By: Denis Droppa
Cape Town - As addictive as its high-revving performance was, the previous Honda Type R’s normally aspirated engine lagged behind its turbocharged rivals in straight-line performance, particularly at high altitude.
In the new Type R launched in South Africa this month, Honda has finally joined the turbo brigade with its new 2-litre Vtec four-cylinder unit which compresses air with an intercooled single-scroll turbocharger with wastegate. It may be late to the turbo game but Honda’s done the job properly, and the Type R wheelspins into the market as the most powerful front-wheel-drive hot hatch available.
With outputs of 228kW/400Nm going to the front wheels, it comfortably outpunches FWD rivals like the Renault Megane RS Trophy (201kW/360Nm), Ford Focus ST (184kW/360Nm) and VW Golf GTI (162kW/350Nm), and also the all-wheel-drive Golf R (206kW/380Nm).
ENGINE: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
It maintains the high-revving character of the previous Type R by redlining at 7000rpm, but at the same time it has a very flat torque curve with all 400Nm available from just 2500rpm. It’s just the sort of power output you want for a racetrack, and that’s what Honda South Africa let us do by hosting part of last week’s media launch at Cape Town’s Killarney circuit.
Honda calls this a race car for the road, and it’s the most extreme and highest performing Type R yet built.
It’s an entertainingly high-revving engine and makes a sportier noise than any other Civic, if not as charismatically hoarse-sounding as the likes of a Golf R or Focus RS.
SURELY THERE’S LOTS OF TORQUE STEER?
Usually this much output is fed through the rear wheels or all four, but Honda’s done a good job of preventing all those ponies surging through the front wheels from becoming too rampant.
A dual-axis front suspension reduces the torque steer that tends to afflict powerful front-wheel-drive cars, and when you’re blasting out of a tight corner at full throttle the Type R’s steering wheel stays respectably behaved, without any of that nervous side-to-side twitching.
Around Killarney racetrack the car felt very neutral and forgiving in hard driving, with plenty of grip and composure in fast corners, while a limited-slip diff maximised traction in tight corners.
RACE MODE FOR THE TRACK
For track work there’s button-selectable +R mode which quickens the engine and steering response, stiffens the suspension, and lets the stability control intervene at higher limits.
A few laps around Killarney on a scorching day also revealed that the Brembo sports brakes are up to the task of a few hot laps without fading.
When pushed to the handling limits the front-wheel-drive Type R develops more understeer than a rear- or all-wheel-drive car, however, and doesn’t have the ability to drift.
For driving purists RWD or AWD is still the way to go for ultimate track-attack ability.
GEARED FOR PURISTS
But Honda wins back a point on the purism scale by making the Type R available only as a six-speed manual, where most rivals have the option of an auto. The strong midrange torque makes frequent downshifts uneccessary, but you do it more than you need to because handling that beautifully-weighted short-travel aluminium gearlever – similar to the one in the Honda S2000 roadster – is one of the treats of driving this Type R. Honda’s always been good at manual gearboxes.
This rice rocket doesn’t conform to the self-restricted 250 club and will reach 270km/h if you find a long-enough racing straight, and will scoot from 0-100km/h in a claimed 5.7 seconds. The car has a function to measure 0-100 and quarter-mile sprints, along with a lap timer and g-force meter.
DOES IT SOAK UP THE BUMPS?
The adaptive dampers minimise roll and pitch in the corners, but the +R mode feels too stiff for driving on normal roads. With the suspension in normal mode the ride’s firm without becoming uncomfortably jarring, making the Type R a relatively good-natured commuter.
A black and red colour scheme provides sporting ambience inside the car, together with deep bucket seats and a flat-bottomed steering wheel.
The Honda Civic Type R is priced at R586 400 including a five-year/200 000km warranty, a five-year/90 000km service plan and a three-year AA Roadside Assistance package.
Star Motoring