Honda Brings Back Type-R With European Civic
It may be true that with the passing of the Integra, the name Type-R has left North American shores, but it lives on elsewhere in the world. Though the previous generation European and Asian-market Accord was available with sky-high revving engines, tweaked chassis’ and vivid monochromatic appearance packages, the car that really stole the show was the Civic Type-R, based off of the quirky-looking Civic SiR (Si in the USA). Witness the rebirth of the Type-R for Europe and Asia with this, the brand-new Civic Type-R, unveiled just a couple of days ago for its global launch at the Paris Motor Show, which starts next week.
Honda enthusiasts have been waiting to see the final production version of the Type-R for quite some time now, premiering the three-door variant of the hatchback bodystyle with the screaming yellow Type-R Concept, and, in production form with the Type-S. Between the Type-S and the production Type-R, the two cars look very much the same, though an easy way to tell Type-Rs apart from their lesser brethren is the mesh grille which takes the place of the nose-mounted light bar, and a low-mounted rear spoiler. The Type-R shares the Type-S’ track width that is 20 mm (0.78 in) wider than the standard Civic hatchback, but rides some 15 mm (0.6 in) lower than the Type-S, and has 18-inch wheels instead of 17-inchers.
Mechanically the Type-R is practically identical to the North American Civic Si, and a slight advancement over the old Civic Type-R’s engine. At 2.0 litres in displacement, the car now makes 198 hp, which is 0.98 hp (yes…) more than the old Type-R and Civic Si engine. Though the main hardpoints of the motor have remained the same, it has gained an electronic throttle plus a balancer shaft to improve smoothness and tractability for everyday driving situations. What gains that the new Civic had over the old car are negated by shorter gearing in the six-speed manual gearbox, which gives the new Type-R a 0-100 km/h time of 6.6 seconds and a top speed of 235 km/h.
There have been a few criticisms made to the new Type-R, however, particularly to do with the compromise that Honda made with the chassis layout. The new Type-R features a central-mounted fuel tank to allow for a version of the Fit’s Magic Seats, but this meant that the rear suspension was down-graded from multi-link to a semi-independent torsion beam. Hopefully Honda’s chassis tuning team will be able to overcome this issue.
Honda is serious about making a showing on the racing circuits. Alongside the standard Type-R, a lightweight version will also be offered, which features a deleted parcel cover, engine cover, stereo and noise insulations to eliminate 40 kilograms (88 lbs). This allows the sporty Civic to be FIA homologated for various types of racing series, including Group A, Group N, and the new Group R types. The Type-R will not be sold in North America, but for those who are interested it goes on sale in Europe early next year, and will be built exclusively at Honda’s facility in Swindon, England. It is unlikely Honda will considering bringing it over the pond, being that they didn’t enjoy much success with the previous made-in-the-U.K. SiR.
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shit is sick i wonder if honda will bring back the old hondas like my 92 hactback turbo ls vtec