2019 Honda Civic Type R Review - Haunting My Dreams

As I’ve mentioned before, reviewing cars here at TTAC is not my primary career. At best, I get a few hours a week working in my basement office to pound out prose that the Best and Brightest loves to critique. As such, I don’t always get around to writing about each car I’ve driven until several weeks (or more) later.

As the calendar pages tear away furiously toward a new year, like many I’ve taken stock of what I’ve done over the past eleven months. I’m realizing that of the cars I’ve had the pleasure of wheeling, there are only a few that I can legitimately picture myself buying. These cars are objects of desire and obsession for a gearhead like yours truly.

The 2019 Honda Civic Type R is at the top of the list, certainly. The blend of incredible performance and everyday utility make it a favorite of many reviewers. But that’s the problem – everybody’s written about it. What can this part-time auto scribe say about it that hasn’t yet been said?

Plenty of derision has been heaped upon the styling of the Type R. Yeah, the wing is a bit garish, but it’s mounted high enough to not interfere with rear visibility. I’d be tempted to consider a delete option if it were available, but it’s not a deal breaker. One doesn’t buy a Civic Type R to blend into a crowd.

That is exactly why I’m puzzled by the Sonic Gray Pearl paint applied to my tester. It almost looks as if it should be a matte finish, though it’s glossy like any other typical paint. It simply looks dull. I’d love it if Honda would open up the cabinets in the paint shop a bit – Phoenix Yellow from the fabled Integra Type R would be lovely. Otherwise, it’s Championship White for my CTR.

Oh, for those who really care about such things, the 2019 Civic Type R has one major change inside: it has a real volume knob for the stereo.

I’m a bit bothered by the mismatch between the front and rear seats – front seats are primarily red with touches of black trim, while the rear bench is black with red stitching and seatbelts. I know that Type Rs of yesteryear have been finished this way, but it’s jarring to my eye. It reminds me of tuner cars with mismatching seats, fitted when the cash-strapped owner could manage to afford something. I could learn to live with it, I’m sure, as the front seats are marvelous. The bolsters, while deep and firm, are set just wide enough to squeeze my ample backside in place when hucking this ultimate hot hatch into corners at inadvisable speeds. They’re no substitute for proper fixed-back racing shells, but they will suit weekend warriors at track days or autocrosses perfectly.

Like any other Civic, of course, the rear seat is plenty comfortable for my ever-growing tweens – but just those two, as the Civic Type R has but two seatbelts and a hard plastic cupholder situated where a third butt might normally sit. It’s not often I need to haul five – and I do have a minivan for that purpose – but when we need to run my daughter’s friend to a birthday party it’d be nice to have the option to do so legally.

Honestly, though, I’d really prefer to drive the Civic Type R solo – at least when pointed toward the more enjoyable roads in Southeastern Ohio. The lack of bolstering on the rear seat cushion would lead to a pair of kids sliding to and fro as I hustle through the twisties, with a better-than-average chance at a minced oath or three being uttered while they fight back motion sickness. This car simply sticks. At least at the speeds I subjected it to (I couldn’t manage to get to a track day during my week with the CTR), this hottest hatch just kept going with no drama.

Three hundred and six horsepower – paired with 295 lb/ft of torque down low at 2500 rpm – made pulling away from corners a cinch. Doing something stupid, like dramatically stomping the pedal while the steering wheel is still unwinding, is rewarded with relentless pulling through the corner, rather than dramatic wheelspin thanks to the factory helical limited-slip differential. The steering is beautifully weighted, with the leather-wrapped tiller communicating exactly what the front wheels are saying.

I’d be tempted to source a new shift knob for the excellent six-speed manual – the matte-finished metal knob can get hot enough to scorch the loops and whorls from your digits.

Beyond the lack of a fifth seatbelt, this is just a Civic with more. It’s perfectly useable in daily driving. The ride is firm, but not punishing. The exhaust note isn’t overly loud. The tire noise isn’t too bad. This is a performance car that can handle track duty and commuter duty with equal aplomb.

I’ll date myself here a bit – when The Fast and the Furious film hit screens, I was enamored. I immediately subscribed to Sport Compact Car magazine and began clipping tech articles for later (when I had a car worthy of modifying in the style of the film). I kept shopping for an older Honda Civic, but even then, my choices for a clean car were getting slim. The phrase I kept seeing in advertisements was “Fully Built,” which in theory means the car was modified to the fullest extent – but in reality meant the seller wanted to turn a profit off of the parts bolted to a rusty shell of a car.

My most memorable “fully built” shopping experience led me to The Hilltop, a neighborhood that is currently in the very early stages of gentrification. A dozen years ago, however, the area was seriously rough. As was the car, a 1989 Civic Si with a coffee can for an exhaust tip and holes in the floorboard big enough for my size twelves. And yet I test drove the thing, briefly. Seems the seller had a side hustle in recreational agriculture, and the remnants permeated the entire car. I couldn’t get away fast enough, but I reflexively stopped for a Coke and a bag of Doritos shortly after leaving.

My point is that fast Civics have long been the domain of a younger generation – one that had more ambition than cash. Many of those young, cheap enthusiasts have grown up and earned to buy something new, clean, and warrantied. Had I managed to save some of my earnings over the past decade or so, this Honda Civic Type R would most certainly be on my list – because for once, this hotrod Civic is “fully built” from the factory.

[Images: © 2019 Chris Tonn/TTAC]