Honda opens Civic Type R order book

Honda Australia has opened the official order book for its hotly anticipated Civic Type R, first deliveries of which arrive here from October.

No price has been announced, but Honda has previously indicated a figure of around $50,000, which would make it a direct rival for the Ford Focus RS (from $50,990), Peugeot 308 GTi 270 ($49,990), Volkswagen Golf R ($52,990) and upcoming Hyundai i30N Performance and Renault Megane RS.

Honda Oz, which has announced full local specifications and already has a number of examples of the long-awaited hot hatch here for dealer promotion and testing purposes, said the early order book opening was in response to strong customer demand since it confirmed local availability last year.

“Our dealers have been telling us that customers are eager to put their names against a car so we’ve opened the order books early to allow them to secure their orders,” said Honda Australia director Stephen Collins.

“We understand the level of interest as the Civic Type R represents the pinnacle of performance for the Civic range and our faithful enthusiasts have been lining up.”

“We’ve had extraordinary interest in this car from existing owners and those enthusiasts who are looking for something bolder and visually striking, something distinctive from the usual European offerings.”

The UK-built Type R will be available here in four exterior paint colours led by the traditional Championship White, and also including Rally Red, Crystal Black, Sonic Grey or Brilliant Sporty Blue. Crystal Black and Sonic Grey are Pearlescent colours, while Brilliant Sporty Blue is metallic.

The hottest Civic, which set a front-wheel drive production car lap record of 7:43.80 at Germany’s Nurburgring, is powered by a four-cylinder 2.0-litre VTEC Turbo engine matched with a close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox with rev-matching function.

Three driving modes are also included -- Comfort, Sport (default) and +R – as is a track-tested aero kit with front and side splitters, a rear diffuser, vortex generators at the trailing edge of the roof line and a rear wing spoiler.

Other features that distinguish it from the 10th-generation Civic hatch on which it’s based include a new Dual-Axis front suspension set-up with aluminum lower arms and steering knuckles, a new multi-link rear suspension and exclusive spring, (adaptive three-chamber) damper and bushing settings.

Other changes include adaptive dual-pinion electric power steering with variable gear ratio, a helical limited-slip front differential, 20-inch alloy wheels and high-performance tyres, centre-exit triple exhaust and red-painted Brembo four-piston callipers with 350mm cross-drilled rotors at the front.

Inside, there are heavily bolstered sports seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearshift boot, aluminium shift knob, aluminium sports pedals, red Type R driver’s gauges and a Type R serial plate number.