The Honda Civic Type R: Everything You Need to Know

From across the ocean it comes, an invader on these shores, a stranger 'round these parts. Your boring aunt's car evil twin. Fitter, faster, harder. On the track a beast, on the road still abeast. It's a Honda Civic.

Yeah, it is, check it out because this isn't just any civic. This is the car that makes front engine, front wheel drive look sophisticated. This is the car that invented a whole culture right here in the U.S. where it was never even sold. This is the car that every other manufacturer wanted to rip-off, and yeah, it's a Honda Civic, like the one your aunt has.

Except it isn't. No, no, no, no, no. It isn't at all because it is the Honda Civic Type R. And that means its badge is red. So how did one red badge turn this into this? This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the new Honda Civic Type R.

The grand daddy of the mega hatches has gone global. The Honda Civic Type R, the legendary car that was once only available in Japan, has finally arrived in the United States. But what makes it so special? Where all the competitors are all-wheel-drive, the Civic Type R is proudly front-wheel-drive. Unlike all its competition, the Civic Type R only sends its power to the front half of the car.

But why would they do that? All-wheel-drive is great, but it's really heavy and the point of this car is to be light. Instead, Honda's engineers cooked up a new thing called Dual Strut Axis Front Suspension, which uses science! Science rules.

To produce wizardry. You! The Civic Type R compared to all the other mega hatchbacks is both old school and cutting edge. It's like a typewriter with broadband and 4K. And if the early word is right, it's really, really good.

So at long last, the Japanese Domestic Market has gone global. The Honda Civic Type R is here in all its front-wheel-drive glory. And at $35,000, it's not even that expensive. It's about $350 compared to some of its competitors. But what makes this car truly special? Let us tell you.

The trouble for Honda was while they were hoarding the Type R's in Japan their competition jumped in. Subaru took the legendary WRX and made a more powerful, lighter version with the WRX STI. Which they made available in the U.S. Volkswagen took the Golf GTI and turned it into the R32 and Golf R. And made it available in the U.S.

Then Ford took the Focus of all things and made the badass Focus ST, and the Fiesta ST, and the Focus RS. These mega hatchbacks blew up in the U.S. and around the world. And finally convinced Honda that they've been missing out on a huge market. So in 2017, finally, Honda is releasing the Type R that meets America's standards right off the assembly line.

Which means no more grey market, no more shady body shops, no more getting pulled over and getting your car crushed. Now I'm gonna have to give you a ticket on this. Anybody in the U.S. can legally get one and it only took 20 years.

So does that make the Type R old and cranky by comparison to its competitors? Or has the grandmaster come to teach the student's a lesson? Well, both are kind of true. See, where all the competitors are all-wheel-drive the Civic Type R is proudly front-wheel-drive. Man, front-wheel-drive sucks, all-wheel-drive all the way!

Well, most people who vape would agree with you but Honda says you are wrong. Unlike all its competition the Civic Type R only sends its power to the front half of the car. Reduce torque steer to keep the car moving where you want it to.

That does still put a lot of traction commitment on the front wheels, but a good driver can use the weight savings to overcome all that and still cross the finish line first. All together that means the Civic Type R compared to all the other mega hatchbacks is both more old school and more cutting edge.

It's like a typewriter with broadband and 4K. And if the early word is right, it's really, really good. So at long last the Japanese Domestic Market has gone global. The Honda Civic Type R is here in all its front-wheel-drive glory.

Halleluiah. And at $35,000, it's not even that expensive. It's about $350 compared to some of its competitors. But what makes this car truly special? Let us tell you.

Please subscribe right here. Let us know if you like this in the comments down there. What other cars do you want us to talk about? What did we miss?

If you know where my dad is please let me know. Give me a ring-a-ding-ding I'll give you my number.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enFrom across the ocean it comes, an invaderon these shores, a stranger 'round these parts.Your boring aunt's car evil twin.Fitter, faster, harder.On the track a beast, on the road still abeast.It's a Honda Civic.Yeah it is, check it out because this isn'tjust any civic.This is the car that makes front engine, frontwheel drive look sophisticated.This is the car that invented a whole cultureright here in the U.S. where it was nevereven sold.This is the car that every other manufacturerwanted to rip-off, and yeah it's a Honda Civic,like the one your aunt has.Except it isn't.No, no, no, no, noIt isn't at all because it is the Honda CivicType R. And that means its badge is red.So how did one red badge turn thisInto this?This is everything you need to know to getup to speed on the Honda Civic Type R.Honda makes nice, reliable, affordable, sensiblecars.So in the 1980's they decided they would builda super car, because that makes sense.I can't believe you've done this.The only thing weirder than a Honda supercar was the fact that they actually made it,and what's even more weird than that is it'sactually good, like really good.As I said I think it's a super-super car.The NSX changed the scene when it debutedin 1990, it was a sensible, affordable, reliablesuper car.Naturally the old super car brands weren'thappy about the new competition and respondedby starting an arms race.To keep up with the newer harder productsfrom Ferrari, Honda realized they had to taketheir young NSX and make it lighter, morepowerful and even more insane than it already was.I am awaited in Valhalla!The result was a new off shoot called theNSX Type R. 300 pounds lighter and six horsepower faster.Yeah six!My favorite number is six.The NSX became Honda's flagship.The car was so awesome it made the entirerange look cooler.To help distinguish the Type R they gave ita red badge.Sweet!And they painted it a color called champiobnship-white, after Honda's formula one color from the 60'sThe car is a legend, the NSX Type R is stilla saught after collector's item in garages everywhere.In fact the Type R branding was so succesfulHonda started to put it on all the other cars in their range.Frist the Integra and then the Civic.Of all of them the Civic Type R, first launchedin 1997, was the most affordable and thereforethe most obtainable by enthusiasts all overthe world.Hello.The first Civic Type R, dubbed the ek9, gotweight reduction, a close ratio gearbox, anLSD, stiched welded chassis, red seats, anda B16b engine.At 182 horsepower the B16b boasted one ofthe highest power outputs per liter of anynaturally aspirated engine ever.In 2001 they introduced the Ep9.It lookedlike a tiny minivan and the Japanesse marketgot red Recaros and a fully worked K20 motor.The FD2 was introduced in 2007, it was theforst 4-door Civic Type R as well as the firstwith independent rear suspension.Europe got a weird looking hatchback versioncalled the FN2, which was sold as the CivicType R Euro in Japan.The FK2 was released in 2015 and it's thefirst turbocharged Type R and featured anR-plus button which increased chassis andthrottle response wehn you pressed it.You remember the little red button?Yeah.Push the little red button.And you may want to put on a seatbelt.To add insult to injury, the engine was builtin Ohio but the car never sold in the states.I said no!We were jealous and so the humble civic madethe American underground desperate for Japanese dosmesticsor JDM.See, right around the turn of the milleniumJapan was making some really cool cars.For one reason or another they never converted overto U.S. specification.Cars like the SkylineGTR adn Civic Type R became America's mostwanted.And the fact that we could not get them onlymade them even more wanted.So a whole new subculture was born, JDM, or JapaneseDomestic Market.Basically a grey market emerged that importedthese cars on to U.S. soil to be sold legallythey’d have to be rebuilt with part thatwould pass U.S. regulations, but those inthe know would buy them from sellers and thenbuild them back to Japanese standards.Those who had them became kings of streetracing.Although they had to be careful because theyweren't legal and if you got caught they wouldget crushed.This was all very hush hush.Shut your mouth, shut your, shut your mouth.Outside of street racing circles so streetracing itself hit the limelight in the veryfirst Fast and the Furious movie in 2001.The film featured a number of JDM cars forVin Diesel and crew to race around and against.The opening and closing heist scenes evenfeatured Honda Civics.While they weren't Type R's they did drivein to the American public's mind that Japanhad some seriously cool cars, but unless youwere willing to navigate the grey market youcouldn't get them.The trouble for Honda was while they werehoarding the Type R's in Japan their competitionjumped in.Subaru took the legendary WRX and made a morepowerful, lighter version with the WRX STIwhich they made available in the U.S. Volkswagentook the Golf GTI and turned it into the R32and Golf R and made it available in the U.S.Then Ford took the Focus of all things and madethe badass Focus ST, and the Fiesta ST, andthe Focus RS.These mega hatchbacks blew up in the U.S.and around the world and finally convincedHonda that they've missing out on a huge market.So in 2017, finally, Honda is releasing theType R that meets America's standards rightoff the assembly line.Which means no more grey market, no more shadybody shops, no more getting pulled over andgetting your car crushed.Now I'm gonna have to give you a ticket on this.Anybody in the U.S. can legally get one andit only took 20 years.So does that make the Type R old and crankyby comparison to it’s competitors?Or has the grandmaster come to teach the student'sa lesson?Well both are kind of true.See, where all the competitors are all-wheel-drivethe Type R is proudly front-wheel-drive.Man front-wheel-drive sucks, all-wheel-driveall the way!Well, most people who vape would agree withyou but Honda says you are wrong.Unlike all it's competition the Civic TypeR only sends its power to the front half,why would they do that?Well all-wheel-drive is great but it is reallyheavy and the point of this car is to be light.So instead, Honda's engineers cooked up abrad new thing called Dual Strut Axis Front Suspensionwhich uses science!Science rules.To produce wizardry.You!Reduce torque steer to keep the car movingwhere you want it to.That does still put a lot of traction commitmentson the front wheels, but a good driver canuse the weight savings to overcome all thatand still cross the finish line first.All together that means the Civic Type R comparedto all the other mega hatchbacks is both moreold school and more cutting edge.It's like a typewriter with broadband and4K.And if the early word is right, it's reallyreally good.So at long last the Japanese Domestic Markethas gone global.The Honda Civic Type R, the grand daddy ofthe mega hatches is here in all its front-wheel-driveglory.Halleluiah.And at 35-grand it's not even that expensive.It's about 350.It is living proof that dependable doesn'tmean boring, and awesome doesn’t mean broke.It's just a fantastic all around everydayracecar.I'll take mine in championship-white witha red badge.That's everything you need to know to getup to speed on the new Honda Civic Type R.Please subscribe right here.Let us know if you like this in the commentsdown there.What other cars do you want us to talk about?What did we miss?If you know where my dad is please let meknow.Give me a ring-a-ding-ding I'll give you mynumber.