The current FK8 Honda Civic Type R has been in the market for 5 years now, despite the hot hatch segment getting slammed with new models such as the Toyota GR Yaris, BMW m135i, and Mercedes-AMG A45. Honda’s next evolution of their legendary hot hatch is still in the oven, so to speak, but they’ve made enough changes to the outgoing model for it to stay competitive in the market. Because of that, Honda will sell the 2021 Civic Type R in the Philippines, though they’re bringing in very limited units of their hot hatch at a slightly higher price.

Honda has given the Civic Type R some exterior updates and a bunch of performance tweaks for 2021, along with a new Racing Blue Pearl color. The lower fog light is now symmetrical and it complements the new front grille. Inside, the steering wheel is now wrapped in faux suede, the infotainment has new knobs, and the shifter has a new design with shorter throws.

Although the exterior updates are negligible, Honda has done a lot of work underneath the hood. The body frame of the 2021 Honda Civic Type R is now stiffer with a 37 percent improvement in torsional stiffness and 45 percent in static bending rigidity. Underchassis components such as ball joints, front compliance bushings, and rear bushings have been improved as well resulting in better cornering performance. Moreover, the Adaptive Dampers can now evaluate the road conditions ten times faster giving the car better ride quality. The car suspension has undergone extensive fine-tuning to give the car better handling and sharper steering. The braking performance has been improved, too. Honda has replaced the previous Type R’s single-piece and cross-drilled front rotors with two-piece rotors along with new pads that can better dissipate heat. The new brakes also weigh lighter and can stop the car with less pedal travel.

Honda also added an Active Sound Control (ASC) feature as part of the performance enhancement. ASC uses the car sound system to add engine noise in the cabin during aggressive driving in “Sport” and “+R” modes, it automatically turns off when driving in comfort mode. In short, it is a fake engine sound that adjusts intensity based on the different driving modes of Type R.

Although the engine remains unchanged, the 6-speed manual transmission has been tweaked. It has a better gear ratio and a new clutch design. The updated transmission together with the same 2.0L VTEC Turbo engine gives the 2021 Type R a better top speed of 272 km/h and a 0-60 acceleration of 5.8 seconds.

Honda added its Honda Sensing package as standard for additional safety. This means that the 2021 Civic Type R in the Philippines now has features such as the Collision Mitigation Braking System, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Road Departure Mitigation, Lane Keeping Assist System, and Adaptive Cruise Control.

Honda Philippines is bringing in only 15 units of the 2021 Honda Civic Type R. 7 units will be in the new Racing Blue Pearl Color, 3 in Championship White, and 5 in Sonic Gray Pearl. The price for the limited Civic Type R is P3,210,000, P30,000 more than the regular price.