Car Review: Honda Civic Type R GT Black Edition

A fond farewell to a friendly exhibitionist

(Honda)

This is more of a “goodbye” than a “hello”, if truth be told. They’ve just unveiled the new Honda Civic Type R at the Geneva show, and a dramatic looking beast it is too.

It should do well, and deserves to. The new hatchback Civic – on sale already in Honda showrooms – is being built in Swindon and, believe it or not, exported to Japan as well as Honda’s other important markets in America and Europe.

Jobs and the vitality of the British motor industry depend on its success. Maybe it can prove that Brexit won’t kill the UK’s car industry. We shall see.

Quick out the blocks: the car has a rear spoiler for those track days (Honda)

The new Type R isn’t, though, as eye-catching as its predecessor, now in run-out Special Edition mode for its last lap on the new car market. This outgoing (in all senses) Civic Type R GT Black Edition, to grant it its full title, is the most extreme of what was always a rather extreme looking car – the now previous-generation Civic.

The spec

Honda Civic Type R GT Black Edition
Price: £32,300 
Engine capacity: 2 litre 1-litre petrol; 6-sp gearbox
Power output (bhp @ rpm): 306@6,500
Top speed (mph): 168
0-62 mph (seconds): 5.7
Fuel economy (mpg): 38.7
CO2 emissions (g/km): 170

I happen to like the obviously high-quality piano-black finish, complete with red highlights and an outrageous spoiler (no doubt unnecessary at legal road speeds). Maybe stung by Honda’s reputation for being favoured by the older citizen, and defined for many a long year by ultra-conservative styling, the Civic went all wacky as if to convince the world otherwise, but, it’s fair to say, didn’t put up the sales challenge to the Golf, Astra and Focus that its makers might have hoped.

The new generation looks more conventional, with proper door handles at the back, for example, as opposed to the current generation’s concealed affairs, that make the Civic look like the coupe it isn’t. In fact in Black Edition, with GT pack, the Civic Type R looks uncannily like Matilda, the deadly house robot star of Robot Wars...

The split-level dash design has divided opinion (Honda)

Otherwise this Honda is utterly predictable, and in a good way. The four-cylinder petrol engine revs as enthusiastically as any Honda before it, all the way up to 7,000 rpm and, as is traditional with the marque, you get the most out of it by working the power plant very hard indeed.

It manages with front-wheel drive only, and puts the power down with some fat 19-inch glossy alloys, and avoids the usual torque steer that used to limit the capacity of such a layout with an intelligent suspension set-up. They say it’ll do 168mph: believe it.

The cabin is a bit love-it-or-hate-it. Even though the “split level” dash design has been around for a decade or so it still startles, and, I have to say, doesn’t work as well as its more ordinary version. I may or may not be an odd shape, but for most drivers being able to see past the steering wheel to find all the information you need is a bit too much work, frankly. Tellingly, the new, 10th generation Civic, has dropped the idea. It was fun while it lasted, I guess, as was my own brief time with the Civic Type R, a lively, comfortable, extrovert character. A fond farewell, then.