Addition By Subtraction: The 2020 Civic Type-R Sport Dials Back The Gawdy Weird And Keeps The Performance


Addition By Subtraction: The 2020 Civic Type-R Sport Dials Back The Gawdy Weird And Keeps The Performance

(Words by Tom Lohnes) – The Honda Civic is a name we all know. Some people love it for the stout and tunable engines, legendary VTEC system and the fact that they can be an entry level hot rod for kids to mess with. Some people hate it for its trumpet-sounding engine note and the sometimes flat-bill, vaping, overly enthusiastic people that own them.

The Mk 10 Civic is all around a pretty good-looking car up to the Si trim. From there things get a little questionable. The Civic Type-R is a beast in performance, boasting the fastest time for a front wheel drive production car around the brutal Nurburgring Nordschelife. The looks on the other hand were more funny than animalistic. With its giant rear spoiler and red accents all around, people called the hot Civic cosmetically “riced from factory”, and the sad part was that the keyboard warriors were actually right. Honda being the geniuses they are, came up with a solution.

The Civic Type-R Sport line has no scheduled date to come to America, but it will surely trickle down into our hands in the next couple years. The sport line takes away the gaudy red accents and the oversized wing and adds a nice little spoiler carried from the Si trim. The sport line still has some Type-R touches though, like the three mid-mounted exhaust outlets coming directly out of the rear of the car. The interior offers a new black Alcantara option over the red you could only get before. Performance stays the same with a 2.0 Liter Turbo Inline-4 pushing out 306 horsepower and 295 lb.-ft of torque, sent exclusively through a 6-speed manual, to the front wheels. Expect 0-60 to stay the same at around 5.5 seconds.

The Civic Type-R is a very solid option. If you are willing to throw the $40,000 necessary down on a front-wheel-drive hatchback, then this is the one to get. If you are willing to wait a few years, you could have the sleeker and un-cartooned version for around the same price. My advice? Wait.


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10 thoughts on “Addition By Subtraction: The 2020 Civic Type-R Sport Dials Back The Gawdy Weird And Keeps The Performance

  1. Cliff Morgan

    OK, take the engine & trans and put it in another car. Say a 1976 Honda Civic. Or a ’32 Ford Roadster, or anything you can think of. 240 Z would be cool.

  2. Brian Cooper

    When did Bang Shift become Lawnmower Talk? This is 2 crapwagons in one week.

    Enough of this. Your readers don’t come here to see this dross.

  3. tw

    Sorry I don’t like Hondas . Yes they are good and reliable . But I hate what they represent , and the arrogant douchebags they attract .

    1. Greg

      I have a new Civic hatchback. I’m neither arrogant nor a douchebag. I was fed up with unreliable American cars. $400 PCV valve on my Cruze because they built it into the valve cover. $1000 to replace a valve cover gasket on my Ford Escape. Failed transmission at 60,000 miles in a Chrysler minivan. The only reason I didn’t buy a Type R Civic is because I didn’t like the Boy Racer wing on back.

      1. tw

        My daily driver is a Corolla , reliable and less pretentious than the H brand . They want to prove a point by sticking with high revs 4 cyl playing with the big boys. But a the end it still a 4 cyl , so the sound is horribly annoying , I’d rather drive an electric car than this .

  4. Dick Fitzwell

    agree with the guys above, why do you keep writing about ricer garbage. we don’t care if a ricer may be faster than whatever American car, they are still ricer garbage

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