Honda Civic Type R 2023 review

Blood-red interiors, a rear wing so tall you'd need scaffolding to reach its top and three angry exhaust exits sticking out the rear? It can only mean one thing – a new Honda Civic Type R has arrived.

What we’re dealing with here is not just a Type R, though. It’s also the fastest, most powerful — and the most expensive — Civic Type R  that has ever graced a road or racetrack.

Yep, Honda’s only remaining performance hero is back, and it’s a big moment for the brand in Australia. It’s not just the return of what is calls its most important halo car, but also its only weapon in the suddenly booming hot hatch wars.

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From the VW Golf R to the soon-to-arrive GR Corolla, or the more affordable options like the Hyundai i30 N or Golf GTI, the affordable performance market has never looked so crowded.

And so Honda has been busy pouring its engineering resources into its own VTEC-powered weapon as it prepared to enter that fast-metal fray.

The only question, I guess, is how you define 'affordable'.

But all of that is secondary really, because any day you get to meet a new Honda Civic Type R is bound to be a pretty good day, so how about we get a wriggle on to see if this one lives up to its heritage?

Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with?

7 / 10

It’s not cheap, this new Type R, with Honda’s sportiest Civic now wearing a $72,600 price tag, drive-away. Which, when you consider the previous car was around $51K before on-roads when it arrived in 2017 (though it eventually climbed all the way to $70K drive-away for the generation-farewelling Limited Edition), is initially a little eyebrow raising.

Yes, it’s more money than the last one, sure. But then, it’s also more car.

In terms of straight-up kit, the Civic Type R is available in just the one trim level, and outside, you’ll find 19-inch alloys (they were formally 20s), wrapped in Michelin PilotSport 4S rubber, Brembo brakes, LED lights all around, rain-sensing wipers and proximity unlocking.

The Type R wears 19-inch alloy wheels.

1 / 5

Up front are LED headlights.

2 / 5

Inside is a 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen.

3 / 5

There's a 10.2-inch digital driver display.

4 / 5

The Type R features a six-speed manual gearbox.

5 / 5

In the cabin, you’ll score synthetic suede seats finished up front in the type of deep blood red that will make you think of 'redrum' in The Shining, dual-zone climate, a 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay, a second 10.2-inch digital driver display with a very cool F1-inspired shift light, wireless device charging, sat nav and ambient interior lighting.

There have also been A LOT of performance upgrades, like a redesigned turbocharger, new air intakes and exhaust, improvements in the already very-good manual gearbox, the steering is more responsive, the adaptive dampers have had the breadth of their abilities improved, there’s better cooling for the brakes, the suspension (front and rear) has been updated, the list goes on. 

All of that joins the usual performance haul, like adaptive dampers, a limited-slip differential, configurable drive modes, and a clever data logger that doesn’t just record your lap times, but even issues a driving scorecard and tips on how to shave micro-seconds off your lap times.

All of that joins the usual performance haul, like adaptive dampers, a limited-slip differential, configurable drive modes, and a clever data logger that doesn’t just record your lap times, but even issues a driving scorecard and tips on how to shave micro-seconds off your lap times.

Is there anything interesting about its design?

8 / 10

There’s no denying the last Civic Type R was a little polarising in the design department, but this one feels a little more grown up, a little more mature, and a tiny bit more understated.

The big changes are concentrated at the front and rear of the vehicle, which have both been toned down significantly. 

For proof, just look at the treatment of the bonnet air intake, which, on the last car, was this big open mouth located just below the windscreen. 

The new Civic Type R looks more mature compared to the model it replaces.

This time, though, it’s a more subtle horizontal opening located further down the bonnet, which could easily pass as a design flourish at a glance.

The back, too, has been pushed through the subtlety machine, with less in-your-face elements and a smoother, simpler design language. 

And for me, all of that is a good thing. While the former Honda Civic Type R looked like it had been designed exclusively for car-mad teenagers, this one looks more suited to us older types. 

The rear wing contributes to 90kg of downforce at 200km/h.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a wild-looking beast, and you could skydive off that rear wing, but it also looks a little more cohesive, and less boy-racer, this time around.

As usual, all the aero accoutrements are here for more than just looks. There’s 90kg of downforce at 200km/h on offer here, thanks in part to the bonnet, sills and diffuser, but mostly to that massive architectural wing. 

The cabin looks largely unchanged.

In the cabin, though, it’s very much the Civic we already know. The dash especially looks largely unchanged, though its a calm, welcoming and premium-feeling layout. 

Less calming, however, are the blood-red seats and flooring in the front part the Type R. Too be honest, I think it's a little too much, given the solid work that’s gone into making the exterior of the car feel so much more mature. But to each their own.

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How practical is the space inside?

8 / 10

For mine, the magic of a car like this is that - unlike exotic performance cars - you can use it everyday as a relatively practical daily driver, and then just duck off to carve up your local track day on the weekend.

So does the Honda Civic Type R fulfil that brief? Yep. First, it’s got a pretty comprehensive Drive Mode set-up, with 'Comfort', 'Sport', '+R' and 'Individual' modes, which cover a wide breadth of driving conditions, and really do alter the drive experience. 

The blood-red seats and flooring might not be for everyone.

But it’s also pretty spacious, especially for backseat riders. Honda isn’t even pretending this is a five-seat car, and that only makes the rear seat experience better, to be honest, with more room for your rear passengers to spread out.

But while there’s lots of room, there isn’t much else. Up front, you’ll find twin USB ports, wireless charging, air vents and temperature controls. But in the back, there are only the two cupholders, twin ISOFIX attachment points, and not much of anything else.

Back seat passengers have enough room to spread out.

Open the boot, and you’ll find 410 litres of luggage room. But drop the rear seats and grows to between 904 and 1212 litres, depending on whether you load to the windows or the roof.

What are the key stats for the engine and transmission?

8 / 10

You’re dealing with Honda’s turbocharged 2.0-litre VTEC engine here, now good for 235kW and 420Nm. That’s up 7.0kW and 20Nm on the outgoing car, which Honda says is thanks to a redesigned turbocharger, better air intake and a new exhaust. 

It’s even more powerful overseas, by the way, but we don’t get that one here.

The 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder produces 235kW/420Nm.

That power is channelled to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox with rev matching, and there’s a limited slip differential. It wears Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber. Because sporty.

Expect a 5.4sec sprint from 0-100km/h, and a top speed of 275km/h.

How much fuel does it consume?

7 / 10

Honda reckons you’ll get 8.9L/100km on the combined cycle. Which, it must be said, is going to be a hard number to hit should you drive this car in the way you’ll almost certainly be driving it. We were getting 11s on our road run.

What's it like to drive?

9 / 10

So what do you really need to know about this new Type R? That's simple. While it’s similar in a lot of ways to the car it replaces, it’s been improved right across the board.

And I do mean across the board. There is more power, better acceleration, a wider track front and rear for better cornering, improved adaptive suspension (with a new Individual mode that means you can configure your car as you wish), better brake cooling to keep them working longer on racetracks, a slicker-feeling six-speed manual, better steering, and it’s far more rigid than the model it replaces.

Honda took an already impressive hot hatch, then broke it right down to its individual pieces, searching for ways to make  improvements wherever they could. 

Sometimes those were tiny changes, and sometimes bigger, but you get the impression they left no stone unturned in the search for gains across the park.

The Type R’s numbers don’t tell the whole story here.

And yes, all of that’s important, but what’s far more critical in car like this is how all of those data points actually connect with the person sitting in the driver’s seat. 

Short answer? They connect like you’re somehow plugged into the Type R. In lots of cars, it takes some to begin to feel comfortable behind the wheel, but that’s not the case here. It’s immediately confidence-inspiring, even when you’re crippled by jet lag and suddenly find yourself rumbling out onto a foreign and far-away racetrack.

The Type R’s numbers don’t tell the whole story here, either. It’s not the fastest accelerating nor the most powerful hot hatch in the world, but that’s not really the point. Instead it’s the way all of the elements come together, from the seriously slick and natural-feeling six-speed manual that selects its gears in a way that feels super intuitive, to the steering that’s at once both sharp and natural feeling, to the grip on offer from that Michelin rubber. 

On their own, each element would be individually impressive, but taken together they deliver something else entirely, a sense of all the parts working as one to deliver a genuinely special drive experience on a race track.

The Type R ride is seriously impressive.

Even the rev-matching system, which blips the throttle on the downshifts without you having to heel-and-toe, is on point here. 

Some of these systems are annoying, but this one feels intuitive, and it's happy to allow you to sink into the lowest gear possible, gleefully sending the tachometer soaring towards its sky-high redline.

But life doesn’t exist entirely on race tracks, does it? Yet somehow it’s away from the closed roads that the Civic Type R impresses even more. 

A car like this could be (almost) forgiven for being so firm it dislodges the hairs from your eyebrows on any road that’s not silky smooth.

Hot hatches don’t come much sharper than the Civic Type R.

But the drive modes here genuinely change the characteristics of the car so much that, in Comfort, it’s easy to forget you’re in something sporty, at all — until you catch the reflection of that wing in a passing window, of course.

The ride is seriously impressive, even over broken course-chip roads, and the way the power is delivered means you can hover in fourth and have a wave of torque at your demand should you need some overtaking.

Honda took an already impressive hot hatch and made it even better.

It’s an easy, stress-free commuter, which is not something you can say about all performance-focused vehicles. Hell, it’s even pretty spacious in the back for your passengers. 

Downsides? You need to be really pushing to elicit much in the way of a soundtrack, which isn’t always possible on public roads. 

It’s a bit thirsty, too. We were averaging 11.2L/100km after a not-too-aggressive road drive. And I can’t shake the feeling you’d want to be calling CSI:Australia every time you opened the door on those blood-coloured front seats.

But on first impressions, hot hatch all-rounders don’t come much sharper than the Civic Type R. 

Warranty & Safety Rating

Basic Warranty

5 years/unlimited km warranty

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ANCAP Safety Rating

What safety equipment is fitted? What safety rating?

8 / 10

It’s a fairly comprehensive safety package here, with the Type R fitted with the 'Honda Safety Suite' of equipment, including AEB, road departure warning, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition, blind spot warning, parking sensors and rear cross-traffic alert. 

And you can add to that front, side-front and full-length curtain airbags, as well as a driver’s knee bag. The Civic is yet to be ANCAP tested, but the brand is confident it will score a maximum five stars.

What does it cost to own? What warranty is offered?

8 / 10

The Civic Type R is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, with servicing required every 12 months or 10,000km.

The brand also offers five years of capped price servicing, with each annual visit to the service centre costing $199, which is pretty sharp. 

Pricing & Specs Insurance Quote

Verdict

Pricing Guides

$61,354

Based on 25 cars listed for sale in the last 6 months.

LOWEST PRICE

$42,990

HIGHEST PRICE

$69,888

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