The Experience of Driving the New Honda Civic Type R: A Hands-on Review

As I stepped into the driver's seat of the new Honda Civic Type R, I was immediately struck by the level of grip and traction that this car delivers. There's a noticeable limited slip differential hookup, which can be felt through the steering wheel as you accelerate and brake. This is especially apparent when driving on roads with minimal grip, such as the Portuguese countryside where I had the pleasure of testing the car.

The Type R's 60kph (40mph) limiter becomes apparent at first glance, but if you push it to its limit, the car will reward you with a thrilling experience. The pedal feel is sublime, with a precise and responsive throttle that makes you feel connected to the road. In contrast, when driving in regenerative braking mode, which is common in electric vehicles, the brake pedal can feel slightly less engaging due to the involvement of the motor as a generator.

In Sport mode, the car becomes even more aggressive, with a weighted-up steering response and increased noise levels. However, this also introduces a slightly firm ride quality over poor road surfaces, although it's not excessively harsh. The real magic happens when you switch back to Sport +R mode, which amplifies every aspect of the driving experience. This is the setting I recommend for quick, spirited road driving, as it makes the most of the car's performance capabilities.

It's worth noting that Honda has made a commitment to staying true to its racing heritage, as evident in the R badge on the Type R. The company's founder, Soichiro Honda, once said "Without racing, there is no Honda," and this philosophy still holds strong today. While other manufacturers may have abandoned their performance divisions or shifted focus towards electric vehicles, Honda remains dedicated to creating cars that are genuinely driver-focused.

One of the most impressive aspects of the Civic Type R is its value proposition. While it's undoubtedly more expensive than some of its rivals in terms of outright cost, its performance and handling make it an excellent choice for those who prioritize driving dynamics over sheer speed. In fact, when compared to other premium hot hatches on the market, the Civic Type R stands out as a compelling alternative.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the new Honda Civic Type R, finding it to be one of the best hot hatchbacks available today. With its exceptional handling, responsive steering, and engaging driving experience, this car is sure to appeal to enthusiasts who value performance above all else. Whether you're a seasoned track driver or simply someone who appreciates the thrill of spirited road driving, the Civic Type R is an absolute must-consider.

For those interested in learning more about the Honda Civic Type R, I recommend checking out our full written review on Autocar.co.uk, as well as my column and podcast, which offer a deeper dive into the car's features and performance. With a digital subscription to Autocar magazine, you'll also gain access to exclusive content, including news from the automotive industry and expert analysis of the latest cars on sale.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new Honda Civic Type R which in a rapidly changing Automotive world is pretty old school unlike the rest of the hybrid new Civic range this is traditional Type R material it's a front engine front-wheel drive hot hatchback with a 325 horsepower 2-liter engine a limited slip differential and a six-speed manual gearbox with a top speed of over 170 miles an hour it is a proper performance car and as we'll come to later as a price to reflect it the previous type R was the best big hatch on sale so how about this one okay so welcome to the inside of the new Civic Type R on track it's a slightly damp greasy track there is a REV match straight away uh I can tell you you can turn it off well I've got it on just to see what it's like of the different Drive modes I've stuck it into plus r which is the angriest of all it turns up the dampers turns up the speed of the of the blipping I can firms up the steering weight imagine sounds a bit more uh uh oh what's the weather like for clinical's not the right word so that's a bit more synthetic I think than the old one I've asked them if it comes through the speakers and my driver who was next to me a minute ago didn't think so but he doesn't know but I will check that and we'll drop that in a little caption underneath so that's third gear loads of talk low down and then the limiter at sort of seven two very smooth limiter and you get a B to tell you to shift up before you get there it's a really nice gear ship there's very little lateral movement that is one of the things that Honda says they have changed between generations of Thai Bach the state 's really good that's another thing they say they've changed they have stiffened up uh some bits that give responds in the steering to let you know what's going on at the road more quickly had good steering before really good steering now it's quite quick it's a two book One turns lock to lock but never nervous there was a time when Engineers thought hydraulic power steering was better than electrically assisted steering and the Clarence I still think that's the case but you can play with it much more set things up much more over a wider breakthrough parameters with electrically assisted steering and this is really good I think this is a front-wheel drive car with now 330 horsepower I could just feel it nibbling the lip to slip diff starts to hook up just nibbling at the understeer and it just tells you all the way through what it's doing to really Sensational it'll be lovely If This Were dry and you could really lead on the outer limits of the tires to see what you know just how much lateral grip it makes but even in these conditions it is a mighty car and as you turn and if you Trail the brakes in this front wheel drive car will start to sort of just Edge off into oversteer in a very nicely telegraphed way the stability control is on here so actually it will wrap things up before it gets too wild but the best hot hatchbacks do that Ford's St models and rs models have done it and Renault Sports have done it there you go it just wants to nip into overseer if you turn in on the brakes slightly but it tells you exactly what it's up to the best hatchbacks to it because it helps get something out of the rear wheels as well as the front to you know engages them in process it is a quick car this five something five and a half seconds to 60. and 170 miles an hour at the top end brakefield is really good steering feel is really good I know what this car is doing even though there are damp conditions under 30 it's pretty early in the day it's I don't know 15 degrees out something like that the tires are really very warm but it's still despite all of those hindrances lack of according Force lack of temperature lack of traction it's still telling me absolutely what it's up to it's sort of sits I remember when hot hatchback seem to be 30 grand and that was expensive this is 46. they tell you that there's a PCP which uh you can have for 500 a month what I expect you to be 300 quid a month didn't they anyway all cars are expensive this is among them but it kind of sits halfway up the pack on the hot hatchback echelons in the UK If you take all of them they tend to go from high 20s up to you know for the real premium RS3 stuff up to sort of 50 50 something Grand this is sort of in the upper middle tier I suppose but the thing about hatchback so one of the things that we talk about at autocar quite a lot is that fun doesn't necessarily relate to the asking price right so you might have more fun in a 30 grand 35 Grand Toyota gr 86 than you would in a well I don't know I don't want to be cruel to anything in particular but you might do it 100 in 100 Grand sports car so don't think that this is a lesser car say than an Audi RS3 or a Mercedes A45 on account of the fact that it is a bit cheaper and a bit less powerful I think you gotta have more fun in one of these oh the most other hot hatchbacks what hot hatch is more fun than this so that's what it's like on track what is this new Civic Type R like on the road right so welcome to the Civic Type R on the road still slightly crummy conditions but a good track car doesn't always work on the road and it doesn't always translate the other way either there are Drive modes in this car uh Comfort Sport Plus R and individual in which you get to choose what you get but I'm going to stick it in Comfort because it's a wet day and I don't think you want the dampers too stiff in The Damp because you want a bit of lean actually onto the outside tires it makes the car drive better it actually gives it more grip and traction Honda says with the old Type R that you lost some suspension compliance in the move from Civic to Type R unsurprisingly I mean it's a hot hatchback they tend to be more focused less comfortable than a regular hatch they reckon that isn't the case this time around now I haven't driven the conventional hybrid Civic today but this does feel like a compliant car really nice and yet body control is tight no question steering is lovely the steering is really lovely all of that immediacy that you've got on circuit is replicated on the road it's not quick without being nervous it's nicely weighted it tells you things it just I just got a bit of understood then because he's got quite a lot of talk and the conditions are not great it doesn't limit the talk in any gear so if you want it all hey you get it all and you just have to deal with it but there is not torque steer but you can feel that limited slip differential hookup just to feel it through the steering how much grip and how much traction it has and you feel that brilliant there is not a lot attraction on a road like this on a day like this so that's third gear and you can feel it spinning up that was it 60 kph 40 miles an hour but if you drive up to it I know what it's going to do that's the great thing I know exactly what it's going to do I can feel what it's going to do pedal feel is great brake pedal feel is great this is certainly in the UK I think throughout Europe the only pure internally combusted Honda you can buy now if you know if you're in a states that will not be the same for you or many other markets that won't be the same for you but there's a lot of electrification throughout the Honda range and what that often means in terms of brake pedal feel is that when you get on the brakes they try and slow you down through uh regenerative braking so the motor becomes a generator and then at some point in the process the brake discs take over and you start to get friction braking and that mix of the two doesn't always lend itself to Great brake pedal feel this being a pure internally combusted car it's got great feel really great feel I'm just going to pop it into sport for a moment and see how much stiffer that makes it whether it's too harsh for the road now the answer is it's fine actually it's still really good come on let's stick it in Type R plus r mode see how bad that is I'll get a bit more noise bit more room for steering is immediately weighted up this is the kind of subtlety that you don't notice so much on a circuit because the levels of acceleration braking cornering are much much higher in circuit so these things you don't notice quite as much as you do on the road it is a bit it is a bit lump and a bit firm over really bad imperfections but you could drive it in time in plus r on the road certainly out out here in Portugal where it's kind of smoothish I suppose might be different in the UK but let's go back into sport which I think is probably the one for quickish road driving it's really good it's so good I really like this car I really liked the old one I really like this one and Honda says that regardless of what happens in terms of electrification it is committed to taipa the founder sochiro Honda used to say without racing there is no Honda R stands for racing they like making drivers cars so while Peugeot may have given up GTI Renault may have given up Renault sport Ford no longer has an RS in its range in Europe I mean they're still committed to performance cars but you know not in the same way they used to be the nice thing is that Honda says yeah we are behind the idea of drivers holders and if they are all as good as this Happy Happy Days this is a terrific Potter hatchback an expensive Hot hatchback compared to the previous gem type you know it's right up with some of the premium priced cars but hey they're all expensive these days I'm sure there's a lot you can do about it it's terrific it is I think the best hot hatchback on sale today you can find more in a bigger technical explanation too over on autocader credit UK where there's a full written review of this and there's more again news about it My Views about it in my column and in the new section in autocar magazine which is available online on digital subscription or in print as it has been every week since 1895 and a lot of the stuff in it you won't find anywhere else you won't we won't put it on auto Scarlet code UK you have to get the mag to to find it and you know I think that's all right I would recommend it it's that time of year when a digital subscription might make a fantastic Christmas present for somebody don't you think anyway that's all available over on our website autocard.co.uk thank you for watching this video we have other videos we've got reviews pretty much every week we got podcasts coming out our ears there's one called my weekend cars which is me and Steve cropley talking about our respective columns there's Northstar Electric one there's the autocar business sub brand if you're in and around the industry and you want to know more about the car business look into that meantime thank you for watching this video very much I appreciate it more than you would know and I would love it really love it sound like Kevin Keegan I love it if you would give us an up thumb click the Bell icon subscribe and I'll see you next timethis is the new Honda Civic Type R which in a rapidly changing Automotive world is pretty old school unlike the rest of the hybrid new Civic range this is traditional Type R material it's a front engine front-wheel drive hot hatchback with a 325 horsepower 2-liter engine a limited slip differential and a six-speed manual gearbox with a top speed of over 170 miles an hour it is a proper performance car and as we'll come to later as a price to reflect it the previous type R was the best big hatch on sale so how about this one okay so welcome to the inside of the new Civic Type R on track it's a slightly damp greasy track there is a REV match straight away uh I can tell you you can turn it off well I've got it on just to see what it's like of the different Drive modes I've stuck it into plus r which is the angriest of all it turns up the dampers turns up the speed of the of the blipping I can firms up the steering weight imagine sounds a bit more uh uh oh what's the weather like for clinical's not the right word so that's a bit more synthetic I think than the old one I've asked them if it comes through the speakers and my driver who was next to me a minute ago didn't think so but he doesn't know but I will check that and we'll drop that in a little caption underneath so that's third gear loads of talk low down and then the limiter at sort of seven two very smooth limiter and you get a B to tell you to shift up before you get there it's a really nice gear ship there's very little lateral movement that is one of the things that Honda says they have changed between generations of Thai Bach the state 's really good that's another thing they say they've changed they have stiffened up uh some bits that give responds in the steering to let you know what's going on at the road more quickly had good steering before really good steering now it's quite quick it's a two book One turns lock to lock but never nervous there was a time when Engineers thought hydraulic power steering was better than electrically assisted steering and the Clarence I still think that's the case but you can play with it much more set things up much more over a wider breakthrough parameters with electrically assisted steering and this is really good I think this is a front-wheel drive car with now 330 horsepower I could just feel it nibbling the lip to slip diff starts to hook up just nibbling at the understeer and it just tells you all the way through what it's doing to really Sensational it'll be lovely If This Were dry and you could really lead on the outer limits of the tires to see what you know just how much lateral grip it makes but even in these conditions it is a mighty car and as you turn and if you Trail the brakes in this front wheel drive car will start to sort of just Edge off into oversteer in a very nicely telegraphed way the stability control is on here so actually it will wrap things up before it gets too wild but the best hot hatchbacks do that Ford's St models and rs models have done it and Renault Sports have done it there you go it just wants to nip into overseer if you turn in on the brakes slightly but it tells you exactly what it's up to the best hatchbacks to it because it helps get something out of the rear wheels as well as the front to you know engages them in process it is a quick car this five something five and a half seconds to 60. and 170 miles an hour at the top end brakefield is really good steering feel is really good I know what this car is doing even though there are damp conditions under 30 it's pretty early in the day it's I don't know 15 degrees out something like that the tires are really very warm but it's still despite all of those hindrances lack of according Force lack of temperature lack of traction it's still telling me absolutely what it's up to it's sort of sits I remember when hot hatchback seem to be 30 grand and that was expensive this is 46. they tell you that there's a PCP which uh you can have for 500 a month what I expect you to be 300 quid a month didn't they anyway all cars are expensive this is among them but it kind of sits halfway up the pack on the hot hatchback echelons in the UK If you take all of them they tend to go from high 20s up to you know for the real premium RS3 stuff up to sort of 50 50 something Grand this is sort of in the upper middle tier I suppose but the thing about hatchback so one of the things that we talk about at autocar quite a lot is that fun doesn't necessarily relate to the asking price right so you might have more fun in a 30 grand 35 Grand Toyota gr 86 than you would in a well I don't know I don't want to be cruel to anything in particular but you might do it 100 in 100 Grand sports car so don't think that this is a lesser car say than an Audi RS3 or a Mercedes A45 on account of the fact that it is a bit cheaper and a bit less powerful I think you gotta have more fun in one of these oh the most other hot hatchbacks what hot hatch is more fun than this so that's what it's like on track what is this new Civic Type R like on the road right so welcome to the Civic Type R on the road still slightly crummy conditions but a good track car doesn't always work on the road and it doesn't always translate the other way either there are Drive modes in this car uh Comfort Sport Plus R and individual in which you get to choose what you get but I'm going to stick it in Comfort because it's a wet day and I don't think you want the dampers too stiff in The Damp because you want a bit of lean actually onto the outside tires it makes the car drive better it actually gives it more grip and traction Honda says with the old Type R that you lost some suspension compliance in the move from Civic to Type R unsurprisingly I mean it's a hot hatchback they tend to be more focused less comfortable than a regular hatch they reckon that isn't the case this time around now I haven't driven the conventional hybrid Civic today but this does feel like a compliant car really nice and yet body control is tight no question steering is lovely the steering is really lovely all of that immediacy that you've got on circuit is replicated on the road it's not quick without being nervous it's nicely weighted it tells you things it just I just got a bit of understood then because he's got quite a lot of talk and the conditions are not great it doesn't limit the talk in any gear so if you want it all hey you get it all and you just have to deal with it but there is not torque steer but you can feel that limited slip differential hookup just to feel it through the steering how much grip and how much traction it has and you feel that brilliant there is not a lot attraction on a road like this on a day like this so that's third gear and you can feel it spinning up that was it 60 kph 40 miles an hour but if you drive up to it I know what it's going to do that's the great thing I know exactly what it's going to do I can feel what it's going to do pedal feel is great brake pedal feel is great this is certainly in the UK I think throughout Europe the only pure internally combusted Honda you can buy now if you know if you're in a states that will not be the same for you or many other markets that won't be the same for you but there's a lot of electrification throughout the Honda range and what that often means in terms of brake pedal feel is that when you get on the brakes they try and slow you down through uh regenerative braking so the motor becomes a generator and then at some point in the process the brake discs take over and you start to get friction braking and that mix of the two doesn't always lend itself to Great brake pedal feel this being a pure internally combusted car it's got great feel really great feel I'm just going to pop it into sport for a moment and see how much stiffer that makes it whether it's too harsh for the road now the answer is it's fine actually it's still really good come on let's stick it in Type R plus r mode see how bad that is I'll get a bit more noise bit more room for steering is immediately weighted up this is the kind of subtlety that you don't notice so much on a circuit because the levels of acceleration braking cornering are much much higher in circuit so these things you don't notice quite as much as you do on the road it is a bit it is a bit lump and a bit firm over really bad imperfections but you could drive it in time in plus r on the road certainly out out here in Portugal where it's kind of smoothish I suppose might be different in the UK but let's go back into sport which I think is probably the one for quickish road driving it's really good it's so good I really like this car I really liked the old one I really like this one and Honda says that regardless of what happens in terms of electrification it is committed to taipa the founder sochiro Honda used to say without racing there is no Honda R stands for racing they like making drivers cars so while Peugeot may have given up GTI Renault may have given up Renault sport Ford no longer has an RS in its range in Europe I mean they're still committed to performance cars but you know not in the same way they used to be the nice thing is that Honda says yeah we are behind the idea of drivers holders and if they are all as good as this Happy Happy Days this is a terrific Potter hatchback an expensive Hot hatchback compared to the previous gem type you know it's right up with some of the premium priced cars but hey they're all expensive these days I'm sure there's a lot you can do about it it's terrific it is I think the best hot hatchback on sale today you can find more in a bigger technical explanation too over on autocader credit UK where there's a full written review of this and there's more again news about it My Views about it in my column and in the new section in autocar magazine which is available online on digital subscription or in print as it has been every week since 1895 and a lot of the stuff in it you won't find anywhere else you won't we won't put it on auto Scarlet code UK you have to get the mag to to find it and you know I think that's all right I would recommend it it's that time of year when a digital subscription might make a fantastic Christmas present for somebody don't you think anyway that's all available over on our website autocard.co.uk thank you for watching this video we have other videos we've got reviews pretty much every week we got podcasts coming out our ears there's one called my weekend cars which is me and Steve cropley talking about our respective columns there's Northstar Electric one there's the autocar business sub brand if you're in and around the industry and you want to know more about the car business look into that meantime thank you for watching this video very much I appreciate it more than you would know and I would love it really love it sound like Kevin Keegan I love it if you would give us an up thumb click the Bell icon subscribe and I'll see you next time\n"