The new Honda Civic Type R is the best ever | GRR Cars of the Year 2023
It's been an incredibly exciting year for the motoring industry. We here at GRR have driven so many brilliant cars over the past 12 months, and everything we’ve always loved is still right here, it’s just arguably better than it’s ever been. To evidence our point, we’ve pulled together nine cars that we consider to be among the very best of 2023, and we’re going to celebrate their brilliance right here at Goodwood.
Keeping the six-figure exotica well and truly honest during the gathering of our cars of the year is the Honda Civic Type R. Even at £53,000 it’s one of the cheapest cars in our line-up and could prove to be one of our favourites. It’ll certainly offer the most bang for the buck.
So what makes it great? Well, it’s one of the last, and one of the best, of a dying breed. The hot hatch as we once knew and loved it is all but died out, with most scrappy front-driven super superminis having bitten the dust. In their place, all-wheel-drive automatic hyper hatches with premium badges, blistering pace and farty paddle-pulled gear shifts, but little in the way of the traditional, plucky hot hatch personality. But the Honda Civic Type R lives on and, even in this sixth-generation, turbocharged FL5 form, with its climate control and Apple CarPlay, it remains steadfast in its commitment to the Type R way.
That is, a rev-hungry nutter of a 329PS (242kW) engine powering the front wheels via a truly blissful, Porsche-humbling manual transmission and a limited-slip diff. All that is bolted to a chassis that bleeds touring car-like capability and balance, directed by outstandingly accurate steering.
The gearbox is magic. Not so perfectly refined that you never feel involved but blessed with such a short throw and lovely knob that you will find pleasure in changing down to stop at traffic lights. It still demands you work. Shift too fast and you will hear that horrendous crunch of un-knotted cogs. But when it all knits together, it’s a delight.
Ben Miles Managing Editor, GRR
What’s new for this Type R is adjustability. Individual mode means the engine, sound and steering can be in their angry settings but the suspension can be set separately in its more UK road-friendly ‘Comfort’ mode. All the drama, all the addictive personality, much less of the sciatica.
What’s more? It now looks great, with subtle, measured aggression and genuine functionality, instead of looking like it’s been glazed with superglue for a ram raid of a Mansory warehouse. The interior has been subject to a similar hike in civility, with a cleaner, more premium design, even if not all of the materials match the look. Classic Type R tropes remain and are oh-so delightful: bright red figure-hugging bucket seats, an Alcantara wheel and that teardrop alloy shift knob we saw return on the last-gen Limited Edition.
This is easily the best modern Type R and, by default, is a hot hatch for the ages. A given, then, that it’s easily one of the best performance cars to hit showrooms in 2023.
Be sure to watch the Goodwood Road and Racing Cars of the Year video when it launches on Friday 15th December.
Photography by Joe Harding.
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