This is the new Honda Civic Type R

First of all there are the looks, which are, admittedly, almost unnoticeable – well, apart from the new ‘Racing Blue’ paintwork. The fog light surrounds have been changed (they’re now flat rather than fake-grille like), the headlights are now full LED units, and there are little flicks across the front and rear bumpers that weren’t there before. But look a little harder and you’ll notice the opening for the front grille is slightly wider – 13 per cent wider according to Honda – which means the cooling system runs cooler by 10 degrees Celsius. 

Inside, the changes are perhaps a little more obvious. The steering wheel is now trimmed in Alcantara rather than leather and the infotainment system has been updated to include some physical buttons, making accessing various functions that little bit easier on the move.

But again, the changes are more than skin deep. Take the gear knob, for example. It’s now tear drop shaped like that of the old EK9 Type R, but if you think Honda hasn’t absolutely gone to town on the engineering details you’d be wrong: inside that lever is a 90g weight, taking it from 140g to 230g, which should make it even nicer to use. My word does Honda care.

That attention to detail has been exercised more or less everywhere else. The suspension has been tweaked for “more responsive and sharper handling”, with updated front compliance bushings and lower-friction ball joints that “result in sharper steering feel”. The rear bushings for the lower B-arms have been stiffened for an eight per cent improvement in lateral loads, too, meaning better toe-in when cornering. Essentially the car will feel pointier on corner entry, more secure mid-corner and better able to put the power down on corner exit.

The front brake disks, meanwhile, are now two-piece and have been paired up with new pads, reducing unsprung weight by a total of 2.5kg. The changes also help to make the disks more resistant to heat, and result in 15mm less travel on the brake pedal. You see how this really isn’t just a facelift?

The final big, new addition is that of the Honda LogR data logger. It uses data from sensors and the car’s brain and is paired with an app on your phone to “improve driving skill both on and off the track”, and because the system uses the ECU it’s more accurate than standalone data loggers. There are three main functions, namely a Performance Monitor, a Log Mode and an Auto Score Mode.

With Performance Monitor, the infotainment screen displays things like the current gear, coolant and oil temperatures, coolant and atmospheric pressures, and engine air intake temperature. You can also see a G-meter, or see a 3D image of the car cornering, braking and acceleration. If your car is sideways in a look-at-me-oversteer moment, the 3D car will be sideways as well. Log Mode uses GPS to map where the car is and if, for example, it repeatedly crosses a start-finish line, whilst also gathering data on acceleration, braking, cornering and so on. According to Honda, “the goal is to encourage smooth inputs to the clutch, gear shift, steering, brakes and accelerator to keep the car balanced”. Finally there’s Auto Score, a similar system to Log Mode that monitors braking acceleration, cornering and straight-line driving but one that “encourages smoothness of inputs to help improve routine daily driving, rather than seeking faster lap times”. Like Log Mode, however, it’ll keep a record of GPS data, so it’ll know if you’re driving better or worse on a given stretch of road compared to the last time using a “driving-smoothness algorithm”.

The final feature that’s newsworthy is one we’re really not sure about, and that’s the addition of Active Sound Control. It uses the car’s speakers to “enhance the engine sound”, says Honda, almost noise cancelling in comfort mode and pumping noise through the speakers in Sport and Plus R mode. We’ll have to wait and see how it all works when we drive it later this year, but does a car so driver centric need fake noise? Yes, the Type R’s engine is flat sounding, but this sounds like it’s doing the job a slightly fruitier exhaust could do much more naturally. 

Regardless, we’re very excited to drive the new Type R. Although which one should we drive first, the standard Type R, the Type R Sport Line or the Type R Limited Edition?