Honda’s 170mph hot hatch runs rings round the rivals
I’M glad Honda chose to launch the new and updated Civic Type R at Rockingham Raceway.
I’m a big fan of the tricky infield National Circuit.
It’s a really technical track with plenty to think about. There are a couple of really big braking zones, a mixture of cambers and some corners that really need to be threaded together where a mistake in one will punish you in the third or fourth.
You can instantly spot a new Type R by its three exhausts. The third pipe, apparently, is to reduce booming resonance. Less obvious, unless you crawl about on the floor, is the all-new fully independent rear suspension, revised geometry and a raft of engine updates including sodium-filled valves and a water-cooled oil cooler and exhaust manifold.
Now, with 320bhp (up 10bhp), it’s one of the most powerful front-wheel drive cars available. But the handling and, in particular, the grip are this car’s best bits. On track, it’s amazing what you can get away with in this car.
Using its nifty auto-blipper on back shifts to save you the effort of heeling and toeing, the braking points are impossibly late. I mean, stupidly late. The sort of late that would utterly terrify an unwary passenger. Those massive, red Brembo calipers are not just there for show, believe me.
It’s the same with side grip, and the faster the corner, the better because all that comedy aero (the rear spoiler is bigger than most dining tables) really does work.
I don’t know all the names of the corners at Rockingham but the long, thirdgear left-hander over the hill before the hairpin has you really gripping the steering wheel just to keep your upper body in place, such is the lateral G.
There’s a really nice balance to the chassis, too. Get on or off the gas midcorner and it quickly, yet predictably, shifts the nose and tail of the car to adjust your line mid-turn. You’d have to be wearing diving boots and welding goggles to spin a Type R. There’s still some turbo lag – on the track you find yourself instinctively stepping on the accelerator fractionally earlier than you would normally to overcome this delay.
It’s worse at low revs but you soon learn to compensate by carrying a lower gear or applying power earlier. It’s probably more of an annoyance on the road.
Speaking of gears, there’s no auto or flappy paddle option, just a six-speed manual driving through a limited slip diff’. That’s fine by me because it’s so nice to use in an old-school, snicketysnick-snack way.
Honda’s tweaks have made a marked improvement in the handling department. The new Type R is more flickable, more agile than its heavier Golf R or Focus RS opposition and more precise, more controllable on the very edges of grip/disaster in the way the featherweight Megane RS was.
Yes, there is some torque steer, but considering what this turbocharged engine is putting through the front wheels Honda have done a pretty impressive effect.
It’s only really surface changes and the corresponding shift in grip levels that make the steering wheel squirm in protest, but it’s never intrusive.
The Type R has three switchable ECU settings – Sport (default) and Comfort and +R either side of that. Steering feel, throttle/engine response and damper settings are all affected depending on your selected mode. So you can drop your old mum off at Bingo and drive back like you’re on a qualifier all at the press of a button.
The looks of this car are a Marmite conversation topic. It’s growing on me – just like the yeast culture in Marmite.
In its defence, everything is there for a reason, from the cooling vents in the backs of the wings to the wings themselves.
For the very fact it is now one of the best-handling (never mind the fastest or most powerful) and best braking hot hatches out there, I’m ready to forgive.
And a 170mph car for £30,000 is amazing value for money, is it not? job in minimising the