The Sport Line joins the range with a ten per cent increase in refinement and comfort with 97 per cent of the ultimate capability, which sounds like a pretty good compromise to us. The interior might feel a little low-rent in places, and it still doesn’t look quite right, but it’s a fascinating thing to see how even after all this time the Civic Type R has never been more appealing – it just now happens to be available in more flavours. And the transmission is not just good, but great – a defining feature if the steering, or the brakes, or the chassis itself weren’t all so brilliant.Īnd what about that extra something? It’s all in the balance – drive the Type R with the sort of intensity that has you completely absorbed and you notice that underneath you, beyond all of those inputs, resides a chassis that’s playful and resilient, with a sweet balance that doesn’t need insane speeds to reveal itself. The 316bhp, 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder powertrain is as potent and effective as in other Type Rs too, having good punch down low so long as the turbos are spooled, yet still building to a satisfying crescendo just below the red line. Some of this can be explained by the Sport Line’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres, but that textural, intuitive steering feel remains almost completely unaffected – a stunning achievement on an electric steering rack with two very different tyres. Turn-in is tenacious, the ill effect of an extra bit of sidewall not at all harming the Type R’s magical geometry, with grip levels almost identical to those of the standard car. It’s not that there’s nothing to learn with prolonged exposure, as there’s still plenty of tricks waiting to be revealed, but there are no quirks, no dead zones, no points where you replace faith with blind trust. When road tester types tell you Type Rs feel like an embodiment of the 911 GT3 in a Japanese hatchback, it’s for precisely this reason.
It just feels so intuitive, there’s little to no acclimatisation required, and you can instantly start driving quickly. There’s an almost instantaneous connection to the powertrain and chassis when you poke the starter button too, the throttle, steering, clutch and transmission all perfectly matched in weight, precision and action. Yet the changes have gone beyond the removal of that rear wing and some of its red pinstriping, as Honda’s engineers were also put to work on improving interior refinement and everyday useability, in the process downsizing the wheels, adding more sound deadening into the interior and throwing in all of the more expensive GT model’s toys. So while the Sports Line was never going to turn into something that looks at home on the roundel in front of the Hôtel de Paris, it is an attempt to lower the visual volume and make it more attractive to a wider audience. In addition to updating both the standard and GT models, Honda introduced two further variants, widening the Type R’s appeal at either end of the spectrum with the stripped-down Limited Edition at one end, and the more visually conservative Sport Line we’re driving here at the other.
#2021 honda civic type r vs 2021 honda civic update
The FK8 Honda Civic Type R has found plenty of favour in evo since it first wowed us back in 2017, so when time came for a mid-cycle update we were glad to hear the package had been only subtly refreshed.
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