Current Honda Models

The first generation of the new "Global Peformance" Civic Type R, the FK8 model, that appeared in 2016 divided opinions right away. It was styled to be as angular and angry as possible, but also boasted over 300 HP from a 2.0L turbo I4 and was actually quite a rapid little beast. However, Honda heard the comments about the extreme styling being a little to flashy, so for the new generation, the FL5, there has been some serious restraint shown. There is still a big wing out back and an aggressive front lip spoiler, and it still has the three exhaust pipes out the center of the rear of the car, but apart from that, unless you know what to look for (such as the black-painted rearview mirrors), it could pass as a normal Civic hatchback.

That is, until you were left blinking in the dust as the 315 HP turbo I4 spooled up and catapulted the car to 60 in under 5 seconds. Despite the styling being more "normal," the FL5 Civic Type R corners harder, accelerates harder, and brakes harder than the previous generation, all iterative updates that show Honda still has that little bee in its bonnet that wants to go fast.