Type R - Concept

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Escape hatch

Honda has never been short of fans of its Type-R cars, and this latest 'concept' - a preview of the forthcoming Honda Civic Type-R - is unlikely to change that.

By calling it the Type-R 'Concept', Honda is giving itself some creative elbow room to make the showcar look as desirable as possible without having to build the road version exactly the same.

No matter: this squat yellow terror is pretty much what we'll be seeing early next year in Civic Type-R badges. And the consensus seems to be: 'Want one', and 'Might be prepared to kill for it'.

It's not hard to see why there's been a positive reaction; not only was the outgoing Civic Type-R a lunchtime legend, it was also practical, reliable, supremely fast in the sector and - most of all - affordable.

We're likely to see a premium for the new car, but with fast models like the Ford Focus ST and Vauxhall Astra VXR priced competitively at under £18,000, don't expect the Honda to stray too much higher and price itself out.

The big news is that this is the three-door bodyshell which we'll see in Europe in standard form later this year, deleting that 'hidden' rear door handle in the C-pillar and making the already wide-tracked Civic look even broader.

It makes the three-door footprint of the new Civic look almost square, especially standing on those smoked 20-inch hoops, but the real car is likely to gain ride height and lose wheel.

The trade-off between looks and sporting performance (in terms of acceleration and positive turn-in) point towards the standard-fit 18-inch wheels that are already an option on the Civic.

It might not look like it, but that bodykit is actually quite subtle; when you consider this hardcore version, it's the madness of the base model that really shines through.

In fact, because the Type-R Concept loses some of the fussy plastic detailing in favour of a darkened theme, it appears to have slightly cleaner lines, especially around the front and rear.

But let's face it, there's still plenty of geometry to take in. This is a car that's all about the wedge, both as a stylistic theme and a basic shape.

Starting at the front, the front airdam is lower and wider, losing the stock car's triangular foglights for the extra black mesh framing a gaping intake, whose downturned corners are reversed in the rear valance.

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Above the pointy front, the normal car's clear plastic sweep is replaced by a smoked pair of headlights either side of even more fine black mesh in the nostrils.

This creates a shallow 'V', the apex of which carries backwards into the bonnet to create a widening central ridge.

The best bits are the tiny details: the way the top of the normal wheelarch fades into the front bumper, echoed by the bolt-on flares that help bulk out the stance. But these aren't overblown wide-arches - just a subtle lip to accommodate the Concept's even wider track.

Again, short side skirts, drawing up and over the high rear wheelarch, are used instead of over-sculpted plastic. The rear gets a meaty spoiler around the midline of the rear windscreen where the stepped glass is on the normal car.

This is unlikely to help you while reverse-parking, especially as the C-pillar blind-spot in the normal car could already blot out a Boeing.

The rear light clusters and central section are again darkened to keep the bold shapes integrated. Underneath, the front bumper intake shape is inverted and corralled by two similarly triangular exhausts; like a pair of stylised parentheses.

They seem to be a much wider bore than on the stock Civic, where you can see the peashooter pipes nestling just inside the triangular exhaust tips.
Surprisingly, despite strong rumours to the contrary, and perhaps in an effort to keep the overall cost down, the new Type-R sticks with the proven 197bhp two-litre VTEC engine from the current car.

That means the front-wheel-drive chassis won't have to deal with the higher outputs that Honda has hinted at if it decided to use versions of the Accord's 2.4-litre engine.

Expect a retune to free up a little more torque - a common criticism of the outgoing car - but the same frenetic feel and pace. Part family hatch, part touring car, in similar proportions.

Underneath, it's new Civic all the way - and that's no bad thing. That cost-cutting torsion-bar rear might raise engineering eyebrows beside Ford's and VW's rear axle technology, but the Vauxhall utilises the same rear set-up to great effect.

Anyhow, the Civic is stiff-riding in any form; it feels as if all the Type-R chassis engineers needed to do to make a Type-R was dial out a little bodyroll and fit some performance tyres. Which means that even if the Type-R looks half as good as this so-called 'concept', we're all onto a winner.

The Type-R goes on sale early next year when the first British-built models roll out of the Swindon plant, so expect to see test-drives later this year. It promises to be worth saving up for.

Tom Ford

[Irvan F.]

Interesting info Bro, thanks

[claudio88]

Ini baru namanya Civic

[KoKo]

TOP

[adz3]

[adi_n]

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[ekomp]

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[azura]

Originally Posted by adi_n

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[arwanadaemon]

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