Top Gear Road Test - Honda Civic Type-R

[Dr_B1G]

Watch The Video and tell me if you agree with Clarkson...
Don't get me wrong, I love Top Gear and think that Clarkson has developed one of the most entertaining motoring programmes of all time.
However, I don't agree with his road test of the new shape Honda Civic Type-R.

His quote: "Miles and miles of hideous understeer, killing the fun, killing everything"

I've got one of these cars and to be honest it sticks to the road like glue, but if I were to approach a 50mph at say, 100mph I would imagine it would understeer.

See what you think...

 

[niky]

I don't know... I don't think it's a case of actual understeer due to anything being wrong with the front end of the car, but more understeer due to the rear suspension's absolute unwillingness to let go of the road.

 

[Giancarlo]

I pretty much like the previous model better too. The new one looks so bloated.

 

[Keef]

I don't know... I don't think it's a case of actual understeer due to anything being wrong with the front end of the car, but more understeer due to the rear suspension's absolute unwillingness to let go of the road.

Right. Though torsion beams aren't always bad (the Cobalt SS does very well with its setup), but the one Honda put under the Euro car is garbage. the Si we get in America is softer than the Euro Type R, and softer still than the JDM car, but even it still likes to wag the tail when you want it to. Most stock cars understeer like dogs, as it's much safer for the average driver than mad oversteer. The JDM car is actually pretty loose because everyone in Japan receives a government-issued racing suit and helmet once they reach driving age. But Apparently Honda Europe thinks you're all a bunch of dummies and can't handle it, so they made it drive like a stiff, responsive minivan.

Basically, you only want half of a front drive car to stick like glue, the front. You can have a little fun with the rear, especially in the tight twisties.

 

[Sertsa]

I agree with him, I think Honda took a great handling, fun to drive car and replaced it with a squashed minivan.

 

[eiriksmil]

I assume you've driven it the way you speak?

 

[homeforsummer]

Here's the thing:

If a car understeers a little, then Top Gear will do their best to make it look absolutely horrific on TV. It's called artistic licence and all Clarkson will do is put the steering on full lock and plant the throttle fully. Try doing that in any FWD car and see how it responds with anything other than epic understeer.

Judging by more or less any other review of the Civic it's supposed to handle very nicely despite the change from double wishbones to torsion bars. The main criticism as far as I can remember is the ride, not the handling.

 

[niky]

I don't really think it's the rear end, since the Civic I've driven is the multi-link Japanese version. It's more that the Civic's dynamic abilities rely on a hyper-responsive front end rather than an adjustable rear end.

With the Focus, the front end isn't as sharp, but the rear end tracks beautifully and keenly, willing to play when you try to snap it around. On the Civic, you drive fast and neat, relying on the ability of the front end to hold the line and trusting the rear to follow it rather than playing wild and wooly with it.

In other words... very, very dynamically capable... but just a bit too mechanical... not as organic in the way it flows down a road as the Focus.

This is probably where the claims of understeer come from... and... c'mon... everything short of a midship supercar will understeer given the right cornering speed and bend radius.

 

[Tornado]

<not related in the slightest>
Am I the only one who thinks it hilarious that Honda's '09 restyle of the American Civic makes it look exactly like the Kia Forte?

 

[Sertsa]

I assume you've driven it the way you speak?

I should have prefaced that by stating that my experience is with the Si Civics, rather than the Rs. Driving an older Si through the curving, rolling West Virginia turnpike is a beautiful thing, by the way. I haven't had that much time in a current Si.