Tested: Civic Type R

Words by Charles Kha Photos by Mark Pakula

Think the Type R’s been watered down? Seems like Honda has heard your cries.

Ask a performance enthusiast what first pops into their mind when you mention ‘Type R’, and I’ll bet a fiver they’ll use adjectives like ‘raw’, ‘harsh’, ‘rev happy’, ‘brutal’. Indeed, Honda’s Type R-badged cars are synonymous for being painfully unrefined, with the original EK9s and DC2s being stripped of anything that went against the R’s mantra of more power, less weight, and nothing in between. Sound deadening was deleted, the suspension was spine-snapping stiff, the chassis stiffened, and even the windscreen’s thickness was reduced to save precious grams.

However with each new generation of Honda, the Type R variants became softer. Creature comforts returned, the buzzing road roar – a by-product of any car that doesn’t have tar between you and the road – muted, and overall it had become, well, more compliant. Purists – and Type R fans were certainly sticklers in this respect – cried foul. What Honda was doing was nothing short of sacrilegious. This went against everything the Type R stood for.

Compounding this was a growing jealousy amongst Australian Honda enthusiasts, who looked enviously at the JDM FD2 Civic Type R. Although based on the sedan shape, the Japanese had the full strength 165kW K20A as well as a compliment of Brembo brakes.

When Honda announced a couple of years ago that the Type R badge would return to Australian shores after a brief hiatus, the purists were dejected that we would only be receiving the UK-built FN2 hatch rather than the FD2 sedan. Although few would argue that the hatch is nicer on the eyes than the four-door sedan, Type R’s were not about the aesthetics but rather the exhilarating ride that left drivers gasping for breath.

To Honda Australia’s credit however, it seems that all the bemoaning hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. This year’s line-up sees the launch of the 2009 model of the FN2 Honda Civic Type R. Unveiled at the Melbourne International Motor Show earlier this year, the new Type R addresses two of the biggest concerns the diehards have long harboured towards the Sunderland-built version.

The most obvious is the new colour option: white. But not just any white; Championship White, the colour synonymous with Honda’s racing history and the exclusive trademark of Type R pedigree. Although it’ll seem frivolous to those who can’t see the importance of a white paint option, trust us when we say the Honda fans will be nodding appreciatively.