Twice in the past month I've wished I was driving a Honda Civic Type-R. Both times I was in a queue of traffic on a flowing A-road. Both times the guy at the head of the queue was spooked by the idea of going round corners at over 30mph. Both times the buffoons behind him reckoned that six feet was a sufficient gap to leave between cars, making it almost impossible to overtake even on the longest straights. Both times a Type-R driver further back had the straightline acceleration to scream past all the rest of us in one smooth, if rather high-pitched, manoeuvre.That's the sort of situation which shows off the most manic Civic at its best. But as a previous road test suggested, the Type-R isn't an all-rounder. The engine dominates the chassis and makes the car quite a handful on anything other than a smooth, straight road.I'm not the only one who thinks this. So, rather surprisingly, does the company that built it. Or at least one of the Honda people recently admitted to me that in certain circumstances he thought that the Civic Sport tested here might be able to keep up with a Type-R. And I think he's right.It would have to be a very twisty, very technical route with not many straight bits. But even if there was room for the Type-R's phenomenal acceleration to come into play every now and again, the Sport would be able to claw back the advantage thanks to its greatly superior chassis balance.The Sport looks quite like the Type-R. They share various styling cues, and overall I think the Sport looks neater, though certainly less aggressive. Mechanically there's a world of difference between the two cars. The Type-R gets a rorty two-litre engine and a close-ratio six-speed box. The Sport has just five gears and its engine is unaltered from its application in standard 1.6-litre Civics, with a relatively modest 108bhp available, so in a straight line it's not as quick as it pretends to be.The key to the Sport's success is hidden away under the wheelarches. I don't think Honda often does a particularly good job with its suspension set-ups, but the Sport is one of its success stories in this area.It's tauter than the standard version, which like a lot of Hondas is considerably under-damped, and it doesn't have to cope with the torque produced by the Type-R's engine. Of all current Civics, the Sport is the most user-friendly when you're hustling along quiet back roads.On a race track, of course, the Sport would be soundly thrashed by the Type-R, and I'm not prepared to test the assertion that it would be quicker over any public road, however deserted and traffic-free.Furthermore, the power of the Type-R allows it to produce thrills which the Sport can't possibly match. But once the enjoyment of the Type-R's acceleration had worn off, I think I'd prefer the more subtle appeal of the less powerful car.The price difference between the two is quite small. You pay only £2500 extra for the Type-R's greater performance, which is really a bit of a bargain - modifying a Sport to produce the same power would cost many thousands more than that, and that's before you even think about uprating the transmission, suspension and brakes. On the other hand, the Sport is a lot cheaper to run, with much lower fuel consumption and greatly reduced insurance premiums.Honda won't have much trouble selling the Type-R as long as it represents such a performance bargain. But don't discount the Sport as a cheaper and in some ways more satisfying warm hatch alternative. Engine 1590cc, 4 cylinders Power 108bhp Fuel/CO2 42.8mpg / 157g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.6 seconds Top speed 116mph Price £13,513 Details correct at publication date
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