What is it?
The Honda Civic Type R, in this its glowering, jutting and angrily blistered fifth-generation form, has landed. Faster, stronger, more powerful and more advanced than any of its forebears, the British-built hot Honda Civic has now begun rolling off its Swindon production line in serious numbers. But has its big moment finally come?
This is the first Type R in more than a decade to move back to all-independent suspension; the first to be developed as a performance machine from the ground up rather than adapted from an existing platform. This Type R broke the lap record for a front-wheel-drive production vehicle at the Nordschleife earlier this year. And this is the first review you’ll read anywhere on an absolutely final, series-production-specification, right-hand-drive example.
Like all Type Rs to date, the fifth-generation Civic is front-wheel drive and sticks with a traditional six-speed manual gearbox for what Honda considers the purest, simplest and potentially most dynamically compelling hot hatch driving experience possible. Compared with the forth-generation model introduced only two years ago, it has a stiffer and lighter body and entirely new suspension and steering systems. A relatively understated powertrain overhaul makes for a 10bhp power boost, while torque remains unchanged.
If you like your performance statistics, you may not be instantly impressed with this car: despite the 10bhp power gain and a final drive ratio shorted by 7%, the new Type R only manages to match the car it replaces on 0-62mph standing-start acceleration (at 5.7sec) and beats it on top speed by a 2mph margin. But don’t be fooled: Honda’s claim is that the superiority of the new version runs deep – and we’ve already confirmed some of its strides in our European first drive.
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What Car Disagree
Your sister magazine seems to love this car and have rated it above the seemingly unbeatable Focus RS in a comparison test.
That might be because they look more at the overall picture such as comfort and practicality but they still reckon it is huge fun in the bends. The looks are not to eveyone taste but seeing them every day at the port where I work, I'm starting to like it more.
How to undo very good work: employ a committee of stylists....
You know: lightness, Honda engineering, painstaking development, dependability (we'll ignore F1...), dealer network, pricing and warranties....the good ol' R has a lot going for it. On all previously mentioned 'metrics' I'd take it over the Focus and the Golf R. But dear o dear, Honda: get yourself a proper Head of Global Design and stick to your traditions. If that means 'intriguing' Japanese design, then so be it: you are a Japanese brand - celebrate it. Curently, this 'global design committee let's-chuck-everything-at-it' approach does not work.
ugly
The sheer ugliness of this car defies belief. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but the stylists must just think in a completely different way to me!