News : Geneva 2017 – Honda Civic Type R’s first outing

The new British-made Honda Civic Type R made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show and, in doing so, has shortened the gap between regular and super-fast examples of this car going on sale. With 316bhp and 295lb ft on tap, it’s slightly more powerful than the last model – which has led Honda to confirm the new car will be making an attempt at the Nurburgring front-wheel drive lap record.

The model’s project boss, Hideki Kakinuma, says that the new car is more comfortable than the last one – being more biased towards ride compliance than before. He commented: ‘Some rivals focus on extreme performance and others are going in the comfort direction. We want to go right in the middle.’

More comfortable, but more than £30k

Now in its tenth generation, the latest Civic remains as unconventionally styled as the last four – although the Type R treatment is rather less extreme than in models that came before. Honda’s factory in Swindon is more busy than ever building the new Civic, and is hitting record numbers. There’s an aggressive growth plan built around the new model, which the company says should attract more customers away from rival manufacturers.

The Civic Type R is set to go on sale in the UK this autumn and, although prices have yet to be confirmed, it’s expected that they will rise slightly, with the car hitting showrooms at a little more than £30,000 before options.

Keith Adams

7 Comments

  1. Nice to see a return to form from Honda who have been rather distacted by none core products like the HondaJet & NSX. The latest generation Civic is a dramatic
    improvement of what has come before it and this Type R is the cherry on the cake, With that amount of power going through the front wheels the driving experience will certainly be interesting and owners of the car will certainly be enjoying sharing this with their local tyre suppliers,with a lot of repeat visits in the not too distant future

  2. I think it’s a missed opportunity to have a real fire breathing rear drive car to give B*W a run for their money.

  3. I like hot hatches, always have and always will, but he point of the hot hatch is its a sensible hatch back you can use every day and draw attention to yourself, particularly from Mr Plod, yet you can when no one is looking be on real world roads be as fast as anybody else can who is not on a high end sports bike and or insane.

    Whilst this automtive equivalent of a set of LED trainers, may appeal to one’s inner 8 year old, its just far too showy for most of the potential customers who can afford to buy and insure it, to live with it everyday.

    Which is why I do not think the Golf GTI / Audi A3 will be worried by it in the sales charts.

  4. Pretty sure that the MK3 mini JCW GP will be introduced in early 2018
    Rumours are 300bhp and if its anything like the MK2 GP then Honda should be worried.
    The GP is a stripped out light weight mini built for the track but is a usable daily driver.

  5. Hmmm.
    I do like the design of these Mondeos.
    Quite frankly one of the few modern cars that look good.
    Without silly gills and forced ” styling” of creases here and there.
    No idea you could get one for under a £1000

    As for ideas.
    I’d quite like the last Fiat Bravo as a bangeronomic.

    But as I see it you either go 2 ways either go for a stripper car with no electrics or go fully loaded ( and Pray ) with electric gizmos.
    I’d go the stripper route and the only “extra” would be a rear wash wipe and passenger door mirror !!
    Nissan Micra K10 or K11 Toyota Starlet or corolla.
    They don’t sell them her but
    the Toyota ProBox or Succeed would be cool.
    A mazda 626 or 6
    Or a Mitsubishi Pinin for the SUV crowd. Very Cheap.
    Quite like a Galant or How about for rarity
    a Nissan maxima/QX or Mazda Xedos 6 or 9!

  6. It looks like something designed by Ian Callum……and that is not intended to be a compliment

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