Honda delivers lighter, faster 2021 Civic Type R Limited Edition

MANILA: Honda tweaks the performance of the Civic Type R for the 2021 model and includes a Limited Edition trim that’s designed to be lighter and faster than the standard Type R.

To keep exclusivity high, the Japanese automaker will only make 600 units of the 2021 Type R Limited Edition and it will be available in an exclusive Phoenix Yellow color, with gloss black paint on the roof, outside mirror caps, and intake vent on the hood, along with a dark chrome Civic badge on the rear hatch.

Inside, each Limited Edition has a special numbered plaque on the center console designating its build number.

Part of the updates of the facelift include a freshened front and rear exterior styling, larger grille opening and radiator for improved engine cooling, and interior updates such as the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel, and a new weighted shift knob.

It comes with Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies as standard equipment, including Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) with Forward Collison Warning, Road Departure Mitigation with Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Assist, and Adaptive Cruise Control.

Curb weight of the 2021 Type R Limited Edition has been reduced by 46 pounds versus the standard Type R. To do this, engineers replaced the standard Type R wheels with lightweight forged-aluminum alloys from BBS to save the Type R Limited Edition an additional 18 pounds of unsprung weight. The lighter weight offers lower rotational inertia, an effect amplified by lightweight two-piece floating front brake rotors that were applied to all Type Rs in 2020, which yielded a 2.5 pounds of weight savings per side. An additional 28 pounds were shaved off by removing sound deadening materials from the roof, rear hatch panel, and front fenders and dash; even the cargo cover, rear heater ducts and rear wiper mechanism were removed to save weight.

On the Type R Limited Edition are grade-exclusive Michelin Cup 2 tires with improved cornering performance. To take full advantage of the lighter weight wheels and extra-grippy tires, Limited Edition features unique programming for the Active Damper System (ADS), which was already updated just last year to sample inputs 10 times faster the before.

To match the lighter weight of the BBS alloys, the electrically assisted power steering has been reprogrammed.

Under the hood, the 2021 Civic Type R Limited Edition is the 2.0L direct-injected and turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with VTEC valvetrain, putting out a peak 306 HP and a peak 400 Nm of torque with power to the front wheels delivered through a close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential. It offers three driving modes – Comfort, Sport and +R – that vary throttle mapping, damping force and steering assist.

The Civic Type R Limited Edition recently set a new front-wheel drive track record at Suzuka Circuit, Honda's Formula 1 racetrack in Japan, with a time of 2 minutes 23.993 seconds.

Photos from Honda

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