#Rivals The Honda Civic Type R, is it the maddest FWD hot hatch in the world? Lets find out?

While every other hot hatch manufacturer has been trying out a new recipe for their hot hatches the Japanese have been perfecting the old one. Well, how does the Honda Civic Type R stack up against its rivals, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S and the Seat Leon Cupra 290. These are the maddest FWD hatches on sale right now so expect tyre squeal, big wings and lots of Honda jokes in the comments! Lets do this!

Engines

The last generation of hot hatches had about 220HP to 240HP now they have evolved to 250HP to 300HP however all of the cars here have more than 280HP so there’s going to be a lot of smoke from those front tyres!

Type R
Honda has been famed for its V-TEC system which enables the car to have multiple camshafts however to keep the Honda competitive they have resized the engine to 2.0L and boosted it!
The Numbers:
Horsepower: 306HP
Top Speed: 167MPH
Torque: 295lb-ft
0-60: 5.7 seconds

GTI Clubsport S
If you thought the regular GTI was under powered compared to the likes of the Focus ST, Volkswagen improved the GTI to Clubsport trim giving it 261HP, however to really go after the Type R Volkswagen improved it again to produce the Clubsport S from a 2.0L 4 cylinder turbo charged engine.
The Numbers:
Horsepower: 306HP
Top Speed: 165MPH
Torque: 280lb-ft
0-60: 5.8 seconds

Cupra 290
Originally the Cupra had 276HP but to keep up with the hot hatch power craze it has been given more power to the front wheels.
The Numbers:
Horsepower: 286HP
Top Speed: 155MPH
Torque: 258Ib ft
0-60: 5.9 seconds (Manual) 5.6 seconds (DSG)

Drivetrain

As all of these cars produce upwards of 280HP they need to have some fancy mechanical magic underneath to prevent them from becoming torque steering mad hatters like the older generation of the Vauxhall Astra VXR

Type R
If Honda want to own the hot hatch sector they need to do things properly and well needless to say nothing but marvellous Japanese engineering has come through.
Gearbox: 6 speed manual transmission
Weight Distribution: 59.6:40.4
Differential: Mechanical LSD

GTI Clubsport S
The Golf has always been a great handling car and to give the GTI more power, Volkswagen had to do some wizardry to the diff!
Gearbox: 6 speed manual transmission
Weight Distribution: 52:48
Differential: VAQ system that mimics the work of a mechanical LSD

Cupra 290
The Seat is very similar to the Golf underneath and only the de-tuned engine is what makes the difference.
Gearbox: 6 speed manual or 6 speed DSG double clutch gearbox.
Weight Distribution: 52:48
Differential: Mechanical LSD

Suspension

For all three of these cars to be trashed around the green hell in under 8 minutes they must have some amazing suspension and brakes to stop them being propelled into a wall at 80MPH.

Type R
To help manage all that power the Civic Type R has a lot of new technology on board to help it go round corners like its on rails.
Suspension: Dual axis strut suspension at the front (Makes the wheel point closer to the apex of a corner) It also gets a stiffened rear suspension and adaptive dampers on all four corners.
Steering: Electronically assisted power steering.
Brakes: 4 pot Brembo brakes at the front and 2 pot Brembo brakes at the rear.

GTI Clubsport S
The GTI blitzed the previous Nuburgring record and set a amazing 7:49:21 so this should be good.
Suspension: Stiffened rear suspension and adaptive dampers at all four points of the car from the standard GTI.
Steering: Electronically assisted power steering.
Brakes: Thicker and bigger disks from the standard GTI.

Cupra 290
The Seat Leon Cupra 280 was the first FWD road car to break the 8 minute lap time of the Nurburgring, so the car should fair well in this part of the comparison.
Suspension: Adaptive dampers at the front and rear with stiffened front and rear suspension.
Steering: Electronically assisted power steering.
Brakes: 340mm 4 pot brakes at the front and 310mm 2 pot brakes at the rear.

Styling

It is the law for a hot hatch to have a outrageous body kit and a completely and utterly ‘fully-functional’ rear spoiler that is the size of the average family dining table.

Type R
Well, the Civic really does completely conform with what I just said above! The Type R is lower, wider and slightly longer than the regular car. Not to mention the ridiculous arches that look stuck on and the completely fistable quad exhaust tips. Finally we have the rear wing which believe it or not produces a hefty amount of down force although Honda won’t actually quote how much. Personally, I love the way the Civic looks it means business and looks bloody angry all of the time. Although I would have preferred the devil horn rear lights on the concept to have become reality!

GTI Clubsport S
The Golf is way less lairy than the Civic however it still does look great, the black accents which travel around the underside of the car are new and the rear spolier which goes all around the rear window looks like a work of art. Furthermore, the front ‘whiskers’ on the lower part of the bumper remind me of Sonic the Hedgehogs hair/spikes and we cannot forget the trademark GTI red eyeliner which has now extended to the lights. To top of the looks of the Golf is the black graphics down the side which denote that it is a Clubsport S and not the lesser Clubsport model.

Cupra 290
The Seat is definitely the most understated looking car here, however with the ‘Sub8’ package included it looks as ginger as Chris Evans. Furthermore, the front LED lights which really do look superb when running during the day. The face lift has also brought a more prominent rear spoiler, edgier looking side skirts and oval shaped exhaust tips. The Seat is definitely the most sensible looking car of the three!

Pricing

Now time for my favourite part of the comparison, the bit where I get to mess around on the configurators! All three cars are hot hatches and are we expect them to be reasonably priced, but just in case have a box of tissues near you!

Type R
Base Price: £30,000
With some options:
Paint: Championship White- £525
Interior: Red and black suede: (No cost option)
Other Options:
Rally Red Exterior package- £550 (Probably adds a extra 50HP)
Honda 3D Sound Kit- £450 (I like my music!)
Front and rear parking sensors- £695
Elegance floor mats- £140
Total Price: £31,665 (Not bad for a car capable of doing the school run and trashing boy racers on the way home)

GTI Clubsport S
Base Price: £31,590
With some options:
Paint: Pure White with Black roof- £570
Wheels: 19 inch Pretoria wheels- £2,480
Interior: Titan black sports seats- £1,350
Other options:
Dynaudio Sound pack- £550
Total Price: £36,360 (You’ll be needing those tissues about now)

Cupra 290
Base Price: £28,680
With some options:
Trim: Cupra Black pack: £31,010
Paint: Midnight Black- £575
Wheels: Sub8 Pack wheels look below for price
Interior: Cupra Bucket seats: No cost option
Other options:
Cupra Sub8 pack with tyres: £1,950
Seat Sound pack: £260
Total price: £33,220

Conclusion

Yes its now crunch time! If I was handed £37,000 and told to buy one of these FWD hot hatches it would indeed be the Honda Civic Type R. The Civic simply rips up the rule book of how much power and torque can be sent to the front wheels of a car it is absolutely mind blowing. Furthermore, it is the cheapest car in the comparison and yet its the fastest, joint most powerful and quickest accelerating car here. (with the exception the the DSG Seat)

The Golf is very similar to the Civic in its ability and its aim of destroying any other hot hatch, but the matter of fact is that the Golf will be limited to 400 cars and only 150 of them will be brought to the UK which is why they can afford a asking price of £31,000 which is more than a standard Golf R!

The Seat is a brilliant car its fast, fun and not to mention the only car you can have in a uber cool wagon form! But the interior is very boring and the Civic is cheaper than the Cupra meaning that you could pay for a set of super slick tyres with the money you save!

Disclaimer: Before people start saying what about the RS, Golf R, A45 etc… Let me tell you something the new generation of hot hatches are branded as super hot hatches and are in a different post by myself!

Honourable mentions:
Renualt Megane 275: The Megane is the darling of all car magazines however its not really my cup of hot chocolate (I don’t like tea) and I can’t really explain why I dislike the Megane other than saying that it is loved by car magazines which annoy’s me in a weird way.

Vauxhall Astra VXR: It looks great goes great and its a car that I respect but not a car that I love which is why I have chosen to go against picking it, also the interior is horrid!

Ford Focus ST: I love the ST in fact there is one sitting on my drive way as I type this (It’s my brothers cries profusely) but the problem is that it does not have a proper mechanical front diff like the rest of these cars meaning that it struggles to put all of its power down which is why it has been de-tuned 246HP rather than 275HP and upwards.

Now all thats left for me to do is day dream me driving a Civic Type R into the sunset screaming ‘Boosted V-TEC kicked in yo!’

Hope you enjoyed reading this!

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