Honda Australia confirms 2021 Civic Type R specs and pricing

The Honda Civic Type R, the car which took out MOTOR’s Performance Car of the Year 2018 and Bang For Your Bucks trophies (making it the only car to do so) in the same year, will receive a small visual and mechanical update, and it’s been confirmed for an Australian arrival in October 2020.

The 2020 Type R’s drivetrain remains unchanged – a 228kW/400Nm turbo four-cylinder – for now, but the hot hatch will get updated dampers and stiffer rear bushings, with changes to the front suspension also expected to improve steering. New two-piece brake rotors and new brake pads are also on the cards, with a 15mm reduction in “brake stroke… delivering a more immediate [braking] feel.”

The most obvious change visually will be a smaller bar across the front grille to allow more space for the vent and therefore better engine cooling.

8

The side vents, which until now were mostly made of a solid plate which mimicked a grille, no longer pretend to be a full vent, instead making the real vent more visible and incorporating a small body-coloured ‘blade’ within its section of the bumper. The fog lamps retain their place within the grille’s outline section.

At the rear, the vent-lookalike panels also get a body-coloured blade-like feature through the space they occupy.

Pictured here is a new colour which will be available in Australia as Racing Blue.

8

Inside, a teardrop-shaped shift knob harks back to older Type R models, such as the Integra DC2, and also adds a “90g internal counterweight to help improve shift feel and accuracy.”

Honda also introduces its new datalogging system called LogR, which “combines the Type R’s onboard computer and sensors with a smartphone app to help drivers monitor and record a variety of performance parameters.”

8

As well as track times and data tracking, it can also provide ‘scoring’ on smooth day-to-day driving to improve efficiency.

While all of this will improve the Type R, it also comes at a price. That price is now $54,990, or a $3000 bump up from the outgoing 2017-19 model. It’s set to be available in Australia from October 1, 2020.