Australian order books for the 2018 Honda Civic Type
R have opened today, ahead of the hot hatch’s October 1 on-sale date.
Buyers will be offered the choice of five colours,
Championship White along with Rally Red, Crystal Black, Sonic Grey and
Brilliant Sporty Blue. Crystal Black and Sonic Grey are pearlescent paints,
while Brilliant Sporty Blue is metallic.
Final pricing and specifications for the Civic Type
R will be confirmed closer to the model’s October launch, though the company’s
local arm has indicated the hot hatch will be priced around the AUD 50,000 mark.
With its 310 hp/400 Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine,
the Civic Type R drives the front wheels exclusively via a six-speed
close-ratio manual transmission, and will compete with flagship hot hatches
like the Ford Focus RS, Subaru WRX STI, Volkswagen Golf R, along with other
front-wheel drive performance hatchbacks like the Ford Focus ST and Volkswagen
Golf GTI.
The Type R has already stamped its place in the
performance stakes, recently setting the lap record for front-wheel drive
production vehicles at the famed Nurburgring circuit in Germany – with a time
of 7 minutes, 43.8 seconds.
