SMOOTH CRIMINAL

The new Civic Type R might look slicker than the last one, but it's still a psycho, physics-defying hot hatch underneath

- TOM FORD

If the Civic Type R were a pop star, it would be Taylor Swift. Or possibly Harry Styles. Talented youngster grows up in the public eye, goes through changes, has a bit of an experimental/outrageous phase and then settles into a happy bout of maturity and broad appeal. There's a comfortable self-referencing of things that have gone before remixed for a modern audience; Swift and Styles play with the music of the Sixties, the Type R with its level-headed back catalogue of reliable, accessible greats inspired - but not bound by racing. Though I doubt Swift gets as specific as the Yoshio Nakamura and Shoichi Sano's Honda RA272 of 1965 (the V12 racing car that delivered Honda's first ever F1 win). Suffice to say, growing up is hard to do. Weird analogies are even harder.

But looking at the newest version of the Civic Type R, glistening in traditional Championship White paintwork at the Tazio Nuvolari circuit in Italy, you can't help thinking that the CTR has finally settled, found its niche. It's still very obviously a fast Civic, but it's calmer looking, more confident. A world away from the fast-but-obnoxious last gen. But more of that in a minute - first, we need a bit of backstory.

The fastest of the Civics has always been about producing an engaging four-cylinder, front-wheel-drive manual hatchback. Something lightly practical that delivers for the drivers among us. Thus, we've been treated to a proper jumble of model designations during the Civic Type R's lifespan: EK9 ('97 and JDM only), EP3 (the boxy one from '01), FD2 ('07, Japan), FN2 ('07 - the wedgy one) and 2015's FK2, which got all box arch and bewinged, and then the FK8 and the attendant specials which basically looked like they were designed by a 12-year-old with a plastic fetish. Now we are at FL5, and things have changed. This is the Civic Type R after it has forgone the need to be quite so attention-seeking.