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What's the difference?
Before we dive in, this isn’t your typical road test.
That’s because there’s no road, per se. Instead, the majority of what you’re about to read comes from The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.
You’ve read the headline, though, so you’re probably putting it all together: a Honda Civic Type R on a well-liked race track must be bliss. Let’s find out.
A very quick catch-up for those not in the know. The Honda Civic Type R (or CTR if you like) is the brand’s only performance model on sale after the demise of the NSX supercar.
The current (FL5) CTR is a little over a year old, having been launched internationally in late 2022, but has only been on Aussie shores for a little while. In fact, we’ve already reviewed it for the road, back in April.
But Honda Australia was keen to get media behind the wheel in a setting it says the CTR thrives in - a racetrack. Its predecessor was a car loved almost universally, can this one live up to the new standard?
I'm going to reveal something of myself here - I used to be a RenaultSport Clio owner. This is what the purists call what we now know as Clio RS, and I find myself constantly corrected yet unrepentant. It was a 172 - a nuggety three-door with wheels that looked too small, a weird seating position and a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine that was big on torque as long as you belted it.
It was a classic and you could still see the links back to the epoch-making Renault Clio Williams, that blue and gold Mk 1 Clio we never saw in Australia that redefined the genre. The current Clio has been around for four years now and I even drove this current RS Clio at its launch in 2013, memorable for the sudden bucketing rain that drenched the circuit and made things very interesting indeed.
This Clio was a big change from the cars that went before - slimmer-hipped, less aggressive-looking and with a 1.6-litre turbo engine, five-door-only body and (gasp!) no manual, just Renault's twin-clutch EDC transmission. It was a hit, at least with enthusiasts. Back then it was the dawn of a golden age in small hot hatches. But that was then, this is now. With a small power bump and a couple of features thrown in, is the ageing RS still at the pointy end?
In the realm of factory-built performance road cars for less than six-figures, the track capability offered by the Civic Type R is hard to rival.
The way it communicates and encourages smooth driving is impressive. Its mechanical grip limits are clear well before you reach them and the car is very forgiving with small slides and gentle lift-off oversteer. It lets you know you’re approaching the limits well before you hit ‘em.
Performance hatchbacks from Volkswagen, the Golf GTI and R, are arguably more useable day to day, but don’t come close dynamically. The Hyundai i30 N is wicked fun and deceptively capable for its lower price, but lacks the Type R’s high-shine polish.
Is the FL5 Type R pricey? Yes. Is it worth it? Maybe.
Is it probably the last time a purely combustion-powered hot hatch is going to be this good? Almost certainly.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.
The Clio RS is still a ton of fun and in Cup spec, probably the best compromise between price and livability. Despite its advancing years (it turns five this year, so ready to start kindy) and big brother Megane hogging the limelight with a fancy new model on the way, the Clio is a stayer. It's missing some frustratingly obvious things like CarPlay, AEB, rear airbags and rear cross-traffic alert, but it's hardly alone in the segment.
With the departure of the Fiesta ST, though, the Clio returns to the top of the list of best small hot hatches on sale today.
The last Type R was divisive to say the least - rather sharp and aggressive styling reminiscent of a robot from a 1990s anime, with plenty of design details and enough black trim to give white CTR’s that Star Wars stormtrooper vibe.
It was loved and hated, and there seemed to be few who found their opinion in the middle of those.
This generation changes that.
Much softer styling and a more restrained approach to detail makes this Type R look much more mature - for better or worse, depending on your view - than the last, though it hasn't lost much of its ‘look at me’ factor.
Sleeker headlights, softer lines in both body panels and in places like the grille, as well as a smaller hood vent are all clear.
Aerodynamics played a big part in the design of this car, with Honda Australia’s tech team telling us the time it spent in the wind tunnel during development was so long they wanted to get press photography done there.
The small flick or canard ahead of the rear wheel, for example, directs air into the rear wheel to cool the brakes.
Of course, there’s still a great big wing mounted to the rear. How else are you going to know it’s a Type R? For that, you could also look down to the tri-exit exhaust, we suppose.
The Clio is a handsome small car but nothing out of the ordinary until you apply the very cool Liquid Yellow paint. That hue really is quite something and works even better with the black alloys of the Cup chassis.
The car has some lovely surfacing and in a recent-ish refresh, the slightly odd headlights were reworked, as were the front and rear bumpers which now link to the RenaultSport Megane. Sorry, Megane RS. The RS flag signature lighting is a nice touch, acting as DRLs at the bottom corners of the front bumper.
The lovely organic shapes of the Clio's sides still look good and the rather tough rear end with the chunky diffuser leaves you in no doubt that it's the proper RS not the halfway-house, 1.2-litre GT-Line.
Inside is starting to look its age, but graceful, a bit like Jamie-Lee Curtis' or George Clooney's embrace of grey hair. There are still some of the sharp edges I didn't like. It's certainly a Renault to look at and ergonomically works pretty well. One thing that has been fixed at some point is the switch on the gear selector - it won't bite you if you curl your finger underneath when you press it. You might think that's a small thing, but when you did it, damn it hurt.
The Civic Type R is a four-seat hatchback, so if you were looking to cart four of your nearest and dearest around regularly, you may need to look elsewhere.
However, for a car that holds front-wheel drive lap records at circuits like Mount Panorama and indeed The Bend, it’s a pretty convenient thing.
Its tech behind the 9.0-inch multimedia screen is a little dated, but it’s still functional and most will use phone mirroring often enough that the native system is an occasional necessity.
In terms of the physical practicality, it benefits from the glow-up the standard Civic has undergone.
Physical controls for the climate remain (good!) and there are two very useable cupholders and a relatively well-sized storage bin under the elbow rest.
The seats are well-bolstered and comfortable in the front, providing the duality of a car that will hold you stable during track driving and be plush enough to keep you comfy on the drive home.
In the back, only two passengers can sit in the Type R despite the car being spacious enough for a third seat to at least be an option. Instead there’s a permanently accessible cupholder, but no armrest.
It is very spacious, with ample knee room and possibly even enough headroom for rear passengers to wear helmets if the idea of a four-up track lap takes your fancy.
Behind that, 411 litres of boot space is impressive for the segment, though the boot’s lip is fairly high and rounded at the sides.
The Clio's interior is certainly snug. Rear seat passengers do okay for legroom but headroom is a mite marginal with the falling roofline for six footers. There are no cupholders out back, that curious French habit of supplying just a couple of cup receptacles of different and weird sizes persists. The front doors have space for bottles, the rears do not.
The boot is class-competitive at 300 litres (worth knowing the Trophy loses 70 litres to the Cup) and with the seats down stretches to a claimed 1146L.
Honda’s relatively new retail business structure means some sting is taken out of the Civic Type R’s $72,600 price tag as it’s drive-away. No on-road fees.
But it’s still well north of the $50,990, before on-roads, the previous generation FK8 version started from, and there’s not a huge list of additional features you’ll find in the cabin.
Dual-zone climate control, a wireless smartphone charger, 9.0-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay, ambient lighting, all features that didn’t garner much attention at 200km/h down The Bend’s main straight.
However, the Type R’s impressive 'LogR' track day telemetry and lap timing software, bright red bucket seats and Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel, aluminium pedals and gearshift knob made of the same were all put to proper use.
The LogR app for your smartphone allows you to take the data recorded by the CTR on track and analyse it, compare your lap with others (even from other drivers) at the same track, and can even automatically score and give feedback on your laps.
Personally, I wasn’t particularly upset to find out I was significantly slower than 2022 TCR Champion and general Australian motorsport veteran Tony D’Alberto.
There’s no sunroof, leather trim, seat heating or ventilation, no head-up display or even power-adjust for the driver’s seat. But more expensive (and sometimes less capable) sports cars are sold for more money with fewer mod-cons.
The iconic 'Liquid Yellow' ($750 option) Clio I had for the week was the Cup spec chassis. The Clio RS 200, as it is officially known, comes in two specs - Sport and Cup - and there's a Trophy 220 at the top of the range. I had the Cup, which retails at $32,490 (plus on-road costs). The RS220 Trophy, with a bit more poke and stuff, weighs in at $38,990 if you're interested.
The Cup spec is heavily based on the more affordable ($30,990) Sport, which means you get 18-inch alloy wheels (painted black, so watch those kerbs), climate control, four speaker stereo, keyless entry and start (the "key" is still that unwieldy keycard style thing), reversing camera, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors, fog lamps, LED daytime running lights, sat nav, auto LED headlights, auto wipers, launch control, leather bits and pieces and a tyre inflation kit instead of any kind of spare.
The 7.0-inch 'R-Link' touch screen software runs the four speaker stereo with DAB digital radio, Bluetooth and USB. If you get the optional RS Monitor, there is a full-on telemetry system from which you can save your, er, "track day" data and overlay in Google Maps to compare with your mates' or past efforts. You can also change the piped-in engine sound to various different sound effects which are delightfully silly.
Android Auto is part of the breathtaking $1500 'Entertainment Pack' option that includes RS Monitor (which used to be standard) and no, there's no Apple CarPlay. Leather is a further $1500.
Bottom line is that you do get a decent spec bump from the $30,990 Sport along with the more capable (and less comfortable) Cup chassis.
Like the last Type R, this hot hatch boasts a highly-strung turbocharged 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder engine under the bonnet, complete with red engine cover and Type R badging.
The new iteration of this engine makes 235kW at 6500rpm and 420Nm between 2600 and 4000rpm, with much of the 7.0kW/20Nm increase over the last car making itself known all the way through the rev range.
For changing gears, a six-speed manual gearbox with auto-rev matching - should you choose to keep it active - is the only option. That gearbox transfers power to the front wheels only, as is traditional.
The drivetrain can be adjusted for intensity via the drive modes, 'Comfort', 'Sport', '+R' (which saw plenty of use on this test) and 'Individual'.
The 200-equipped RSes pony up 147kW/260Nm, which is pretty much bang-on the obvious competition (Peugeot 208 GTI and the outgoing Fiesta ST), driving the front wheels through Renault's six-speed EDC twin-clutch. Unlike those two, there is no overboost function.
Dieppe's finest sprints from 0-100km/h in a claimed 6.7 seconds, pulling along a kerb weight of 1204kg.
Honda says the Type R’s official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is 8.9L/100km, the last-gen car’s figure was 8.8L/100km.
Of course, we didn’t get to test fuel efficiency on the track and if we did, we can’t imagine it would have been incredible. The car's 47-litre tank needed a refuel during our session.
But last time we drove the Type R, we spent a week and about 500km testing the hot hatch and found it used 11.5L/100km, not too far from the claim and reasonable for a car of this performance pedigree.
Renault claims 5.9L/100km on the combined cycle but, yeah, nah. My week was admittedly filled with plenty of horseplay and spirited driving, yielding 11.4L/100km. If you were careful you may fare better - but not that much better.
The fuel tank is a fairly standard 45 litres. It requires 98RON premium unleaded.
This is the bit you want, yeah? What’s it like behind the wheel of the new Civic Type R when road surfaces are at their best and a speed limit isn’t of concern?
Having spent plenty of time behind the wheel of the last CTR, two key words come to mind... familiar and refined.
Where the last generation at times felt on the sharp, tense edge even without sacrificing ability, the new Type R smooths out a lot of the minimal shortcomings of the last generation, just as it has for the exterior styling.
Its setting is relatively firm and direct, but not too heavy for track stints, with good communicative feedback for steering inputs.
It allows for smoother steering and a sense of how hard you can steer without over-shifting weight. Which in itself is another impressive aspect of the CTR, how smoothly you’re able to transfer weight not only in cornering but under braking and acceleration.
The 1429kg hot hatch will only complain gently with some tyre noise if you’re approaching it's fairly lofty limitations, the car’s inherent mechanical grip working well with the Michelin Pilot 4Ss.
For a front-drive car, its rear feels impressively planted, a trait the FK8 surprised many with, to the point that a regular comment from media and professional drivers is that it’s hard to believe the CTR is FWD.
Under hard braking, the rear stays steady, allowing plenty of control if you come in too hot for a corner. The pads and rotors seemed to hold up with a lot of track time, too.
Power and torque delivery feel familiar if you’ve spent time in an FK8, even pulling out of tight-ish corners in third acceleration doesn't disappoint.
Its gearbox, too, might be one of the best feeling shifters around at the moment.
With or without rev-matching, a downshift in the FL5 feels smooth, visceral, and results in an engine whine that makes you feel like this car is more at home on a circuit than a boulevard.
The FL5’s abilities are on show in a smoother manner than its predecessor, and it makes the car more encouraging to drive quickly and smoothly.
While rough inputs will still yield impressive results, the FL5 CTR’s a surprisingly comfortable thing to drive rapidly through bends and under hard braking.
Handling, acceleration (a claimed 0-100km/h in 5.1sec and we don’t doubt it), grip and cornering, braking, and now more than ever, comfort. At the risk of gushing, it’s hard to fault the Type R on track.
This might be the best front-wheel drive performance car of all time.
The RS has always had a belter of a chassis. The Cup chassis became a thing just over a decade ago and is lauded by the fans as The One To Have. I've not always been convinced of this as my earlier drives of the Cup-equipped machines have usually been in close proximity to the Sport chassis.
The Cup is slightly lower than the Sport, with 15 per cent stiffer springs and dampers and perhaps more importantly it scores 18-inch wheels with Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 tyres, which you can reasonably expect to be a bit firmer than the 17s with Goodyear F1s on the Sport. And they are.
However, in most situations, the Cup chassis is perfectly benign. You certainly feel the bumps and lumps, but you haven't bought a Cup chassis for Lexus-like isolation. It's certainly sharper than the Sport chassis and when you're really giving it a go around the bends, the comfort deficit is more than made up for by the extra grip and poise.
The RS has always had a belter of a chassis.
The chassis is aided and abetted by a torquey 1.6-turbo that cheerfully...no, gleefully spins to the redline which could do with another thousand revs, but that's forced induction for you. The aluminium shift paddles need a good positive pull to get a gear, but that gear is delivered quickly and effortlessly. The Clio is a great deal of fun in Sport and Race modes, with throttle mappings and gearshifts becoming more aggressive as you switch through the modes.
The brakes are tremendously effective and the electronic limited slip diff (*cough* brake-based torque vectoring) ensures you'll hit your apexes and the tyres spend more time gripping than spinning.
But it's not all hairpins and off-camber left-right-lefts, is it? Plenty of owners have to live with the car in traffic day to day. Driving the Cup in isolation, I've changed my mind about it. I reckon it's the best of the two chassis settings. The city ride is better than decent, with the hard edges potholes chamfered off by the dampers and decent compliance. It's not too noisy, either.
ANCAP hasn’t crash-tested the current generation Honda Civic, though its European counterpart Euro NCAP has, awarding it a full five stars.
It scored relatively well for occupant safety (89 per cent for adults and 87 per cent for children) while being adequate in terms of pedestrian (82 per cent) and active safety assist (83 per cent).
While it’s possible the Type R would have minor differences, it’s safe to take the results of that test as a relatively accurate measure of the CTR’s safety performance.
It features eight airbags, including front, front knee, and rear passenger-side impact, and full-length curtain airbags.
In terms of active and intervention safety, there’s Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), lane keep assist and departure warning, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, parking sensors and a reversing camera, plus traffic sign assist and driver monitoring.
On board the Clio is four airbags (no curtain coverage for those in the rear), ABS, stability and traction controls, a reversing camera and two ISOFIX points along with three top-tether anchors.
The Clio was awarded a five-star ANCAP rating in November 2013.
The Type R is covered by the same warranty and servicing as any other Civic, which is a huge score when it comes to high-performance cars and the costs usually associated with them.
Honda’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty is fairly standard these days, but it includes roadside assistance.
Servicing is a flat fee of $199 per interval for five years, which come in every 12 months or 10,000km.
Renault says it was the first European maker to offer a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia, and who are we to argue? The package also includes up to four years of roadside assist and three years of capped-price servicing.
Renault expects to see you just once a year or every 20,000km, which gives you a bit more headroom than some similar service plans, at least on the mileage. The first three services will cost no more than $369 unless you need a new air filter ($38) or pollen filter ($46). At 60,000km or four years you'll cop $262 for a set of spark plugs. The company's website also suggests if the Clio doesn't like the state of its oil, it will beep at you until you have that attended to.