Tested: The 2023 Honda Civic Type R Shares Our Faith

Are you a true believer? Do you understand what summer tires can do for you, why a sunroof hurts performance, and that speed limits are just a starting point for negotiations? Do you feel persecuted by law enforcement for your beliefs? Well, Honda just built a car for you in the new 2023 Civic Type R. Go forth, spread the gospel of compact performance, and live by the Type R’s code of conduct.

I. Thou Shalt Not Understeer

This commandment is impossible for a front-wheel-drive car to follow, or so we thought. And yet, this 11th-generation Civic follows the directive from on high despite its 315-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four hanging ahead of the front axle and 61.4 percent of its weight on its nose. On the street, front-end grip seems inexhaustible as the Type R ducks left and right, forcing you into the seat bolsters at its 1.02-g limit.

Go ahead and dive into an apex, because the steering is a mere 2.1 turns lock to lock and the Type R slips in without any drama. Corner exits, which usually require the patience of Job in a front-wheel-drive car, are masterfully orchestrated by the Type R’s limited-slip differential. That unit, coupled with a very crafty anti-torque-steer front strut, puts the engine’s power to the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and allows you to empty the 2.0-liter’s magazine without widening the cornering line. Next corner. Try again. No understeer, just more exit speed. As if some invisible string is holding the car, keeping it from leaving the road. It makes no sense that a front-driver can do this, so let’s just add it to the list of things that don’t make sense in 2022.

II. Thou Shalt Not Hook Up

Not in the carnal sense; go crazy there. Here, it’s hooking up as in launching hard from a stop. Boost arrives after a beat or two, but the torque surge at about 3000 rpm—310 pound-feet, available from 2600 to 4000 rpm—will have you on the phone to Tire Rack. Turn the wheel slightly while hitting the gas in first and the front end eagerly hunts for the ditch or the oncoming lane as the differential tries to make the most of available grip. The solution is to keep the wheels pointed straight in first. Get it right and you’ll move all 3183 pounds of Civic to 60 in 4.9 seconds, with the quarter falling in 13.5 seconds at 106 mph.

III. Thou Shalt Not Miss a Shift

Honda’s manual gearboxes are special. Light, direct, precise, and a joy to operate, the Type R’s mostly carries over from its predecessor and has the same tight throws and positive action. In more than 500 miles of abusively fast shifts, we never heard a crunch from the synchros as we upshifted just shy of the 7000-rpm redline. Nor did we flub any downshifts. A lighter flywheel makes the throttle slightly more alert than before, and a mere tap of the right pedal spins up the engine to match revs on downshifts. For those who want Honda to do it, there’s a retuned automatic rev-matching program. It technically works but could be quicker to respond, something more noticeable on the track than on the street.

IV. Thou Shalt Not Make Fake Vents

Gone are the old Type R’s fake vents and bodywork creases to nowhere. Function wins out over form in this round. Vents in the front bumper direct more cooling to the 13.8-inch front rotors, which are unchanged from the previous Type R. Revisions to the brake booster reportedly improve feel, but the pedal doesn’t seem any different. Hit the brakes hard at 70 mph and you’ll be able to get out and walk 153 feet later; stopping from 100 mph takes just 308 feet. Real vents work. The only fade you’ll find in a Type R is in the driver’s hairstyle.

V. Remember the Commute and Keep It Holy

Beneath the fender flares, 3.5-inch-wider front and 1.9-inch-wider rear tracks, 9.5-inch-wide wheels, real hood vents, three exhaust tips, and 0.3-inch-lower body lies a Civic Sport hatchback. Interior design and quality take a huge leap in this generation. Uncluttered and functional, the instrument panel looks expensive. The driver can select from two gauge clusters. The R gauges have a nonlinear tachometer that reminded a few of us of the legendary S2000’s. Above the HVAC controls is a 9.0-inch touchscreen that works quickly and intuitively and has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

A big part of respecting the drive to work is in the ride quality. Left in Comfort, the adaptive dampers are docile. Sharp impacts reverberate through the cabin, but the Type R sops up smaller hits. Switch to Sport or R mode to ruin the ride with no real handling benefit. Freeway commuters will find 73 decibels of wind, engine, and road noise. If you’ve spent more than 50 percent of your life in the last century, cabin ambience will begin to annoy you in about 20 minutes. At least rear-seat passengers can hear conversations happening in the front, something that wasn’t true at 70 mph in the last Type R.

VI. Honor Thy Family

Commonality with the regular Civic gives the Type R excellent packaging and practicality. Civic Sport hatchbacks now have 99 cubic feet of passenger space and 25 cubic feet of cargo room, and so does the Type R. In the eyes of the EPA, this is a large car. Head to Costco and don’t be afraid to buy a second 30-roll pack. For even more hauling ability, fold the rear seats and take home that eight-drawer dresser you spotted on Facebook Marketplace. None of the Civic’s practicality is affected here. Sure, it has a blood-red carpet and front seats with big lateral bolsters that might lead to a little groaning when you climb out, but it’s a Civic nonetheless.

In back, the Civic’s 107.7-inch wheelbase helps add 1.4 inches of legroom and makes the 60/40 split bench as Uber-friendly here as in the 158-hp base version. One drawback of sharing so much with a half-as-powerful sibling is that Honda didn’t enlarge the fuel tank for the Type R, so drive it as intended and you’ll be lucky to get more than 250 miles from the 12.4-gallon tank.

VII. Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Toyota GR Corolla

Eyes are unlikely to wander since the new Type R looks great on its 19-inch wheels and lowered stance. We aren’t sure what happened with the previous Type R, but one of our theories is that an art student’s mixed-media sculpture got switched for the 10th-gen Civic design proposal and the student’s project went into production. The real Civic design? It received an A– in Applied Mixed Media 401.

VIII. Thy Shalt Not Overheat

Lapping the last-gen Type R on the track multiple times led to heat-related issues that sent the powertrain into limp mode. To solve that problem, the Type R now has a 48 percent larger grille opening that directs air into a larger radiator and a 10-row intercooler (up from nine). You’ll have to wait a bit for its Lightning Lap results, but we experienced zero thermal issues with the Type R.

IX. Thou Shalt Not Overpay

What dealers will overcharge for the Type R remains to be seen, but Honda is setting the price at $43,990, and the only factory extras are paint colors and forged alloy wheels. Of course, dealers will push a seemingly endless selection of accessories. Skip them all except maybe the $1780 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 track tires.

X. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Enthusiasm

Shoppers looking to pose as car-loving enthusiasts won’t want to own this one. It comes only with a manual transmission, you can’t get leather seats, and Honda won’t sell you a sunroof. The Type R does have all the collision-avoidance nannies the unskilled and NHTSA crave, but its buyers aren’t the type who cause accidents by texting in traffic. This is a car designed, tuned, and built for the true believers.

Counterpoints

It’s called a spoiler because it spoils the look of the car—only, on the Type R, it looks great: a fun surprise, an embroidered tiger on the back of a jean jacket. I liked the previous model’s raucous design, but some people prefer to drive a car that doesn’t look like a 12-year-old doodled it on a math notebook. More important, while the sporty Civic has put on some work-appropriate attire, it’s still an absolute party animal underneath. —Elana Scherr

Speaking in Honda tongue feels like coughing up alphabet soup. Ya see, you’ve got your EP3s and your DC5s, but the B18C never came in those—they got the lowly K20A3 here in the U.S. Riding on an FL5 chassis, the newest CTR is far wilder than the sedan-only FE1 Civic Si. That said, it won’t take more than a spoonful of the improved 315-hp K20C1 to get your HR to spike. —Austin Irwin

Not a Hand-Me-Down, K?

To get nine more horsepower from the K20C1 engine, Honda made a number of improvements, including swapping from a nine- to a 10-channel air-to-air intercooler and reducing the turbocharger inertia by 14 percent while increasing the intake flow rate by 10 percent and the exhaust flow by 13 percent.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com