Honda Civic Type R (FN2) | Shed of the Week

What were you doing when the news came through of the death of Elvis Presley? By an extraordinary coincidence, Shed was munching through a massive burger while sitting on the toilet. Actually it’s not as big a coincidence as you might think because he was often obliged to smuggle grub into the lav on account of the inedibility of Mrs Shed’s cooking.

But where’s the connection between that and a story on a motoring website, we don’t hear you ask? Well, just that 22 August 2025 will mark the first appearance on Shed of the Week of a Honda Civic Type R. It might not be quite as earth-shattering an event as Elvis’s demise, but it would still be marked down as a red letter day in the SOTW history books, if there were any. 

This 2008 gen-three actually sneaked into the classifieds last week, causing great excitement, but we couldn’t run it because the MOT was due to expire the day before it would have gone live. PH interns were immediately rounded up and ordered to pray day and night for the issuance of a new ticket and lo! it happened. So here it is, the first Type R shed. 

The pencil-sharpener shape of the gen-eight Civic was a challenging starting point for the gen-three Type R, and sure enough the styling did prove controversial, not least because it was such a departure from the cleaner-lined and greatly loved ‘breadvan’ EP3. It’s hard to say if the far fussier FN2 shape has aged well since 2007 because it was so different to everything else back in the day and it’s still unique now. It set its own standard.

The gen-three CTR was about 60kg heavier than the EP3 and it took a bit of a step backwrds chassis-wise, the EP3’s multi-link back end being replaced by a more prosaic torsion bar that meant a pretty firm ride and reduced dartiness. Still, relative to most other comparable stuff on the road in 2007, the FN2 held up its end well enough. Honda sold a four-door FD2 Type R saloon in Japan but in the UK it was only available as a Swindon-produced FN2 3-door hatch. If the test results of the time are to be believed the saloon was quicker around a track than the hatch.

The power of the K20Z4 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four – still surely one of, if not the, greatest of its type – was only 1hp up on the EP3’s K20A2 unit, but the newer car’s 198hp peak power came in slightly lower down the rev range at 5,200rpm. The 0-62mph was done in 6.6 seconds, not a long amount of time even by modern standards. Torque wasn’t exactly stump-pulling at 142lb ft, but who cared about that when you could gaily whizz the motor to 8,000rpm, feverishly twiddle the six-speed box’s metal knob and laugh out loud at the growly VTEC step, signalled for the terminally unaware by a light on the dash. The £1,000 more expensive GT model (as here) came with cruise control but the chances of you feeling inclined to use that last feature were slim. Top whack was 146mph.

The engine was timed by chain rather than belt, which was a good thing. It quite liked a drink of oil, which could also be seen as a good thing if you didn’t rate the thought of stale oil staying in your engine forever. PCV valves could block up and there could be a whine from the trans when you let the clutch out, but that last one was more of a Type R characteristic than a problem. Second gear crunch and a less-than-cooperative worn-synchro third would be more concerning. The 215g/km emissions score gives it an annual tax liability of £415, if Shed’s chart is still valid.

This car is currently located in Scot Land. The ad copy for the car is tight-lipped. All they tell you is what the car is. However, the banner running across the bottom of the header pic does bring the welcome news that there’s a minimum warranty of one month and a minimum MOT of six. Or twelve, as it now stands. That’s hopeful because, without being rude or country-ist, rust can be a more ruthless car-killer up there. The offside front suspension mounting area was indeed declared to be excessively corroded last August (’24) although that was put right to get it through the test.

Last year’s inspector also mentioned corrosion to the offside rear shock. Replacement wasn’t considered necessary then, or even now with the most recent MOT, but anyone who is even vaguely interested in getting somewhere close to the genuine CTR experience will surely want to investigate their suspension freshening options. OEM replacements look expensive at between £330 and £500 a corner, depending on who wants to chance their arm the most. Shed’s default for every online shopping search is of course ‘lowest price first’, as a result of which he has seen aftermarket shocks with obscure but cool-sounding brand names for as little as £90 a pair. You probably wouldn’t want those to be honest, but if you’re prepared to put in a bit more research effort than Shed you should be able to find a decent solution for not much money. He actually found a rear shock for £24, but that came with its own rust and the postage was £128.

In typical Honda fashion, the red paint looks a little faded and the front end is unusually free of stone chips, but if you look past that and your vehicle checks all come out okay then this seems like a tidy car for the £1,999 being asked for it. The interior is used, as you’d expect from a 17-year-old car with 134,000 miles on it, but not obviously abused. There’s not a lot of space in the back of an FN2 but the boot is surprisingly large at 495 litres. 

Door mirror modules can play up, and that could get annoying because the cabin mirror won’t be showing you much apart from the rear spoiler. Water could get into the lights on that spoiler and also past the door top seals or behind the windscreen top. 

‘Type R shed’ sounds wrong somehow. Cars wearing this revered badge generally don’t reach shed status. They’re normally good, good, good and then gone, ravaged by recklessness or rust, and almost always before they reach our sub-£2k qualifying criterion. So let’s give this one a big cheer, hope it’s as solid as we hope, and go on the hunt for a sympathetic insurer.