Used test: Honda Civic Type R vs Hyundai i30N costs

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety

New, the Honda Civic Type R was the more expensive car by £3000, and at four years old that figure has increased to £5000. That’s a healthy amount of money to save, but the Hyundai i30N offers an even bigger saving – around £6000 – and is cheaper to buy overall. The Type R will set you back around £26,000 now, while the i30N comes in at around £21,000. 

That makes the i30N a very desirable proposition, especially if you’re on a tight budget. However, the Civic Type R has the better residual values, and that means that the quicker depreciation of the i30N will have cost you more overall when you sell it in a few years. 

Our True MPG testing revealed that the i30N will cost you more at the pumps, too, although servicing and insurance costs should be roughly equal.

The Civic we’re testing is the entry-level model rather than the plusher, pricier GT. As such, it trails the i30N Performance markedly on kit, missing out on fineries such as front and rear parking sensors, leather seats, power-folding door mirrors and wireless phone-charging. Both cars get lots of standard safety features, though, including automatic emergency braking.

Neither car featured in our 2021 What Car? Reliability Survey but the standard Hyundai i30 was solid enough to finish second in the family car class, with a score of 97.4%. The Civic, on the other hand, scored towards the bottom.

Hyundai, as a brand, finished in third place out of 30 manufacturers, while Honda placed 14th.

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