Yahoo Autos 2018 Honda Civic Type R
Living with the Civic Type R, we can't quite figure out whether we're old and cynical or hopelessly juvenile. Every time we spot that gaudy wing, the bizarre strakes on the roof, the massive fake vents in the fascias, and the abundant imitation carbon fiber, we start scanning for hooligan kids up to no good. Eventually, we realize we're the ones holding the keys to the car that looks as if it had escaped from the set of Fast & Furious 17. Then we drive the thing and feel like, well, hooligan kids.
The Civic Type R redeems its styling-and then some-by driving like no other front-wheel-drive car in existence. It turns quicker than Michael Cohen. The steering talks back, and the brake pedal is always on alert. The understeer that barely exists is squirreled away under a mountain of grip.
Sophisticated damping makes the Honda's taut body control livable. Despite riding on stiff springs, the Civic smooths hard impacts into muted thumps. The ride quality is even more impressive when you consider that the low-profile Continental SportContact 6 rubber is effectively Saran-wrapped around the 20-inch wheels.
Introduced to the U.S. on the Audi R8 V10 Plus, the Continentals elevate the Type R's chassis performance to genuine sports-car turf. The Honda cuts around the skidpad at 1.04 g's and slams to a stop from 70 mph in just 144 feet. And the dynamic advantage it established over the Hyundai at the test track opens into an even larger gap in the real world. While the Veloster reveals imperfections at the fringes, this Civic is at its best when it's pushed to its limits. Channeled into speed, the Type R's always-on intensity translates into absolute control and precision-guided feedback. You can credit much of that granularity to Honda's dual-axis front struts, which separate the steering and suspension geometries to reduce torque steer and keep the contact patches grounded.
The Honda engine trades the Hyundai's thick low-end torque for an unremitting swell of speed. The difference goes beyond its additional 31 horsepower. With more vigor in the Civic's top-end power delivery, the extra 250 rpm of tach-needle sweep feels more like 1000. Or maybe that's because you drive the Veloster in the middle of the rev range and push the effervescent Civic to its rev limiter more often.
The shifter slots through the gates with more-even weighting and less play between gears than the Veloster's. The clutch pedal takes up progressively, with a bite that's absent in the Veloster. Finesse the pedals just so and the Type R nicks 60 mph in 4.9 seconds on its way to a 13.6-second quarter-mile at 107 mph. The Civic posts big numbers, but the Veloster holds an edge in powertrain theatrics. Honda's triple-outlet passive exhaust turns up the volume under load, but at any pace, the Type R's soundtrack is a one-note drone that lacks the fireworks of the N's exhaust.
The Honda's deep buckets (some Americans will find them too narrow) dressed in convincing faux suede glue driver and passenger in place for max-grip cornering while still offering long-haul comfort. The overreliance on the color red as an interior styling element and the knock-off carbon-fiber trim are a bit much for our taste, but the fit and finish inside are steps above the economy-car materials in the Veloster N. We can't say the same for the exterior, though. The U.K.-built Type R is rife with ill-fitting panels and uneven gaps that wouldn't pass inspection at Tesla.
Even in a crowded field of sport compacts and hot hatches, the Type R exists in a class of one. It delivers performance on par with Porsches for the money of a well-equipped family sedan. It carves country roads and abides the daily grind. With this Civic, Honda has reestablished the authority of the Type R badge. Hopefully this time it's more than just a fling.
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