Wild Type

Honda has taken the wraps off the new, FL5-generation Civic Type R. It may look more grown up but it remains wild at heart

- JORDAN KATSIANIS

IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A TOUGH JOB to follow the FK8 Honda Civic Type R. A serial group-test winner, the FK8 didn't just scrape a few victories but repeatedly realigned our expectations of what a hot hatchback could be. In fact it felt less like a hot hatch in a typical sense, more like a brilliantly engineered sports car that just happened to be frontwheel drive and for us there was no higher compliment. So it was encouraging news when Honda took the covers off its latest Civic Type R and suggested very clearly that the new FL5 will carry on in the same direction as its predecessor. It will be, in Honda's words, its 'FF Sports Car 2.0'.

First the basics. As with the FK8, the standard Civic hatchback that underpins this new model was designed from its very conception around the requirements of a new Type R.

The chassis is a little bigger than before: it's 40mm longer, 35mm of that being in the wheelbase, 15mm wider and 15mm lower, but crucially it's a whole lot stiffer too, with a 38 per cent increase in torsional rigidity.

Honda has achieved this through various means, including a 400 per cent increase in structural adhesive in the basic bodyin-white, but also going so far as to reimagine the construction process at the factory. The side pressings are now attached in two stages - first the inner skin is welded and glued, with the exterior skin then added later. We're told this allows for further stiffness to be added to the chassis, with the added bonus of simplifying the process of applying the bespoke bodywork.

Honda is yet to release a weight figure but says the new model will weigh only marginally more than the 1380kg FK8.