Goodbye racer boy looks, hello grown up business man. Honda just revealed their new high performance sedan that has been teased non-stop and it’s safe to say it’s quite the departure from the previous generation. Leaving its spunky and outlandish appearance in the dust, Honda decided it was time for a more sedated look with the Type R.
If the looks got you excited, you’d be disappointed to know that Honda hasn’t released any numbers or stats yet for the Type R. We don’t know the horsepower figures, the 0-60 time, or even the lap times for such a hyped up vehicle. We do know however that the Type R will use the same type of engine— a 2.0 L turbocharged 4-cylinder mated to what Honda mentions as an “improved” 6-speed manual transmission. Honda says that this is the most powerful Type R yet, so we’re looking at more than the 306 horses we got in the US and the 316 from abroad. Safe to say we can get riled up about at least 320 horsepower coming from Honda’s most sought after vehicle.
The Type R will also keep itself as a hatchback, carrying on a long bloodline of the body style. The styling cues change from a ridiculous knock off of a Hot Wheel to a more subtle and sophisticated look. The Speed Racer-esque wing substituted out for a stylish low-profile wing with sharper body lines and less height. The vents in the front have been modified to be actually functional this time instead of the faux trickery Honda tried to pull in the previous generation. The corners of the vehicle have been smoothed out and look much softer— generating an adult like image.
Honda will keep its unique (or until the GR Corolla decided to snatch the idea) triple exhaust tip design. To show it off, Honda redid the entire rear bumper and added a new diffuser to finish out the back end.
New for 2023 is the addition of larger fender flares in order to accommodate the Type R’s wider but shorter tires. In lieu of the standard 20-inch wheels from last generation the Type R will now receive 19-inch wheels default. To make the Type R not look so wonky because of its fender flare design, Honda includes a larger set of rear doors.
Open them and you’ll quickly discover a whole lot of red. With new red seats and red carpeting, the Type R looks like the inside of a chili pepper. We understand that the color red is supposed to be luxurious… but where do we draw the line? Red carpeting will be seen in the States for the first time in the Type R’s history, a finish previously only reserved for overseas. The seats themselves are suede bucket seats made by Honda themselves instead of outsourcing the manufacturing of them to Recaro like most other performance vehicles in this segment.
Amid the sea of red (no Moses, wrong one), sits the new dash which is fully decked out with all sorts of new goodies. A new fully digital gauge cluster with an F1 style tachometer, a fresh shift light system, and a Type R exclusive +R driving mode complete with plenty of visuals to wrap it all up.
The Type R will be competing with other hot hatches like the VW Golf R and soon the Toyota GR Corolla. All of which who tout impressive performance and have scaled back looks. It seems as though Honda tried to seperate themselves in a unique way but came running back to a cultivated look amidst controversy. We expect the Type R to start a hair under $40,000 when it goes on sale. We also anticipate more details to be released as we get closer to the launch date.
