The Honda Civic Type R has quickly won a reputation as one of the very best hot hatches,
and for 2021, they have made it even better.
Aussies love a hot hatch, they are brand builders, they endear people to companies
and they help define the organisation's DNA. More than ever, Honda needs the Civic Type R
to be at the top of the hot hatch pile, and we've got some good news for them.
The very best hot hatches are giant killers. They're cars that can beat machinery that should
be faster, and certainly cost a lot more money. The Civic Type R is exactly that sort of car.
The theme for this latest 2021 version is genuine evolution, and you can feel all the way
through the car, there has been changes for the positive, even down to a brand new weighted shift
lever that makes it feel much better in hand. Much more, almost like a race car. There have
been myriad changes to the details of this car, smaller grill opening, a bigger, radiator core,
all these little changes that mean that it can perform to its best in all sorts of conditions.
There are many changes to the suspension of the new Type R. It's got new bushings in the front
suspension, changes to the rear beam and the brain for the adaptive damping system is now 10 times
faster than the last one. That means that the dampers can measure the bumps in the
road more quickly, from twice a second to 20 times a second, and deliver you both the
balance of a better riding comfort and a more efficient race track performance in Type R.
I really like this new Alcantara steering wheel as well. It's nice and grippy. Feels good,
not too thick. It's one of those things that's very driver-focused,
and that's what you want in a hot hatch.
One of the great things that Honda's done is resist the temptation of putting an automated
gearbox in this. It's one of the really good manual gear boxes on the market today.
There are too few manual cars, but thank goodness, this is still as good as it's ever
been. Probably better because of the detailed changes they've made to the shift mechanism.
Arguably, the biggest mechanical change for the new model is to the brakes.
There's larger two-piece front rotors and Honda's also changed the brake pedal in terms of
how much stroke there is on the master cylinder. The results are more predictable, more
immediate feel at the pedal, which is what you want in a sporting car. When it comes to bang for
bucks, you're really hard-pressed to beat a good hot hatch. They work extremely well on fun roads
like this, but if we wanna find out how good they really are, we need to take them to the track.
Hot hatches really come into their own on the race track, or I should say, good hot hatches do,
and the Civic Type R comes alive on a race track like Phillip Island. These peak fast
flowing corners aren't always a front drive car's best friend. But here, the Civic Type R
feels incredibly well-balanced
and on the slower corners really drives out with some authority. And I'm not driving this hard,
I'm really just circulating, but the car feels alive, it feels encouraging. And the thing about
this engine is it's really talking, now I'm coming out of MJ there in third, short shifting, grabbing
forth quickly, probably quicker than you would on a fast lap, but it's just pulling out strongly.
Here we go, turn 12 under the strike, and it's really, really pulling well.
Up into fifth. About 190, 196, 200, 210,
there you are through turn one, that's a good solid 175, that's really good for road car.
One of the tweaks for 2021 has been to retune the exhaust system,
not so much for performance, but to just give it a better engine note when you're really driving
in a sporty manner, certainly sounds like a really thoroughbred 4-cylinder, has that lovely,
sharp raspy note, which sometimes you don't get in a turbo car, let's see third through Siberia,
should drive out of here really well, and it does. Race tracks aren't necessarily kind to road cars,
but here, this car feels really at home.
In fact, over a whole afternoon of work at the track, the Civic Type R barely raised a sweat.
In that regard, it echoes the ability of the best from the Euros, not many road cars can take
a pounding at the track and come back eager for more, even fewer in this price range. The Civic
Type R is proof positive there is still plenty of passion and talent in Honda's engineering ranks.
The Civic type R has always been a great hot hatch, but with these latest changes Honda's made
it better on the track and more importantly on the road, it's now at the absolute top of its game.