Honda Civic Type R vs Ford Focus RS vs BMW M140i vs Seat Leon Cupra 300 review

Honda has, in recent years, developed a bit of a reputation for mucking about. Just look at the state of its Formula 1 engine programme, or the amount of time it took for the current NSX to finally see the light of day. Or even how long it made us wait for a Type R to crown the previous generation of Civic.

There has been no such dallying this time around. Mere months after launching the 10th generation Civic and – boom! – here’s the new Type R, on the road, in the UK (where it’s built, of course) and squaring up to three fantastically divergent rivals, all of which sit happily under the broad hot hatch umbrella.

Presumably it helped the development process that the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine is an evolution of the last one, rather than something that needed building from scratch, but you also sense this car has been forged in fire by a Honda that’s determined to prove a point. The heat involved in this process may also explain the slightly melty looking rear bumper.

Honda Civic Type R vs Ford Focus RS vs BMW M140i vs Seat Leon Cupra 300

Still, with 316bhp, 295lb ft, plus a body structure that’s 16kg lighter and 37% stiffer than before – all the better for making use of the now three-stage adaptive damping – this is not a car to be trifled with. Fortunately, such is progress that it isn’t too hard to round up enough suitably potent competition these days, with the BMW M140i, Ford Focus RS and Seat Leon Cupra 300 on hand here, each proudly sporting not just a lot of horsepower but also a great many other virtues.

The creeping déjà vu you have about this trio isn’t in your imagination – all three butted heads in last month’s Quick Group Test. You’d be forgiven for thinking their finishing order was therefore a foregone conclusion, but with some differences in spec and the Type R’s arrival throwing the whole sector into sharp relief, honestly, nothing is certain.

Because what is a hot hatch to you? Can we describe the category as encompassing any compact family holdall with a big engine and a tweaked chassis, or should the idea be more tightly defined than that? Does a proper hot hatch have any particular driving characteristics? Should its appearance be subtle for stealth, or should it be unashamed and shout about it?

Leaving nothing to chance, we’ve covered all bases by pitting the Honda against three repeat contenders that not only cover front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, they also glory in very different characters.

RS: a very fast Focus

The Focus, for example, is the car your mother warned you about – the one that’s going to get you into trouble. Not since the Mitsubishi Evo’s heyday has so much performance potential been crammed into such a mundane basic vessel. While the 345bhp 2.3-litre is the most powerful engine here, it’s the extraordinary all-wheel-drive system, with its individually clutched rear wheels, that turns one of the most common cars in Britain into a genuine giant slayer.

This didn’t stop it losing out to the rear-wheel drive M140i last time around. But not every M140i is the same: the BMW on test today doesn’t have eight-speed sport automatic transmission and adaptive M suspension – it’s bone-stock, with the standard row-your-own six-speed gearbox and conventional dampers. If it wasn’t for the blue M Sport brake calipers and Ferric Grey detailing, it would pass for a regular 1-series.

It is by far the most grown-up choice in this group, both to drive and to look at. After only a few miles at the wheel I find myself wondering: do you buy one of these because you want a hot hatch, or because you want a small BMW? Maybe that’s a dubious distinction.

It’s certainly making some kind of a statement, whereas the Seat seems intent on merging with the background. This Leon sits on 18-inch wheels and wears £650’s worth of ‘special’ Desire Red paint, yet still looks like we’ve booked a rental car by accident. If it was a superhero it would be the Invisible Man, and all it seems to be saying to those fellow enthusiasts who do notice it is that the owner couldn’t afford a Golf R. This very anonymity is a tool it wields to tremendous effect, however, because it is still a stupidly fast family car, capable of blitzing much of the motoring landscape before anyone has even clocked its presence. If you like keeping a low profile this has much in its favour.

Which brings us back to the new boy. The Type R doesn’t so much nail its colours to the mast as produce them in triplicate, outline them in neon, sound a klaxon and then set the whole lot on fire. It’s a fine balance between making an impression and trying too hard, and I fear Honda’s sense of direction needs recalibration. What a confused mass of pseudo-carbonfibre and glued-on plastic vortex generators; the only thing more hilarious than the number of vents in the bodywork is that most of them appear to be non-functional.

The designers do seem to have taken their cues from a diverse range of sources – the triple tailpipes and ludicrous rear wing (below) could almost be homage to the Ferrari F40, but the overall look is manga meets Transformers.

If the Type R turned out to be a talking robot in disguise, I suspect nobody would be surprised; hell, it already does the talking part anyway, with a slightly severe-sounding disembodied female voice murmuring from the dashboard should you foolishly leave a seatbelt undone or fail to release the electronic handbrake. Praise be to the god of British Leyland, for the Austin Maestro has returned to guide us.

The very best thing about that wing is it’s so large it doesn’t disrupt the view through the rear window from the driver’s seat. While the outside is about as subtle as a Club 18-30 holiday, the inside borders on tasteful. Okay, so there is a lot of red highlighting, but these are traditional Type R hallmarks in a manner not far removed from the tartan seats in a Golf GTI; ditto the classic unsullied sphere of satin metal that serves as a gearknob, demanding such reverence I remove my wedding ring to avoid accidentally scratching it. Red dodabs aside, it’s an unfussy cabin in marked contrast to the previous Civic.

------------------------------------------

By: CJ Hubbard - Car Magazine