Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition arrives Down Under

The 2021 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition hot hatchback has officially landed in Australia.

To celebrate the arrival of what is quite possibly the best front-wheel drive performance car ever made, the Japanese manufacturer has adorned Tony D’Alberto’s Civic Type R TCR race car in a special livery.

Gone is the regular ‘Racing Blue’ paint scheme seen on D’Alberto’s racer. In its place, Honda has coloured it ‘Sunlight Yellow’, or as it’s more commonly known in the JDM world, ‘Phoenix Yellow’.

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Not to be confused with BMW’s ‘Phoenix Yellow’ that covered the E46 M3 in period, Honda’s version of Phoenix Yellow was first made famous as the hero colour of the now-legendary Integra DC2 Type R.

And just like the DC2, the new Civic Type R Limited Edition is a special bit of automotive kit.

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The Honda Integra DC2 Type R

Power from the explosive K20C1 turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder motor remains unchanged at a heady 228kW and 400Nm, but the Sunlight Yellow CTR has gone on a strict diet, ditching its regular wheels in favour of a bespoke set of 20-inch lightweight BBS alloy wheels wrapped in homologated Michelin Cup 2 rubber.

The Limited Edition also scraps its rear wiper, rear parcel shelf and most of its sound deadening, all in the name of appeasing the lightweighting gods.

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All told, the yellow hatch is 16 kilograms lighter than its more common sibling, with its kerb weight dropping from 1393 to 1376 kilograms.

Just 1020 vehicles will be built, and only 20 examples have been allotted to the Australian market.

With an RRP of $70,000 drive-away, the hottest of hot hatches is not cheap. In fact, it’s about ten grand more expensive than the regular Type R.

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However, such was the popularity and demand for the limited CTR when it was unveiled back in 2020, Honda had to hold a raffle to figure out who the 20 lucky owners would be.

Now those lucky 20 people are starting to take delivery of their yellow Type Rs, and we reckon it’ll be less than six months before at least one turns up in the classifieds with delivery mileage and a six-figure asking price.