The Honda Civic Type R Thread

Honda Civic Type R BTCC racer lands ahead of 2018 season

Latest generation hot hatch gets racing makeover before lights go green

The new Honda Civic Type R has been given a racing makeover before it takes to the track in the British Touring Car Championship this year.

Halfords Yuasa Racing’s new competitor, which is based on the latest FK8 Type R, was revealed at the Parcmotor Castellolí circuit near Barcelona in Spain, where it commenced a shakedown test in the run up to the first 2018 round in April.

Team manager James Rodgers said: “It's been a massive effort by the team over the off-season to transition to the new Honda Civic Type R and to see all of those hours of labour bear fruit is just a fantastic feeling.

“The car provides an excellent platform to work with and we're sure it'll prove a potent package when it hits the track in anger at Brands Hatch.”

The car will be driven by triple BTCC champion Matt Neal (pictured below left), who remains with the squad, and BTCC debutant Dan Cammish (below right), who joins from the Porsche Supercup and has two Carrera Cup titles to his name.

Cammish replaces Gordon Shedden, also a three-time champ who departed Yuasa Racing after 11 years. He leaves the UK championship to race an Audi RS3 in the World Touring Car Cup.

Neal said at the car’s reveal: “If the car goes as fast as it looks then we'll be in great shape this season.” Cammish emphasised his excitement for the season ahead: “Sitting in the cockpit for the first time will be a really proud moment for me,” he said.

The BTCC field will first meet at a season launch event on the 27 March at Donington Park, but racing will begin on the 7 March for round one of the 2018 season at Brands Hatch.

Halfords Yuasa Racing will be hoping to improve on last year’s performance, when it finished third in the constructors’ standings and its drivers finished fourth and seventh (Shedden and Neal) respectively. Last year’s champion, Ashley Sutton of Adrian Flux Subaru Racing, will be back to defend his crown.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...vic-type-r-btcc-racer-lands-ahead-2018-season

Civic Type R BTCC 1.jpg
Civic Type R BTCC 2.jpg
Civic Type R BTCC 3.jpg
Civic Type R BTCC 4.jpg
 
2018 Honda Civic Type R – Review and Track Test - Kelly Blue Book

[video=youtube;KaUm2jFbS-k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaUm2jFbS-k[/video]
 
New Civic Type R tested: To hell with decorum

Love it or hate it, you have to admire the audacious attitude Honda’s new Civic Type R brings to the hot hatch party. Like seeing that completely carefree rock star walk out on stage, shirtless, smoking, sporting chains and tattoos, skin tight jeans showing way too much bulge, while staring in awe secretly wishing you could pull off the same look.
The car certainly makes a statement. There are enough wings, flaps, ducts and fins to get Nasa’s rockets standing proud, and if you thought the previous generation was over the top with aero devices, this one’s even more so. And Honda swears it’s all functional. This version’s lower, wider and longer than the outgoing one, and even with all its bristling body addenda it’s 3 percent slipperier through the air.

To prove the point Honda took the new model to the Nurburgring and set a new front-wheel drive lap record of 7mins, 43.8secs, ousting the VW GTI Clubsport by 5.5 seconds. It’s also 7 seconds quicker than the outgoing Type R.

Of course that’s not all down to aerodynamics. It’s a little bit lighter (only 5kg) and it has the same engine with identical 228kW and 400Nm outputs, so it’s mostly in handling where the biggest improvements were made.

It takes only a few minutes behind the wheel to appreciate the effort Honda’s put in to fine tuning the suspension, and you get the distinct impression this isn’t just an ordinary Civic with stiffer shocks and springs. There’s an all-new multilink setup at the back axle, and a clever dual-axis arrangement with a new variable ratio steering rack at the front, which all contribute to making this one of the best handling front-wheel drive hatches we’ve ever driven.

In its Comfort setting it rides unbelievably well on its ridiculously low-profile 245/30/R20 tyres, and in both Sport and +R modes it clings to corners like a kitten to a curtain.

Torque steer is surprisingly non-existent even when hoofing it in bends, and a mechanical limited slip differential sees to it that no power is lost to spinning wheels on corner exits. It’s a seriously sorted piece of kit that could teach lessons to some of the best front-wheel drive cars out there.

Some credit must also go to the bespoke Continental tyres which give away their super soft rubber compound by plinking stones into the wheel arches at slower speeds just like a true race car would.

You can look at the six-speed manual gearbox in two ways: either Honda has lagged behind in transmission tech and can’t offer a quick-shifting twin-clutch auto like most other carmakers, or it’s catering to those buyers who still enjoy the hands on experience of a gear lever. While both are probably true, it’s important to note what a fantastic manual this is.

That signature spherical knob common to all Type Rs nestles into a palm so perfectly, and the mechanical H-pattern action is faultless in the way it snicks and clicks through its six gears. There’s also an automatic rev-matching function, affording drivers less proficient in the heel-toe technique the ability to blip throttle on downshifts. It’s a less obtrusive version of similar systems in other cars, and thankfully it can be fully disabled if you prefer performing blips the old fashioned way.

Obviously with powered traction coming from only two wheels, and no dual-clutch transmission to cheat time lost between gears, the Type-R will lose to most modern all-wheel drive hot hatches at the strip. Honda claims 0-100km/h happens in 5.8 seconds, but we couldn’t come anywhere near this figure in our tests at Gerotek.

A built in engine-saving measure won’t allow revs to rise past 3500rpm at a standstill, so loading the turbo on the line ahead of a clutch dump is impossible. In other words it’s extremely difficult to launch the Type R without bogging down, and after numerous attempts at tricky clutch modulation the best we could muster was 0-100km/h in 6.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 14.4. I have no doubt this Civic has the guts required for better sprint times, but they’ll remained locked away until Honda undoes this silly rev-locking feature.

Sadly those wicked looking triple tailpipes write a cheque the exhaust note can’t cash. It’s particularly nondescript in the aural pleasure department, with a very generic 2-litre turbo tone right through the rev range. Even so it’s an exciting thing to wring hard, and its relatively high 7000rpm redline lends a genuine throwback to the super high revving naturally aspirated Type Rs of the nineties and noughties.

VERDICT

With so many all-wheel driven, quick-shifting automatic hot hatches out there today, the Civic Type R could be considered part of a dying breed. And while it can hardly compete with these rivals in terms of off-the-line acceleration, it’s still an absolute hoot to drive. Possibly the most fun of all, actually.

FACTS

Engine: 2-litre, 4-cyl, turbopetrol
Gearbox: 6-speed manual
Power: 228kW @ 6500rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2500-4500rpm
0-100km/h (tested, Gauteng) 6.4 seconds
1/4 mile (tested, Gauteng) 14.4 seconds
Top speed (claimed) 272km/h
Price: R627 900
Warranty: 5-year/200 000km
Service plan: 5-year/90 000km

https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/road-tests/new-civic-type-r-tested-to-hell-with-decorum-13669556

CTR 1.jpg
CTR 2.jpg
CTR 3.jpg
CTR 4.jpg
 
Car Magazine irritating me again

They reviewed the car and of course what is THE TOP car someone would choose when shopping for a Honda vs... ? An equivalent Golf GTI.

But, clearly they were scared the Honda review might cause them to bump a VW from the No 1 spot in the 3-car comparison so they put it up against 2 older cars. They always make sure if a VW is threatened in their review its placed against older or very sub-par spec cars in the summary.

Would be nice if an unbiased review of this Honda vs a Golf GTI is done. Apart from that this Honda looks awesome...
 
Hyundai i30 N vs VW Golf GTI vs Honda Civic Type R - Motoring Australia

[video=youtube_share;yCUjRYVBXK8]https://youtu.be/yCUjRYVBXK8[/video]
 
Honda Civic Type R (2018) Review

Verdict

We've scratched our heads at length, but we don't believe a track-focused hot hatch has ever been this pliant as an everyday road car. The new Type R ushers in a no-compromise option for those who thought hot hatches are synonymous with back-splintering drives to work and back.

The Honda's looks are divisive, to say the least, and for most of our testers, its appearance was the most difficult thing to get past. It’s not the sort of car that blends in well if you’re in traffic or arriving at a social event. You’ll spend a lot of time explaining why it has so many exterior addenda.

Once you step inside and begin to open up the Type R’s gifts, it awakens the racing driver inside you. It has poise, balance and confident steering. It works on a point and squirt strip of road just as well as a sweeping set of bends. The manual gearbox is a pleasure to work and enhances the experience as you synchronise seamlessly with the machine.

As a car, it’s one of the very best out there, a brilliant driver’s machine that's entirely usable day in and out. It’s practical on the inside too; that’s where you’ll want to stay.

https://www.cars.co.za/motoring_news/honda-civic-type-r-2018-review/44827/

IMG_4475.JPG

IMG_4476.JPG

IMG_4477.JPG

IMG_4478.JPG

IMG_4479.JPG

IMG_4480.JPG
 
Hot hatch showdown: Seat Leon Cupra R vs Honda Civic Type R

The Civic Type R bottles the sensations common to bona fide sports cars and it’s a bottle you get to screw the top off on any road and at almost any speed. In the end, it’s simple: this limited- run Seat promises great things for an incipient Cupra brand, but the Honda is comfortably there already.

1st - Honda Civic Type R: A magnificent achievement from Honda. Tangibly the more involving proposition here, despite the unquestionable quality of its opposition

2nd - Seat Leon Cupra R: Phenomenally quick Leon bodes well for the Cupra sub-brand but never feels more than the sum of its admittedly impressive parts

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/...wdown-seat-leon-cupra-r-vs-honda-civic-type-r

IMG_5136.JPG

IMG_5137.JPG

IMG_5138.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X