is limited, but there’s a deep central bin with a single cup-holder. It’s just a pity this makes changing gear tricky if your bottle or cup is tall. This is partly due to the strange dash design. For example, the USB charging points are tucked away out of sight. The Civic comes with autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and traffic sign recognition as standard. Honda’s third-place finish in our Driver Power 2018 survey was strong, and shaded VW’s fifth spot.
It was a little different for the brands’ garage networks in our latest Driver Power dealer poll, with Honda retailers ranking second, while Volkswagen came 18th and Mercedes was in between, in 13th place out of 28 manufacturers. Our depreciation experts predict that you’ll lose £16,930 on the Civic over three years, because it holds on to 49.5 per cent of its original list price and is the cheapest car of the three in this test. The Golf’s expected 47.1 per cent residual value means a loss of £18,467 over the same period, while the A 35 still sheds £18,288 with its anticipated 48.6 per cent figure. Thanks to its long list of standard equipment, the Type R is by far the best-value model of our trio. It’s also the cheapest to insure: our example driver will pay an annual premium of £420 to cover the Civic, whereas it’s £725 and £695 for the A 35 and Golf R respectively.
“Lift off mid-corner and the Honda will start to tighten its line. Hit the throttle and the front wheels will pull you around the bend. The Volkswagen Golf R set the blueprint for modern hot hatch design with its potent engine, four-wheel-drive layout and practical body. Prices for WLTP-homologated models haven’t been released, but you can buy a brand-new 2018 car from stock for £34,910, which sits between its rivals here. Under the skin of the Golf is the VW Group’s MQB platform, which is the basis of many different models. It’s versatile, too, which allows the R variant to use four-wheel-drive. The 2.0-litre petrol engine produces 306bhp and the R’s four-wheel-drive system makes excellent use of the powerful motor, especially thanks to Volkswagen’s clever XDS electronic differential. Opting for the £850 Dynamic Chassis Control adds adaptive suspension, which allows you to switch between Comfort, Normal and Sport modes. It’s pricey, but still worth having because it broadens the Golf’s already impressive everyday usability without compromising its handling.
