Civic an old-school Type of driver’s car
Honda has revealed the newest entry in the Type R family, and no, it does not look like a Transformer, writes Nile Bijoux.
Honda has finally debuted the latest Civic Type R, and it’s far more grown up than the outgoing model, which means you’re no longer allowed to hate it.
As you might guess, the Type R takes the bulk of its styling cues from the already on-sale Civic, like the slim LED headlights separated by a narrow grille, with another larger intake below.
The corner foglights of the standard Civic have been replaced by corner intakes, moulding into flared wheel arches filled by 19-inch wheels. Around the back is the same triple exhaust setup as before. Hard to tell if it will sound better, though.
The bonnet has a large vent for the extra heat generated by the Type R-specific engine and the boot houses a fat rear spoiler.
It looks properly effective too. Honda isn’t saying how much downforce it generates, but we do know that the car was designed with aerodynamics and drag reduction in mind, as well as stability at high speeds.
Inside are red Type R seats which, if they’re anything like the old ones, will be more comfortable than racing seats have any right to be. There’s also red stitching, red coverings in the footwell, and Type R badging in the grille mounted in the dash.
The screen is also bespoke to the Type R, split in half. The top part shows gear, revs and speed, and the bottom is responsible for various telemetry readouts like engine temperature, boost pressure and oil pressure.
Feeding the front wheels is a worked version of the same 2.0-litre turbo engine as before. Annoyingly, Honda hasn’t confirmed its power figures or any performance metrics, but the press release says the engine now has a higher output.
According to people overseas who have talked to Honda officials, it’s quite a lot more power than before, which was rated at 228kW/400Nm. If it wants to keep up with the current crop of hot hatchbacks, it’ll need to be pushing more than 235kW, which is what the new VW Golf R offers.
It’s paired with a six-speed manual, as is proper, and doesn’t seem to have any electrification whatsoever.
We know Honda has been a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to hybrids and electric vehicles, but that attitude won’t last, so this could well be the last Type R to get an entirely old-school powertrain.
At the very least, it should be a brilliant driver’s car. On this, Honda promises ‘‘highly responsive handing developed with an aim to realise driving at the will of the driver, a throttle that reacts immediately to driver input, and also by further advancing a feeling of control of the six-speed manual transmission and the rev match control system’’.
The other piece of the puzzle is price. Last time we drove a Civic Type R it cost $62,990, but that was back in 2020, and things have changed a bit since then. The aforementioned Golf R asks a minimum of $77,990, so if Honda can keep costs under that, it should be golden.
Hopefully we’ll see the hot hatch in New Zealand before the end of the year, but that’s to be confirmed as well.