Kudos Driving School

OVERVIEW

The 2020 Honda Civic Type R brings a host of important changes to Honda’s iconic performance flagship car, expanding its already considerable performance envelope with enhanced handling, braking, ride quality, styling, and new levels of driver involvement with the debut of a new performance data logging app.

Key highlights include:

Retuned bushings in the front and rear suspension for improved cornering stability and sharper steering Revised Adaptive Damper System (ADS) features a substantially higher sampling rate and revised tuning for better control and improved ride comfort New two-piece front brake rotors improve brake cooling and reduce weight Increased engine cooling performance Updated exterior and interior design, plus an exclusive new exterior color Standard Honda Sensing® suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies All-new Honda LogR performance data logging app designed to record driving activity and help improve driver skills As before, the 2020 Honda Civic Type R will be available in one well-equipped trim. With a 324-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged DOHC 4-cylinder engine, Civic Type R is the most powerful front-wheel-drive Honda ever made and the most powerful Honda-branded vehicle ever sold in the UK And despite its razor sharp, track-ready handling and performance, the Type R is also praised for its practicality as a spacious, comfortable and civilized daily driver, a rare combination of qualities in a car at any price. On the outside, the 2020 Civic Type R is easily recognized by its bold, purposeful styling. The 2020 Type R is distinguished from earlier models by updated front and rear fascia styling and a new, larger grille opening that improves engine cooling.

New for the 2020 model year is Boost Blue, an exclusive color available only on Civic Type R. Inside, the 2020 Type R features a new Alcantara™-covered steering wheel, and a new shifter with shorter throws, a new aluminum knob and synthetic suede shift boot. Also new for 2020, the Honda Sensing® suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies is standard equipment, which means that every Civic sold in the U.S. now comes standard with the technology.

DYNAMIC IMPROVEMENTS

The 2020 Civic Type R features a number of engineering upgrades aimed at further elevating performance. After listening to feedback from customers, and thousands of kilometers of extensive testing on racetracks and on the road, engineers focused their attention on key areas where improvements would be helpful. Their efforts focused on three main areas: handling and ride response; high-speed braking; and engine cooling. Suspension Updates While Honda’s never-satisfied dynamics engineers wanted to further refine the handling of the 2020 Type R, it had to come without notable loss of daily driving comfort. Directional rigidity of the suspension has been strategically increased via updates to select bushings in the front and rear. In addition, the Adaptive Damping System has been modified for more frequent and precise adjustments--improving cornering performance while maintaining Type R’s civilized road manners. The front compliance bushings are 10 percent stiffer longitudinally, resulting in an increase in road feel and improved consistency of the tire contact patch under cornering loads. Additionally, the front lower ball joint has been reengineered for lower friction, improving steering feel and precision. In the rear, the bushings for the lower B-arms were stiffened, increasing lateral rigidity by 8 percent, while also improving toe-in characteristics during cornering. The Adaptive Damper System has been upgraded to sample conditions 10 times faster (2 kHz to 20 kHz), giving the system more discrete control of both ride and handling dynamics. For ride comfort, the system is able to react to conditions more accurately, enabling finer damper control for a smoother ride on surfaces such as broken pavement, whether cruising around town or cornering on less-than-perfect roads. In cornering, the quicker-reacting ADS features new anti-roll control, which works in conjunction with the new stiffer bushings and sharper steering by more effectively harmonizing the timing of body roll and pitch caused by steering, braking and acceleration. This results in better steering response when turning into a corner, improved stability mid-corner, and better control when powering out of a corner. Two-Piece Brake Rotors For improved brake performance with better fade resistance as well as reduced unsprung weight, the Type R’s single-piece cross-drilled front brake rotors are replaced by new floating, two-piece rotors that more quickly dissipate heat. Aided by revised brake pads, the brake pedal benefits from a more immediate feel with approximately 17 percent less play before engagement. In addition, the new front brake system reduces total unsprung weight by about 5 pounds (2.5 lbs. at each front wheel) to aid both ride and handling performance. Improved Engine Cooling The 2020 Type R gets a redesigned grille that features a smaller gloss-black area above, and a smaller red Honda badge in the middle, resulting in a 13-percent larger opening to allow more air to pass through the radiator. In addition, the radiator itself was updated, and now uses a core with a closer pitch between the cooling fins (2.5mm versus 3mm), the increased surface area allowing greater heat dissipation. The result is that in high-demand situations, such as track use, testing revealed coolant temperature reductions of as much as 18 degrees F. In replacing the grille, engineers also modified the shape of the front chin spoiler. Instead of a completely flat bottom, the spoiler now has a very wide “V” shape on the left and right side and now features a “rib” on each end to create negative pressure ahead of the front tires.

EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR DESIGN

In addition to the revised grille treatment, the 2020 Civic Type R receives styling refinements similar to the Civic Hatchback lineup. These updates include revised fog light housings in front, which now feature a solid black background with a body-color blade-type crossbar. In the rear, the lower bumper openings receive changes similar to the front, with new body-color blades over the black backgrounds in the bumper. Additionally, the outside mirrors now incorporate LED turn signals and are heated. Inside, the 2020 Civic Type R gets a new steering wheel wrapped in grippy Alcantara™ and a new shift lever with a restyled knob and synthetic suede shift boot. The new, smaller knob shape is designed to more easily show at a glance which gear the car is in, and is reminiscent of previous Type R models, including the original 1997 Civic Type R. Type R engineers settled on the new shift knob after prototyping 10 different designs for appearance, ease of use, and how the knob fits in the hand. The new shift knob features a 90g counterweight, giving Type R an even smoother and more natural shift feel.

ENHANCED SAFETY FEATURES

Every 2020 Civic Type R will be equipped with the Honda Sensing® suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies, making the Honda Sensing® suite standard equipment on all Civic models and trims. Honda Sensing® on Type R includes Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS™) incorporating Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) and Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) incorporating Lane Departure Warning (LDW). Additionally, all Honda Civic models receive automatic high beams as part of their Honda Sensing® package. The 2020 Honda Civic Type R also features a long list of standard active and passive safety features, including Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) with traction control, driver and passenger front and side airbags, side-curtain airbags with rollover sensor, Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist and Honda's next-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure. Civic Type R also features a multi-angle rearview camera with guidelines as standard equipment.

POWERTRAIN

Under the hood, the 2020 Civic Type R continues to draw power from a race-bred 2.0-liter DOHC direct-injected and turbocharged in-line 4-cylinder engine with VTEC™ valvetrain putting out a peak 306-horseopwer and 295 lb.-ft. of torque, with power to the front wheels delivered through a close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission with automatic rev-matching on downshifts, and a limited-slip differential. As before, drivers can choose between three driving modes – Comfort, Sport and +R – that vary suspension firmness, steering assist and throttle response. The Type R’s selectable drive modes and sophisticated design make it both a thrilling companion on a mountain road or a racetrack, and a remarkably civilized daily driver with a degree of flexibility unmatched in its competitive set, especially at the price.