Civic Type R
is finally here - hurrah! Like the rest of the motoring media world I've been enjoying some time behind the wheel at the launch in Slovakia this week and I must admit my thumbs are all atwitch at how I can get my backside in one. The Type R doesn't officially go on sale until July but the price is known: £29,995. You can add another £2,300 for the GT pack with active safety gear, Connect infotainment and sat-nav.
That's pricey by hot hatch standards, but the headline-grabbing £299-a-month PCP deal is attracting a lot of attention. After all, four out of five private new car buyers goes down the finance route these days. According to the small print on Honda's website, you'll need a 30 per cent deposit (some £8,740), then pay £299 a month over 37 months, at 5.9 per cent APR, all based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. Which sounds pretty enticing, I reckon.
Yes, it's that bloomin Golf again
But you might need to get your posterior in gear fast to take advantage of this official Honda deal. Remember when VW launched the Golf R at £300 per month last year? That very popular deal has long since disappeared off the table.
Or has it? No - in fact, it's possible to score a Golf R on a PCP from a VW dealer for even less than this: just £259 a month.
You'll need a hefty deposit of £9,045 and you'll pay a higher rate of interest than at Honda (6.2 per cent APR) over all of 49 months, and crucially mileage is limited to 20,000. But under 260 quid for a Golf R is mighty tempting.
£239 a month and a low deposit - tempting
The Golf R is not the only hot hatch gunning for your three hundred a month. Another of our faves - the
SEAT Leon Cupra 280
by SEAT
with a £1,000 finance deposit contribution, which is very nice of them.
In fact, the deal works out at pretty much one pound per bhp per month - £289. That'll get you in the driver's seat of an SC or five-door 280 after paying a deposit of £6,936. Prefer the new ST 280 estate? That'll be £7,338 deposit and £295 a month - all over a 48-month contract. SEAT's APR is 5.5 per cent.
Ford's not going to let you ignore the recently revised Focus ST, either. Up until June 30, it's offering a Ford Options deal on the whole Focus ST range, giving you £1,500 deposit allowance. You only need to pay £4,432 as a deposit, and over two years you'll pay what seems like a bargain £239 a month for a Focus ST-1. Your mileage-per-annum limit is 9,000, and the finance rate is 4.3 per cent APR.
And for something a little different...
And with their competitively realigned pricing, the Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ are both members of the sub-£300 club, too. Toyota is offering a £1,000 deposit contribution
on
all GT86s
(except the Primo), so you can get a GT86 over 36 months for £300 a month, based on a customer deposit of only £5,597. That's based on 10,000 miles a year, with finance costing 4.9 per cent APR.
On the face of it, that's a better deal than the PCP offer at Subaru on the BRZ The finance rate on a BRZ 2.0i SE Lux automatic looks stiff at 6.9 per cent APR, as does the deposit required (£6,604) and your monthly rate of £299 is over 49 months.
Time to bowl up to that Honda dealer, I think.
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