Gregson Mathe
Over here in the states we’re FINALLY getting the Honda Civic Type R and that is a glorious thing. The Civic Type R is always near or at the top of many lists for the best budget sports cars. It usually competes with the Subaru WRX/STI, the VW GTI/Golf R, and Ford Focus ST/RS. With the exception of the ST and the GTI, all the others are AWD cars.
The type R is a FWD car that punches WAY above its weight. For example, Honda just took is around the Nurburgring in an attempt to show everyone just how fast this iteration truly is. Not only did it best the last generation Type R by over 7 seconds, but it also just smashed the FWD Nurburgring lap record by 5.5 seconds.
Here’s the lap. It’s pretty squirrely.
The previous record holder was the Volkswagen GTI clubsport. You might say that a 5.5 second gap on the ‘Ring can be made up in less than a few corners if someone makes a mistake. While that’s true, 5.5 seconds is an eternity over the course of a lap on any track.
‘Ring times have become highly suspect these day with all the controversy around the Lamborghini Huracan Performante. For this lap, Honda added a roll cage, but they said it did not help the stiffness of the frame. To compensate for that added weight, they stripped out the backseats and the infotainment system. Honda’s reasoning for the faster lap? They cite power upgrades and suspension tuning along with improved structural rigidity a wider track.
The Type R seems to have some pretty impressive performance even with it’s FWD layout. Now image if they gave it AWD like they should have…
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