The 2018 Honda Civic Type R has been detailed for the European market this week. While we already knew the Civic Type R’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo develops 306 Hp of power and 400 Nm of torque – the latter arriving between 2500 and 4500 rpm – the company has revealed this week the front-wheel drive performance hatch can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 5.7 seconds – interestingly, this is the same as the previous-generation Europe-only ‘FK2’ Type R.

Not only does the Type R complete the benchmark sprint in under 6.0 seconds, it also has a claimed top speed of 272 km/h, making it the quickest accelerating and fastest front-wheel drive hot hatch you can buy. It also holds the Nurburgring lap record for front-wheel drive vehicles, completing the circuit in 7 minutes and 43.8 seconds.


Headlining features include adaptive dampers, 350mm ventilated front brake discs with 305mm solid rear units, 20-inch ‘Berlina’ alloy wheels shod with 245/30 R20 tyres filling the enlarged arches, “carbon-fibre effect” exterior highlights to the side skirts and rear diffuser, along with three driving modes – Comfort, Sport and +R, the latter tailored for track use.

Inside, the driver and occupants are treated to “suede-effect” red and black fabric trim on the high-backed sports seats, a black and red leather steering wheel, carbon dashboard inlay, red pinstripe highlights, a machined alloy gear knob, along with the 7.0-inch TFT LCD driver’s display as seen in other Civic models, but with unique graphics and menus that change depending on the driver mode selected.


The Civic Type R will also come as standard with the Honda Sensing driver assistance suite, which includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, road departure mitigation, lane keeping assist, intelligent adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, and intelligent speed assistance.

In Europe, there will also be a higher-spec Type R GT variant, which adds blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert, dual-zone climate control, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, Honda Connect infotainment with Garmin satellite navigation, wireless phone charging, a 542-Watt 12-speaker audio system, and LED front fog-lights.