Andy アンディ Posted October 27, 2022 Posted October 27, 2022 How good is the 2023 Honda Civic Type R? Along with enthusiasts on a budget—and/or the ones savvy enough to understand you don't need to spend six figures to buy yourself high dynamic limits—we've waited impatiently to find out since Honda first revealed specifics about the car. Just days ago, the company finally—and almost cruelly—offered us a quick experience behind the wheel; if a handful of laps around a medium-speed road course is an accurate representation of its character, we're now more eager to have an unrestricted go in its latest sport compact. Why It's Important If you know about performance cars, you know the "R" badge has designated Honda's most extreme models for 31 years. The previous Civic Type R earned universal praise within MotorTrend ranks, from its punchy (especially in the midrange) engine, sublime chassis tuning, and daily usability. Consider the fact that when we named it a finalist for our 2018 Car of the Year award, our judges said things like: "It's unlike any front-drive car I've ever driven; it's unlike any hot hatch I've ever driven. This car will be remembered for a very long time as the pinnacle of front-wheel-drive performance." "This is the most impressive new Honda I've driven since the original NSX. The chassis displays superb balance and composure, feeling planted and connected at all times, with ride quality that seems impossibly compliant for a car rolling on such fat, low-profile performance tires. It's the best front-drive chassis in the world, period." 2023 honda civic type r 05 filterSEE ALL 12 PHOTOS The 2023 Civic Type R has a lot to live up to, then. This shouldn't be a problem on paper. Its 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder is gutsier, with 315 hp (nine more than before) and 310 lb-ft of torque (an extra 15). Remember when 100 hp per liter was the holy grail of specific output? We're now talking 157.8 hp per liter in a car costing well less than $50,000. There's also a new active exhaust system, better cooling, an 18 percent lighter flywheel, a stiffer chassis, an even more precise shifter for what was already an insanely good gearbox, greater front and rear track widths, and suspension and steering Honda promises are better than ever. Wider wheels and tires are present, too, and the car rides 0.5 inch lower while measuring 0.6 inch wider, and features a 1.4-inch-longer wheelbase. Then there are the revised aero elements adorning a body that now presents as an aggressive small sedan rather than the former version's hatchback, all in a total package that weighs only about 50 pounds more than before. (The cargo opening is still a full hatch.) Driving Like (And With) A Pro Three days prior to the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix held at Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas, on October 23, Honda invited a group of journalists to drive the 2023 Civic Type R at Harris Hill Raceway in nearby San Marcos. The surprise: Freshly crowned two-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull Racing teammate, Sergio Pérez, rocked up to give us a couple hot laps around the 1.82-mile, 11-turn club track. The F1 drivers' presence served as a reminder that, despite Honda scaling back its F1 involvement with Red Bull following the conclusion of the 2021 season, a strong relationship remains intact between the two. Strapping into the Civic Type R next to Verstappen—who won the U.S. GP days later and clinched the 2022 Constructors' Championship for Red Bull and Honda—the 25-year-old Dutchman smiled, offered a fist bump, and punched us out of the pit lane. He and Pérez had only done a few reconnaissance laps of the circuit, yet an F1 driver's ability to find the limit quickly on an unfamiliar track was comically evident. Pitching the Civic Type R aggressively yet smoothly into the sweeping corners, Verstappen's braking inputs were surprisingly moderate as he mostly used just one hand on the wheel to rotate the Honda on entry, carrying massive speed at every turn and appearing to use a full 1 percent of his brain capacity as he did so. The harder he went, the better the car seemed to respond, never washing out into big understeer, the rear end at times getting quite loose and then gripping up easily time and again. The only moment anything went even slightly awry occurred when he botched a shift (no steering-wheel paddles here; he reacted with a bemused "Oops!"), the suspension coping impressively with an unexpectedly body-rattling track surface, the result of Harris Hill being built atop unstable clay ground just like what lies beneath the Circuit of the Americas tarmac F1 runs on. "It's quite bumpy," Verstappen observed dryly halfway around lap one. Soon after, an extra-large heave bounced our helmeted head loudly off the B-pillar, which elicited a comforting response of dead silence from the world champion. We're pretty sure we caught him smiling, though. Or maybe it was a smirk. Asked afterward about his impressions of the Type R, he said, "[This was the] first time I could really just have a good go of it, because last time I was driving it, it had just got to Europe and I had to do some filming. So there were cameras all over, like, attached to the car; it was not that exciting. They kept reminding me, 'There's only one car here, there's only one car here!' I was like, 'OK!'" Indeed, and in typical race-driver style, one of the first things he observed to a Honda rep after climbing from the Civic Type R following his initial laps was, "Oh good, you brought spares!" He continued with a laugh, "Yeah, I mean you never know, right? It's been really fun to drive. I think this car compared to the previous version took a good step forward in handling. I always felt the previous car had a bit too much understeer. Of course, with a front-wheel-drive car … but this one really comes alive and feels like it has a lot more front-end grip. When you want to have fun around the track like this, it's good to have the strong turn-in. You would think maybe it's too strong for the rear. But once you have the rear sliding a little bit, it's very easy to control and a lot of fun to drive." 2023 honda civic type r 01 filterSEE ALL 12 PHOTOS It was a telling analysis because, as we noted earlier, we've always found the outgoing Type R to be a stunning handler. Sure, it will understeer just like virtually any production car, but it's never been a fun-killing chassis trait. We kept this in mind as we hopped into the driver's seat. Piloting a car we'd never driven previously for just a few laps while following an instructor around a track we'd never seen before was never going to deliver the definitive word on its abilities. But it was easy to see Verstappen's point almost immediately. The 2023 Civic Type R feels slightly quicker than its predecessor, but the real magic appears to be the way its front end responds even quicker to the steering wheel, the latter also feeling more positive and direct thanks to its stiffer architecture. Get your braking, turn-in, and throttle inputs somewhere in the vicinity of correct, and the tail unhooks itself easily but benignly, which makes corner entry rotation achievable even for people who haven't won 33 grands prix. As track-day drivers know, this is a big key to quick lap times. The Bottom Line It's also the key to big fun. From what we felt during this brief drive, the 2023 Honda Civic Type R seems likely to—once we soon get our hands on it for a proper full evaluation—prove itself better across the board than its already stunning forebear. That might not be as obviously historic as winning multiple world championships as Verstappen, Red Bull, and Honda have done, but it would make this Type R something to remember for years to come, too. 2023 Honda Civic Type R Specifications BASE PRICE $43,990 LAYOUT Front-engine, FWD, 4-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINE 2.0L/315-hp/310-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve I-4 SURSA
Recommended Posts