News : Honda Civic Type R Concept debuts at Geneva

Honda Civic Type R Concept (2)

The Honda Civic Type R might be enjoying a very public gestation – and a lengthy one at that – but we’re hoping it’s going to be worth the wait. It wasn’t until the Geneva reveal of the Concept that we were able to gauge how the Swindon-built super-hatch is going to look when it goes on sale in 2015.

It’s certainly an extreme-looking car, with more than its fair share of aerodynamic addenda. With big flared wheelarches, a stacked rear wing, a rear diffuser with dual twin exhausts and a big rear spoiler incorporating the tail lights, it’s clear this is going for the jugular of the established hot hatch elite.

The big story is the expected performance, which is said to be sensational in Honda’s first turbocharged petrol road car. To prove it, Honda will be going all guns blazing for the front-wheel drive lap record at Nurburgring – but SEAT has already moved the goalposts with the Leon Cupra 280, setting a time of 7min 58.44sec . Unlike previous versions, the new Civic Type R will feature a turbocharged engine with more than 280bhp, putting it amongst the most powerful hot hatches. It will certainly be a different prospect than the last Civic Type R, which had 197bhp when competitors had more.

As you’d expect the new Type R will have numerous changes made to its suspension set-up – and it has been honed by several professional drivers, including Honda WTCC’s Gabriele Tarquini. Considerable development time will be put in at the Nurburgring Nordschleife – which probably means it could be too stiff to be comfortable on UK roads. It depends on how much time the European chassis team will be able to spend on real roads, too.

Although the latest Civic was launched in 2012, the Type R won’t be going on sale until 2015.

Honda Civic Type R Concept (1)

Keith Adams
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8 Comments

  1. Big Honda fan here. Good to see them making the CTR competitive with the classleaders once again.

    Waits for the inevitable “too big, too heavy, shouldn’t be turbo” comments…

  2. Looks good. Especially given the current generation Civic is something of an acquired taste.

    I often wonder if the Rover/Honda partnership had survived(in an alternative universe where BMW didn’t buy out BAe), then the R3 models would have been replaced in in 2005/6 with cars based on the 8th generation Civic. Drifting further into fantasy, imagine the above as a top-of-the-range ZR.

  3. Wouldn’t they be better sorting out what remains of their ever-decreasing range of models available in the UK? Before long this might be almost the only Honda for sale here. It’s not much use having a “halo-effect” model if there’s nothing else in the range for it to have an effect on.

  4. @2

    Ideally, had the Rover/Honda partnership continued to be mutually beneficial, the Rover 200 would have evolved into the Audi A3 to the Civic’s VW Golf. I can indeed imagine a Rover-branded rival to the Audi S3 and RS3 based on the Civic-R.

  5. Looks brash and powerful but a bit too much boy racerish for me. Wish it well though. Showing my age when I say such a car wouldn’t interest me nowadays but it would have in time gone by.

  6. Lets just hope they change the interior and give it some decent instruments instead of the ergonomic slum that the cooking versions are. The first test drive I had in the current generation Civic was enough to make me know that I was not going to spend my current level of 20,000 miles per year inside one!

    E.g. you can’t change the trip computer from range to empty to average MPG without stopping the car!

    Doubtless this version will satisfy the boy racer fraternity.

  7. I hope the insurers place a massive loading on this car, to keep the immature young idiots being at the wheel of this monstrosity

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