2024 Honda Civic Type R
Price: $52,000 CAD
Colour: Rallye Red
Growing up as an impressionable young man in the 90’s I had one rule beat into me regarding sports cars – rear wheel drive is the only way to go. Rear wheel drive made light sports cars. If the power didn’t go singing down a shaft to the rear wheels (where hopefully a limited slip differential metered out the power properly), it wasn’t a sports car. As much as I respected Honda for all it had done with the performance variants of the Civic, I never really considered it a sports car because the power went through the front wheels. While fun could be derived by chirping those front tires of an evening, if you were serious about sports cars, you knew it had to go to the back. As written in stone as this rule has been for the succeeding three decades, change is inevitable and Honda has, through a feat of engineering, proven that a front wheel drive Civic really can be a sports car… and a damn good one.
Power & Performance
The 2024 Honda Civic Type R features a 2.0L 4-cylinder engine which is, naturally, turbocharged, and features Honda’s much vaunted V-TEC system. This potent combo delivers 315hp and 310lb/ft of torque. This is a lot of power to pour through the Type R’s helical limited slip front differential. In times past, this would mean the front end would jump around under aggressive acceleration and be slippery as a pig in slop while applying power through corners. The Civic Type R isn’t having any of this. Try as you might, no matter how hard you hammer on this car that front end stays straight and true and all that power gets delivered to the road in a clinic on how you get it done. I really tried to prove that Honda couldn’t put 300+ horsepower through the front wheels without creating the world’s worst case of torque steer, but I couldn’t do it. It was astonishing. I’m not often impressed by anything car related, but the Civic Type R blew my socks off.
Given that the Type R is a street racing king I didn’t go into this test drive expecting great fuel economy. Great fuel economy is exactly what I got however as, regardless of how hard I pounded on it, the Type R never drifted north of 10L/100kms. Cruising down the highway for a stretch delivered numbers around 8.2L/100kms… what the hell is going on here? A sports car that doesn’t bleed you when you drive it like it was designed to be driven? Well done Honda… well done.
Exterior
Beauty is subjective. The previous generation of the Type R was a polarizing design that you truly loved or hated. I got the criticism and wasn’t in love with that design. Honda listened for the new one and got it nearly perfect. This Type R is a strange blend of hyperbole and odd practicality that equal a really good-looking car. It attracts a lot of looks on the road and in parking lots. I had lots of people asking questions at a golf tournament I attended while driving the car. People seemed dutifully impressed.
Interior
If you won’t take anything but bold red carpet in your car, the Type R is for you. I was slammed in the face by the carpet color in this vehicle when I first saw it. I might have even cringed for a beat. I adapted quickly however as the color grew on me fast and I came to really like it. Now, grey, black and brown carpet is just boring. Why isn’t all carpet red?
What good is red carpet without equally red alcantara seats? The racing seats in the front of the Type R are awash in red and required no adjustment time as I loved them from moment one. A car like the Type R should be bold like this. It should slap you in the face then pick you pocket to fill the tank and make you thank you for the privilege.
There’s a little plaque on the dash indicating the run number of the particular Type R you’re sitting in. I like that. Makes the car feel special.
The Type R also features a screen on the pedestrian infotainment system that gives you all your racing info like boost, g-forces and a whole bunch of other stuff I would never use on public roads. It speaks to this car’s soul as a pure-bred street racer however and allows one to show off to your friends while kicking it around a track.
Quality
The 2024 Honda Civic Type R reflects all the best practices of how Honda builds a car. It feels solid and reliable. I don’t know how you communicate that to a customer, but the Type R does it. It feels like the car will give you ten years of loyal service no matter how you thrash it.
CQI – 10. For a carpet snob, the Type R is a unicorn of goodness.
Value
Charge me whatever you want, it’s worth it.
Final Thoughts
The 2024 Honda Civic Type R is a little pot of magic that only Honda could really make. It’s a true street racing, rule breaking sports car that defies all the rules of conventional construction. It’s also affordable, reliable and good on gas. There is witchcraft at work here I don’t fully understand. How can such a car be possible? While I continue to ponder that I’m going to cherish the time I had with this incredible car. It somehow manages to be all things to all people without compromise of any kind and that quite possibly makes it the best car you can buy today.
