Category: Hot Hatchbacks 
Price Range: £14,750 to £21,780
Incredible traction, glorious induction noise, one of the best gear changes around.
Still lacks low-down urge, fussy split rear tailgate, uncompromising ride.
Limited slip diff almost transforms the Type R into one of the very best hot hatches.
The brutal truth is the Civic Type R feels a little anaemic when compared with the new breed of turbocharged hot hatches. That's because there's only a 2.0-litre engine under the bonnet and no other bolt-on engine goodies to speak of. The Ford Focus ST, for example, has a 2.5-litre turbocharged lump under the bonnet and the Vauxhall Astra VXR has a turbo to boost power.
So of course the first thing on the shopping list for the most hardcore Civic ever was more power and torque, right?
Er, no. Despite being 60bhp down on its most powerful competitor - the Mazda 3 MPS - Honda engineers are adamant 198bhp is still man enough to compete. Instead of increasing the car's power engineers added a mechanical limited slip differential in a bid to keep up.
The 0-62mph sprint of 6.6 seconds and 146mph suspension carries over and the suspension remains unchanged - thank God. One thing the Civic did not need or want is any more stiffening of the springs.
We tested the 'White' when conditions couldn't have been worse and really that was the perfect way to assess its grippiness. Damp, greasy and muddy roads meant the limited slip diff would have its work cut out. In the standard car restraint would have been the order of the day but in the Civic Champ we were able to keep pressing on in spite of the slippery conditions.
The torque-sensing diff is monumental in its effectiveness, shuffling power effectively across the axles to the wheel with the greatest contact patch on the road. As a result the White hurtles you out of a bend without needing to trouble the ESP system. Now the traction control seems to sit back and let you get on with it.
It's pretty addictive but a shame then, that on bumpy B-roads, your pace is severely limited by the risk of becoming airborne and thrown completely off the road by the Honda's stiff suspension.
Even with the clever diff we expect the substantially torquier Golf GTi (207lb-ft v the Honda's meagre 142lb-ft) to be at least as quick, if not quicker cross country but we'd wager the Honda would be the more engaging.
What a GTi owner won't get is the Honda's aural delights. The Champ White Type R has one of the finest sounding engines we've ever sampled, with far more induction noise than the standard car. The gearchange, too, is as sublime as ever, but it's just irritating that the seats are mounted just a little too high and the rear visibility is compromised by the split tailgate.
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