Return of the R

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Let’s start with a little of what the Type R is: It’s a 306-horsepower, four-door-plus-a-hatchback Civic that got around the Nürburgring faster than any other production front-wheel-drive car in recorded history. Far from being a Civic with a body kit, the Type R uses a 2.0-liter intercooled, turbocharged and direct-injected engine that comes from an entirely different engine family than the rest of the Civic lineup.

While the body preparation is not as radical as that seen on the Integra Type R–which employed tricks such as a reinforced body shell and thinner glass–the Civic Type R does employ specific additional use of body adhesives to increase chassis stiffness over regular Civic hatchbacks. The Type R also receives equipment that increases the user experience without unnecessarily increasing mass.

So many of the reviews we’ve read though disparage the Civic Type R for what it isn’t. They moan and bellyache about the lack of features like heated power seats which they feel should be present in a “premium” automobile. Or they’ll point out the lack of a sunroof.

We hope these people are never again allowed to wear an SA-rated helmet in anger.

With the exception of the styling–which we’ll address in a minute–the Civic Type R is a largely unimpeachable high-performance front-drive automobile. Specs and market positioning encourage a direct comparison to the Focus RS and Golf R, and despite the Civic’s lack of all-wheel drive, it compares more than favorably.

First, the lack of AWD also means the lack of several hundred pounds of mechanical equipment. The Civic Type R weighs in at a touch more than 3100 pounds dripping wet with all mats, cargo covers and tools in place. That’s a few hundred pounds less than its market competitors, and we like that math.

Second, the Civic Type R’s ergonomics and human factors are exceptional–especially in comparison to the Focus RS, which not all of our staff find comfortable or pleasing. The Civic is easy to enter or exit–even with a helmet on–and the interior is airy and reminiscent of Hondas of yore, back in the days before side-impact crash standards raised window and dash heights to claustrophobic levels.

The seats are as close to perfect for a wide variety of body types as any we’ve seen. Why do you need power adjustment if they work fine without being adjusted?

Yes, the styling is–to put it mildly–controversial. There’s a lot going on visually both inside and especially outside the Civic Type R. Anyone raised on a steady diet of Macross anime will instantly recognize the creases, angles, points, protrusions, scallops and edged swoops of the Type R’s many, many (many) visual complications.

We’re not saying that’s an entirely bad thing, mind you. We’ll reassure you that it looks better–and better proportioned–in the flesh than it does in photos, but there’s still a lot of information for your eyes to take in.

All that detailing is, however, largely functional. Splitters, ducts, foils and channels direct air to where it can do the most good (or at least do the least bad), and were designed primarily by the performance department and not the marketing department. (We’re sure the marketing department didn’t complain much, though.)

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But for those of you who discount the car for being “too ugly,” we kindly request you get over yourself, let go of your clutched pearls, and join us on track. The Civic Type R is sheer delight for destroying apexes. There’s also no familiarization time needed: just jump in it and go fast.

Three preset modes are available from the stability and traction control selector switch. Comfort and Sport are fairly self explanatory: Comfort is comfortable, while Sport firms the dampers, provides more steering resistance, and delivers a slightly more aggressive throttle actuation curve.

The most track-focused mode, which Honda calls +R, disables or seriously diminishes the electronic nannies, firms the chassis and steering even further, and provides extremely aggressive and impeccably timed throttle blips when downshifting the six-speed box.

In +R mode, computer stability intervention is nearly transparent on track. In an autocross situation, where weight must be occasionally transferred in a more dramatic and unnatural fashion, there’s still perceptible intervention, but Honda does provide for an “all-off” configuration as well.

On a faster road course, we’d probably opt for the +R mode. The system is so good that we wouldn’t expect the all-off setting to deliver an advantage. It’s a system that works with the driver, not against him or her.

Chassis-wise, the Type R impresses, especially in transitions. Like all front-drive cars, understeer is as available via throttle application, but it’s benign and can be used to easily and precisely adjust the line of the car during cornering without undue penalty on momentum.

In fast transitions, the Civic Type R really shines, though. With the tendency for modern cars to get more and more top-heavy as additional structure and safety gear are added above the belt-line, so many cars suffer from nervous moments as they pass through the neutral point from hard cornering in one direction to hard cornering in the other. The chassis wants a moment to stabilize as it passes through that neutral point, lest all that high-placed mass develop some momentum and just force the car offline as cornering loads build.

That’s not so with the Civic Type R. It changes direction willingly and aggressively–maybe like no front-drive car in decades. Were someone to evoke the CRX as a frame of reference, we would not say they were entirely without a point.

There’s also a conspicuous lack of torque steer–due in no small part to Honda’s dual-link front suspension design that places the kingpin angle directly inline with the center of the front tires. It’s a clever design that produces some solid geometry and excellent performance.

We weren’t able to run instrumented tests during our initial time with the car, but objective numbers have started appearing in other outlets. Sub-5-second zero-to-60 sprints and mid-13-second quarter-miles times with trap speeds near 110 mph are as real as it gets.

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Questions and connivery still amble about, however. First, because of high demand, some dealers are slapping the first batch of 2017 Civic Type Rs with some heavy stick-it-to-you premiums. Yeah, we understand capitalism and all, but come on, guys: A $20,000 premium on a $33,900 MSRP seems excessive. (By the way, we’re told that each Honda dealer in the U.S. has been promised at least one of the 3000 or so 2017 models that will be brought into the U.S. from the plant in the U.K.)

Second, for our crowd, much of the Civic Type R’s appeal will be made or broken by where it ends up on the competitive spectrum. For SCCA autocross–which seems like the natural habitat of such a creature–we’re guessing it will follow its market competitors the Focus RS and Golf R into the B Street class, where it will battle the aforementioned hot hatches as well as the Honda S2000, BMW 1 Series M and non-Z06 C5 Corvette. Examples of all of these cars have won major events this year, so maybe the Civic will add even more competitive diversity to an already varied class.

In an autocross venue, the Civic Type R does have a couple of inherent advantages it may be able to maximize. It’s one of the lightest cars in that field–especially compared to its hot-hatch competitors–and tall, 20-inch-diameter wheels and a not-overly short gear set combine for a 64 mph top speed in second gear. That means a minimal amount of worry about ever having to upshift to third and the assorted on-course complications that come with such an action.

For general track enthusiasts, though, the Civic Type R will be a willing and fun partner. Split-folding rear seats and a hatch mean exceptional cargo capacity–easily enough for a set of track wheels and tires and tools–and the big 13.8-inch front rotors with four-piston Brembo calipers look like they should mean exceptional brake performance. We saw no signs of fade during repeated journalist lapping sessions, and if car writers can’t kill something, it may very well not be killable.

So we beg our colleagues to judge the Civic Type R on its merits, not by some perceived lack of equipment that the car has no business needing or wanting. You don’t fault a shark for not having wings, because it’s already awesome at sharking, which is the whole point of being a shark. But, yeah, if you want to whine about the lack of seat heaters, go for it. You can tell us all about it if you can catch us by the next corner.

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