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Our Cars: Honda Civic Type R
2 years ago
English buzzed to France on holiday
‘Don’t stay in Roscoff,’ said a friend. ‘That’s what all the Brits do and it’s a grockle trap.’
I do love that peninsula, though; the seafood, the markets, the winding roads and lovely quiet beaches and memories of my dad who so loved the place. So, we came over all adventurous and travelled all of 3.5 miles to St Paul du Léon to an Airbnb down on the littoral – or quayside.
Staying in a belle epoque three-storey with a cracking view of the harbour and the sun rise, and a winding staircase which creaked like a ghost story, was lovely. I ran in the morning to get Mrs English the most scrumptious croissants from the bakery, we ate reasonably at the local restaurants and I swam in the bracing water and found yellow shells on the beaches. Sweet strawberries and earthy new potatoes from Ile de Batz were reminders of childhood and how food used to taste.
"The villages have road-calming bumps and cycle paths but you’re not going fast in town anyway. I’m not a fan of going to other countries and tearing around like a lunatic; it seems ill mannered and gives us all a bad name"
‘Most people bring wine back, but you’ve bought spuds and strawberries,’ said my daughter when we returned, but there were no complaints.
The welcome was warm and generous, too. Was this because of the 80th D-Day commemorations? Certainly, there were a lot of British- and French-registered Willys Jeeps around, and bunting and Union Flags in shop windows. Memories are stretched back here. After D-Day between August and October the Battle for Brittany took place. The American 8th Corps and Free French fought their way into the peninsula to capture heavily fortified ports and aerodromes – the port of Brest was flattened and surrounded and only surrendered at the end of the war. Nazi reprisals were barbaric and most small towns have memorial plaques to men and women who were taken away and never came back, and concrete pill boxes and gun emplacements can still be seen at intersections and on the beaches. I felt that this year’s D-Day commemorations had a special poignancy here.
“No real problems with Buzz of course, she’s a Honda, but the nearside rear C-pillar is losing its lacquer, which is a known problem with these Milano Red Type R models. What’s the verdict of the Ti community?”
With decent weather we didn’t go far, but wow, in comparison with our cart tracks, the French roads are beautifully surfaced. It’s just the reverse of the situation in the 1960s when Dad’s Rover would be bouncing around the rural routes like a leather-and-veneer Space Hopper.
Buzz sticks to the road like a Spaniel on a scent and that grippy light-coloured tarmac with gravel added is just the stuff to have fun on. The villages have road-calming bumps and cycle paths but you’re not going fast in town anyway. I’m not a fan of going to other countries and tearing around like a lunatic; it seems ill mannered and gives us all a bad name.
No real problems with Buzz of course, she’s a Honda, but the nearside rear C-pillar is losing its lacquer, which is a known problem with these Milano Red Type R models. What’s the verdict of the Ti community? Patch repair to prevent it getting much worse and water getting into the water-based pigment coat, or leave it until it’s much worse and have the whole car done?
The engine sings but the clutch talks, too
The other thing is that the clutch talks to you. A gentle moan when releasing it and manoeuvring, like the wind in the flue on a stormy night. It feels fine and the engagement is at the bottom of the pedal (the car’s only done 24,000 miles), but Dr Google isn’t very helpful. The Type R community seems confused as to whether this is A Serious Problem or not. A clutch change is four to five hours and then there’s the cost of a genuine Honda clutch pack and I’d hate to do all that work and shell out that money only to find, as some have done, that when you’ve torqued up the last bolt, the darn thing is still moaning at you.
Let me know what you think.
(Herbie the Labrador went to yoga classes, was a much-admired guest on the surfing beach, did horticulture and went to the pub. He thinks life back with us is very dull…)
