Photo: Ron Sessions
The 2023 Honda Civic Type R is a high-performance version of the Civic Hatchback. From a performance and driving-engagement perspective, it's the ultimate Civic, bringing a 75-percent boost in power over the top 1.5-liter turbo in the regular-issue Civic Hatchback with handling and road-holding abilities to match. In addition, it cements the Civic's overall reputation as a fun-to-drive small car.
More than ever, the Type R is a rare treat that's track-ready for weekend club circuit events while suitable as an everyday 4-door compact commuter car. Best of all, the Type R gives up no roomy passenger accommodations, creature comforts, or ample-for-its-class 24.5-cubic-foot cargo space.
After skipping the 2022 model year, Honda now bases the 2023 Civic Type R on the 11th-generation Civic Hatchback. Other significant updates for 2023 include:
For 2023, the Type R is available in a single, well-equipped model. Including the $1,095 destination charge, Honda's hot hatch has a $44,390 list price.
Non-luxury brand compact performance-car competitors to the Civic Type R include the Hyundai Elantra N, Toyota GR Corolla, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Volkswagen Golf R.
Previously, JD Power reviewed the 2021 Honda Civic Type R. This review focuses on the Civic Type R's updates for 2023 and how they potentially impact its overall appeal to consumers.
Photo: Ron Sessions
The Honda Civic competes in the Compact Car market segment. According to data collected from verified new-vehicle buyers for the JD Power 2022 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, 63 percent of new Honda Civic buyers are male (vs. 59 percent for the segment), and the median age of a new Civic buyer is 42 years (vs. 46).
As part of the APEAL Study, owners collectively rated all versions of the Civic in 10 primary categories. Listed below in descending order, you'll find their preferences, from their most favorite thing about the vehicle to their least favorite:
In the 2022 APEAL Study, the Civic ranks fifth out of 13 Compact Car models.
In the following sections, our independent expert analyzes a Civic Type R equipped with Championship White premium paint. The test vehicle's price was $44,845, including the $1,095 destination charge.
Photo: Ron Sessions
For 2023, Honda tones down the "boy-racer" look of the previous-generation Civic Type R. The abundance of scoops, winglets, grilles, vortex generators, and other body surface excitement that adorned (or festooned, depending on your viewpoint) the 2021 Type R is history. Honda replaces them with a cleaner, aerodynamic exterior shape with more subtle, muscular bulges housing the 2023 model's wider tires.
Honda mounted a tall, downforce-inducing deck spoiler on purpose-built aluminum stanchions on the 2023 model. The Type R's signature, center-exit, 3-outlet adaptive exhaust continues to be an eye- and ear-catcher. But overall, the new Type R looks like a highly capable performance car that's all grown up and ready to get down to the serious business of sport driving.
Less tacked on, more upscale, and less cartoonish than the 2017-2021 iteration, the 2023 Honda Civic Type R's exterior surfacing is sleeker than before. It now features a vented, low-profile aluminum hood complementing a lower, wider stance and a larger, lower grille opening feeding an upsized radiator for improved engine cooling.
Looking like it means serious business, the new Civic Type R sits 1.1 inches lower than the previous-generation model. Flared wheel well-to-wheel well spans a half-inch wider than before. In addition, the track increases one inch at the front and 0.8 inches out back, perched on 265/30R19 tires that are 20mm wider than on the 2021 model.
The low-center-of-gravity look translates to a road-hugging feel in the cabin. A correspondingly low-mounted dash, low-profile hood, and thinner front windshield pillars aid forward visibility. The driver and front passenger also sit lower in the 2023 Type R than in the previous version.
The Type R's aggressively bolstered front bucket seats feature big wings for good lateral support of thighs and lower torsos. Combined with the grippy suede-like seat-cover material, the lateral wings of the front chairs do an excellent job of keeping the driver and front passenger planted on curvy sections of the road. Getting in and out comfortably takes some practice, however. Another challenge will be keeping the Type R's bright red front buckets and carpeting clean.
Sticky 265/30R19 Michelin Pilot 4S summer performance tires grip the road surface. Even stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are an extra-cost option, but I didn't miss them on the Type R test car. The stock Pilot 4S tires are well-matched to the chassis, offering a crisp turn-in and communicative steering feel.
The Type R is so balanced and confident in its skin that it defies expectations of how a front-wheel-drive (FWD) car handles. Despite carrying 62 percent of its weight over the front wheels, the Type R's helical limited-slip differential and dual-axis front suspension struts allow it to accelerate hard in the lower gears without dartiness or torque steer and put the power down cleanly exiting tight corners while avoiding spinning an inside front tire.
Beefy anti-roll bars front and rear help ensure the Type R corners flat, too. Upsized rotors and standard Brembo 4-piston aluminum front brake calipers in the Type R slow the car without drama, and a new, retuned brake booster provides a crisp top-of-pedal response.
However, interior noise is one area where the Type R needs some improvement. On the daily commute, one can turn up the volume a notch on the standard 12-speaker Bose Centerpoint premium audio system to compensate. Still, road noise over coarse surfaces and a pong sound from tar strip dividers detract a bit from the car's overall greatness.
Four driver-selectable modes exist: Comfort, Sport, +R, and—new for 2023—Individual. Surprisingly, Comfort mode is the best choice for the daily commute and weekend fun runs over twisty back roads. In Comfort mode, the standard adaptive suspension dampers provided a just-right balance of ride and handling on public roads, soaking up minor road imperfections and small bumps while conveying precise vertical body control over larger events. Sport firms up the steering and shocks but unnecessarily degrades ride quality over poorly maintained roads.
The +R mode firms up the steering and shocks even more for track use. Honda doesn't recommend it for street use as it backs off on stability and traction control system intervention. Finally, the new-for-2023 Individual mode allows the driver to custom-tailor the amount of steering boost, shock damping, throttle progression, sound enhancement, rev-matching intensity, and stability or traction control intervention to personal taste or the situation at hand (lazy back country cruise or intense track session).
Photo: Ron Sessions
The previous-generation Civic Type R's lively K20C1 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbo was already 53 percent more potent than the next most-lively Civic offering—the 1.5-liter turbo under the hood of the Civic Si sedan. But to keep the 2023 Type R competitive with new entries in the compact hot hatch segment, Honda retuned the K20C1 engine—a version it will share with the forthcoming Acura Integra Type S—with an additional 9 hp and 15 pound-feet of torque.
The 2023 Type R's turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine now offers 315 hp and 310 pound-feet of torque. This is thanks to freer-flowing intake and exhaust systems, a revised turbocharger with lower-inertia blades, increased boost, and a larger air-to-air intake charge intercooler. Helping the 2023 Type R rev more quickly is a new, lightened flywheel. The new Type R's 3-percent power bump and 5-percent increase in torque are incremental, but help offset its 117-pound weight increase this year. It also keeps its acceleration performance in the same league as significant competitors such as the Toyota GR Corolla and Volkswagen Golf R.
Despite some compact performance cars offering an automatic transmission (Hyundai Elantra N, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Volkswagen Golf R) and AWD (Toyota GR Corolla and Volkswagen Golf R), the new Civic Type R keeps to its original formula of a 6-speed manual transmission and FWD.
The close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission exclusive to the Type R is a real gem. While its shifter doesn't quite match the bolt-action smoothness of the one in the departed Honda S2000 sports car, the Type R stir stick tops the hot-hatch segment, featuring precise gates and short throws, and low-friction operation. In addition, a rev-matching feature on downshifts helps maintain chassis composure when entering corners.
Take care, however, before grabbing the Type R's aluminum shifter ball if you park the car for a while in hot weather and direct sunlight, as the shifter handle can get very toasty. Matching the ease of use of the shifter is a clutch pedal that offers a conveniently wide engagement range for smooth launches.
The beauty of the Type R is its versatile and flexible performance. Despite packing a big turbocharger with lots of boost and a lofty 7,000-rpm rev limit, the 315-hp 2.0-liter is never peaky. Instead, it feels like a larger-displacement engine that's just as smooth and tractable moving along in the daily traffic queue as it is powering through the gears on a favorite section of back road. Tuning that delivers maximum torque in a generous band between 2,600 and 4,000 rpm makes part-throttle around-town driving pleasurable.
If you are quick with that aluminum manual shifter handle, you can take the 2023 Civic Type R from zero-to-60 mph in about five seconds flat.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the 2023 Type R at 22 mpg city/28 mpg highway/24 mpg combined. I saw an indicated 27.2 mpg in the car's trip computer while driving on a mix of residential boulevards, two-lane highways, and limited-access interstates. Of course, that number would drop significantly during aggressive driving, but the point is that the Type R's everyday fuel economy is easy to live with, considering its performance capabilities.
However, the Type R's driving range is disappointing, maxing out at less than 300 miles for the small 12.4-gallon tank when you factor in the 24-mpg EPA combined fuel-economy estimate.
Photo: Ron Sessions
New for 2023 is a 10.2-inch driver-configurable dash display shared with the Civic Hatchback when equipped with Sport Touring trim. But in the Type R, when one switches the driver display to +R mode via a console switch, the gauge layout transforms to one with a large, horizontal bar-type tachometer reminiscent of that in the gone-but-not-forgotten Honda S2000 roadster, a digital speedometer, and gear-position indicator.
Above the digital display and just below the driver's line of sight is also a row of racing-inspired shift indicator lights. These lights illuminate progressively the closer the engine gets to its rev limit. When most or all of the lights illuminate, it's time to upshift.
Do you want more gauges? With the included Honda LogR Performance Datalogger, the new Type R has them. Over in the center display, the Datalogger provides access to a full menu of auxiliary gauges in analog form, including ones for coolant temperature, engine oil temperature, engine oil pressure, turbocharger boost pressure, and more.
For 2023, Honda has combined the system's onboard sensors and computer with a built-in app that enables drivers on race-track or closed-course sessions to record critical performance data to hone their driving style or compare with other enthusiasts.
Photo: Ron Sessions
The 2023 Honda Civic Type R is one of the great ones, delivering engaging performance, ample creature comforts, and up-to-date infotainment and safety technology at an affordable price. Honda updates it for 2023 with more power, sleek bodywork, and enhanced driving dynamics. But the beauty of the Type R is when you're driving it daily; the car is commendably tractable and capable of returning fuel economy numbers in the high 20s while offering smile-inducing fun at street-legal velocities.
Ron Sessions is a seasoned vehicle evaluator with more than three decades of experience. He has penned hundreds of road tests for automotive and consumer websites, enthusiast magazines, newsletters, technical journals, and newspapers.
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