Honda Civic Type R Championship Edition
Honda’s red hot Civic Type R has just got hotter. White hot in fact. Type R fans might say it’s now the car it should have been all along.
It’s called the Type R Championship Edition and its based on the the existing Type R which is still offered in the traditional Milano Red and Nighthawk Black paint.
So what’s different? First off is its sparkling white paint job, but the most important diff is the the diff itself. We’re talking about a standard limited-slip differential here. The LS diff improves traction by limiting wheel spin when cornering hard, at high speed.
The result is sharper turn-in plus it helps you carry speed through corners without losing speed. It also keeps the bogey of front wheel drive cars, the dreaded understeer, at bay.
Mechanically the rest is all the same. Which means a high-revving 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine delivers 148 kW and 193 Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.
The claimed 0Â to 100 km/h is 6,6 seconds, and has a top speed of 235 km/h. Combined-cycle fuel consumption comes to 9,3 litres/100 km, while the CO2 emissions rating is 219 g/km.
Other standard features unique to the Championship Edition version include both an iPod USB connector and a mini-jack auxiliary audio input for non-Apple devices.
Also added are an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a tyre deflation warning system, rear-mounted park distance control, and impact-sensing door locks.
These are nice-to-haves, but we’ll gladly pay the nine grand extra just for the LS diff and the exclusive exterior. The Honda Civic Type R Championship Edition will sell for R299 900, whereas the standard Civic Type R sells for R290 900. It’s a no-brainer. White is the new black (and red).
