Honda Civic, many of you might be familiar with this name. An affordable sporty car, it’s quite popular among tuners because of its affordability and tuning capabilities. But we aren’t going to talk about any Civic Type R today, we are going to talk about the one with the high performance, the car that is often said to be the “King of Hot Hatchbacks” Got it? It’s the Honda Civic Type R. The car that probably started the hot hatchback era. The Civic also made its appearance in the Initial D, and it was one of the few cars that had a perfectly blended performance with practicality. We are going to talk about how the car went from being simple in design towards being the wildest looking car in its segment. How the engine in it evolved over time and how does it perform as a Daily driver and where does it stand among its arch rivals like the Hyundai Veloster N. So without any further ado, let’s dive into the review.
Design:-
Before anything else, I want to give you some context.
This is how it looks now:-
And this is how the Civic Type R looked when it first came out as a Practical Performance Hatchback, subtle, simple, fun to drive car:-
You can easily see the evolution through which the Civic Type R has gone over time. Honda’s design philosophy has also changed quite a bit. Honda went from designing and making minimalist looking cars to super aggressive or someone might even call it weird looking. Smoothness in design is the last word that will come to your mind when looking at the Civic Type R, but it’s not all that bad. From the front, the car looks really menacing, unarguably the best-looking front on any Hatchback. In the front, there are lots of things going on, from the front splitter to the vents. Don’t assume all of them to be real, I don’t when did Honda start adopting Audi’s Design Philosophy of adding fake vents to their cars, but Honda please don’t do it, it doesn’t hurt, to be honest. Then is the classic 4 door design. The Lines then flow over the roof to the rear, where you might notice some protruding things that are shaped like fins, those are actually functional. Those are called Vortex generators, they actually direct the air that is coming towards the car upwards, as to prevent any turbulence. The wing actually serves the purpose of adding downforce to the car. Then the exhaust, those triple exhausts design might actually remind you of the Ferrari 458. That’s all about the design, let’s see if the engine and the performance stack up to the design or not.
Engine & Performance:-
The first generation Type R that came out in 199y had a small but punchy, 1.6 Litre Inline 4 engine with 182 Horsepower and 160 Nm of torque, for its time, these numbers in a practical hatchback were insane. The latest Civic Type R has a 2.0 Litre Inline 4 turbocharged engine with 306 Horsepower and 400 Nm, the power has gone significantly higher but the Torque is the one that’s shining here. The Civic Type R is termed as the King, so let’s see how the king performs. The Civic type r takes just over 5 seconds to reach 60 Mph and being a front-wheel-drive car, the acceleration number is pretty good. The thing that has always made the Type R stand out isn’t its acceleration but the top speed it’s able to achieve, If you find a highway long enough like the Autobahn, the Civic Type R will go on to do a top speed of around 170 Mph, to put into context, the Civic Type R is just 16 Mph short of breaking the 300 Kmph barrier, what’s even more interesting is the fact that the Dodge Viper ACR, the best car America will ever make has a top speed of 176 Mph, also if you want to know more about the Viper ACR then check out the review ( https://www.motordrift.org/post/dodge-viper-acr-the-best-american-track-car ). Even though the engine in Civic type R is turbocharged there isn’t the presence of any sort of lag. The Throttle is really responsive. You know my love for manual cars and how much I adore them, the Civic Type R happens to have a Manual transmission and the experience of driving a car like the Type R with such a responsive engine and punchy performance coupled with a manual transmission is surreal. There are also speculations that Honda will be putting a CVT in the Type R in near future, I don’t want to say anything about it except one thing, Honda that CVT which you are going to put in the Type R better be good or else…….. Your car won’t sell and it would receive bad reviews from all around.
Interior:-
The interior of the car is pretty Honda, obviously, it’s a Honda Product but the interior hasn’t evolved over time as I expected it to be. First things first, the Steering wheel is pretty amazing, not just in looks but in the overall feel. The Steering wheel can be speced in 2 different color schemes which are good. The Screen present in the middle offers a plethora of information, it’s not too much laggy but would have been nice if it performed a bit faster. The digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is visible enough for the driver to read without any hassle. The AC vents have been placed all around the driver which might not be the best thing to do considering that the driver would have some co-passengers along with him. In the center, there is the beautiful looking 6-speed manual transmission which with its shiny appearance might be one of the very first things you would notice. Around it is some controls for the various functions of the car. Behind it, you will find the presence of some cup holders which are large enough to fit a 1-liter bottle. Visibility is great and there are no issues regarding the headroom and the legroom you get in the car. The same goes for the rear seats as well. Overall, the interior looks good but Honda certainly could have done better in my opinion.
Conclusion:-
The Civic type r without any doubt is one of the best performers in its category. There is no denying that. It looks crazy, performs well, has a manual transmission, and the practicality of a 4 door hatchback. But would I take over the Type R over its competitors? No, I would take the Veloster N, want to know the reason, stay tuned for the next post in which will discuss the Type R’s Arch Rival, the Veloster N.
Ciao