That’s right, a Honda. We’re not talking about some malnourished carbon-fiber torture device here. The best seats of any car on Speed Week—and any fast car on the planet as of right now—are to be found in the front of a Honda Civic Type R.
Bright red seats. That’s a bold call. You can’t spec them in black. They’re red, to match the carpets and the seatbelts. But they’d be just at home in a Ferrari as they are in Honda’s spectacularly complete superhatch. How much do we love ‘em? Let us count the ways.
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First off, the driving position. It’s great. You’ve got plenty of adjustment in the runners and the backrest. Unlike most Renault or Ford hot hatches of recent years, the seat isn’t mounted a foot too high off the deck. So when you drop into it, the seat sets the tone. It feels purposeful, not like a refugee Sparco office chair in a shopping trolley.
Next up, the support. Bolsters in all the right places here, stopping your legs slipping about less than the oddly lacklustre Lambo Sterrato’s chairs, but without the ‘wedgie gauntlet’ threat of the BMW M2 and M3’s overdesigned carbon thrones. And mercifully free of pointless embellishments like holey backrests and illuminated badges too.
So you’re located perfectly in the car and the seat is cradling your extraneous body parts. Plenty of cars can do that though. The GT3 RS and Artura get that right. What they can’t match is the sheer welcoming long-distance comfort of the Civic’s seats.
Just because chairs are sporty, doesn’t mean they can’t be thickly padded, says Honda. So every time you board the Type R, there’s more squidge than you’re expecting under your backside and against your kidneys. Not too much—like Honda’s own NSX, where the over-stuffed seats set the wrong tone like someone fly-tipped a Laz-E-boy lounger in a supercar.
They’re so cosseting, you won’t care that heated and ventilated seats aren’t available. Promise. Fabric chairs don’t need heating like leather ones to stave off frostbitten bum cheeks. They’re also naturally grippier in the corners.
The latest Honda Civic Type R is a magnificent piece of work. Possibly the finest driving hot hatchback ever made, no longer styled to give you a migraine and everyday practical. Worth every penny of the price tag. But among the countless things it does very well indeed, it teaches literally every other carmaker in the world how to make the best possible gimmick-free seat.
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
