Key considerations
- Available for £37,500
- 2.0-litre inline-four petrol turbo, front-wheel drive
- Stylistically more ‘grown-up’ than the FK8…
- …but no less talented or exciting to drive
- Strong residual values reflect its quality and wider appeal
- Not many real rivals now in this market
For the last fifty years or so, ownership of a regular Honda Civic would have been something most of us (on here anyway) preferred to keep quiet. Not so, however, if there was a ‘Type R’ badge stuck on it. The contrast between those two specs was one of the widest in motoring, lifting the perception of the driver from librarian to loon in one leadfooted leap.
Right from the start in 1997, the Type R philosophy has always been about raw thrills and a race-like experience on the road. The first Type R was the EK9, a 3-door hatch weighing just 1,040kg and powered by a naturally aspirated B16B 1.6-litre engine producing 182hp at 8,200 rpm and 118lb ft of torque at 7,500 rpm. A bit peaky, some might say. A bit brilliant, others would say. Notionally, at least, the EK9 was said to do the 0-60mph run in 6.7 seconds. Who cared if your foot and hand speed and coordination needed to be on a par with Walter Röhrl’s to get anywhere near that time? The bragging rights were still mighty. Given their scarcity in the UK now, you’ll need at least £15k on hand to begin negotiations on the importation of a leggy EK9 from Japan, and twice that amount for a lower-miler.
The EP3 that succeeded the EK9 in 2001 is the Civic Type R that most of us will most fondly recognise. The K20A engine in that one displaced 2.0 litres, but despite still only having 145lb ft at 5,900 rpm and having to push 1,270kg around, its power hike to 197hp at 7,600 rpm was significant enough to make it as quick as the EK9.
Now let’s fast forward nearly a quarter of a century to the model we’re looking at here, the eleventh-generation Civic-based, sixth-generation Type R FL5. When it was announced in midsummer 2022, the CTR’s 25th anniversary, we saw that all the core Type R elements – big power from a 2.0-litre four, manual transmission and a dogged persistence with front-wheel drive long after most performance rivals had gone down the all-wheel drive route – remained in place. The big difference in recent years, of course, has been forced aspiration. Turbocharging has ramped up Type R power by more than 50 per cent since the days of the EP3, but perhaps more usefully for everyday motoring, it has doubled the old car’s torque output, with that extra grunt being delivered at much lower engine speeds.
The FL5’s predecessor, the 2017-on 315hp FK8, was the last Type R to be made at Honda’s Swindon plant. Honda made the most of its 2.0-turbo engine by bolting it to a sharp chassis that allowed it to set a bundle of new lap records on various big-name circuits, including the Nürburgring, where it notched up a 7m 43sec time. Its 0-62 time was 5.7 seconds and its top speed 169mph.
The FL5 used effectively the same K20C1 motor as the FK8, uprated to 325hp. You might not have thought that such a marginal power boost would result in 0.3sec being trimmed off the FK8’s 0-62 time, especially when taking into account the usual new-model weight increase, which in this case was between 25kg and 40kg depending on who you believed, but that’s what happened.
Acceleration against the clock wasn’t the only improvement either. Visually, the FL5 brought a noticeable softening of the Type R proposition, with less aggressive bodywork and smaller wheels than the FK8, but the level of driving involvement was at least as high thanks to the brilliance of the new car’s drivetrain, suspension, brakes, steering, driving position, control feedback – pretty much everything really. Looking past the visuals, which will always be a matter of taste anyway, most serious reviewers put the FL5 ahead of its predecessor. Many went further, nominating it as the best everyday performance car you could buy.
It wasn’t cheap, mind. When UK sales began in the UK in early 2023, the starting price for an FL5 was £47k, a £12k uptick on the FK8 that some found hard to swallow. By the time our Nic wrote this piece in June 2025 the FL’s had risen to just under £52k. Of course, used examples are more affordable – but not by much. At the time of writing this guide (also June 2025), the cheapest used one we found was a 2023 example with 45,000 miles on it at £33.5k. Lower mileage cars were typically starting at £37,500. That’s a low rate of depreciation. Why is that, do you suppose? Let’s investigate.
SPECIFICATION | Honda Civic Type R FL5 (2023-on)
Engine: 1,996cc 16v inline four petrol turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 325@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 310@2,200-4,000rpm
0-60mph (secs): 5.4
Top speed (mph): 170
Weight (kg): 1,429
MPG (official combined): 34.4
CO2 (g/km): 186
Wheels (in): 19
Tyres: 265/30
On sale: 2023-on
Price new (2023): £46,995
Price now (used): from £33,500
Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
The FL5’s engine was essentially the same as the FK8’s but reworked to make it, well, not the same. The turbocharger was new, minus one blade on its faster-spinning turbine to increase responsiveness. The exhaust system, which now had one big pipe in the middle of the three rather than two on either side of a small central outlet as per the FK8, also had a straighter run to get the gases out more efficiently. The coolant system was improved, and the ECU was modded to make allowances for all of the above and give it that 10hp hike.
The result on the road was a new urgency and a proper Type R experience. For a while at least, the FL5 held the Suzuka lap record for front-wheel drive cars. It wasn’t just a super-tracky rev monster though: floor the throttle in a high gear at 40 and you’d be up to the national speed limit in no time at all. Well, obviously some time, but not much.
Unlike the standard Civic which was only available with an automatic transmission, the Type R was, as per tradition, only available with a short-throw, finger-light six-speed manual. The trans operation was smoothed out for the FL5. Heel and toeing through the metal pedals was easy but if you couldn’t be bothered with that you could leave it to the revised switchable rev-matching system, which worked perfectly. 30mpg was easily attainable on a normal drive, with 35mpg or more on a steady cruise. Even bashing around and using all the performance you’d be unlikely to see much worse than 25mpg.
Very little has been seen to go wrong so far, but if you plan on tracking your FL5 a lot and/or you live in a hot climate, you might want to look at upgrading the cooling system with a performance radiator. That’s despite it already having been given an uprated rad and what was said to be a 48 per cent increase in air intake area compared to the FK8.
Reliability so far has been excellent. Some owners have reported occasional grinding noises through the transmission, and there was a sales stop placed on cars in, we think, late ’24 or early ’25 relating to issues with the high-pressure fuel pump, but you might struggle to find anyone who has actually experienced any of those.
Honda UK is offering a choice of servicing plans for its cars, including the Type R. As the name suggests, the ‘FIVE’ plan gives you five services from the date of registration up to the age of 5 years or 62,500 miles. That £799 plan stays with the vehicle, so if the ’23 car that you end up buying is on it, you’ll be covered until 2028.
CHASSIS
The FL5’s platform was stiffer than the FK8’s, on a 1.4in longer wheelbase. There was extra bracing for the rear subframe, and a limited-slip differential was standard. The addition of an Individual driving mode to the existing Comfort, Sport, and +R modes was a good step forward for the new car. For UK driving, you were best leaving the three-position adaptive dampers in their softest setting if you didn’t want the FL’s stiffened springs and thicker anti-roll bars making themselves known in an unwelcome way. On normal roads, the FK8 was more tolerant of Sport mode than the FL5.
With nippier geometry, the steering feel through the faux-suede wheel rim was really good, demonstrating that even much-derided electronic systems could play a part in the delivery of a quality driving experience. Having said that, there has been a recall to address steering that could become overly heavy. Actual instances of that happening are rare, verging on non-existent. The FL5’s steering came with new bearings, but we don’t know if there’s any connection there.
Overall, the FL5 seemed better at flowing over the road than the FK8, with less tapping off required on testing sections. Stability was terrific even at very high speeds. Turn-in was beautifully sharp, and although you could make it scrabble for grip, the traction out of corners was generally huge, accompanied by a lovely sense of rotation. It was so secure it could leave you wanting more power.
New Brembo 350mm two-piece discs at the front and 305mm ones at the rear were slowed by four- and single-piston calipers, respectively. Again, if you’re planning on trackdaying, a set of higher-spec brake pads might be in order. As noted earlier, the FL5 went to 19-inch wheels, down from the non-Sport Line FK8’s 20-inch ones. For 2025 model year cars, you could order various driving packages, including a £5,000 carbon one that included shark grey metallic forged alloy wheels. OE tyres were Michelin Pilot Sport 4 Ss.
BODYWORK
The Type R’s body was 90mm wider than the normal Civic’s, and it sat closer to the ground. To keep the centre of gravity similarly low, the bonnet was made of aluminium, and the tailgate from a composite material. The rear spoiler and its aluminium mounts were designed to help maximise downforce while minimising drag. A new placement for the spoiler meant it didn’t interfere with your view through the back window anywhere near as much as the FK8’s did. The screen resolution provided by the rear-view camera wasn’t high, though.
Unlike the newly functional vents at the rear of the front wheel arches, the vents in the FL5’s rear wings weren’t real, but they did serve a useful purpose in visually breaking up what would otherwise have been a large expanse of bodywork. Rear arches were wider to cover the wider rear track, but these were now part of the bodywork rather than bolt-on trim pieces.
It was a good idea not to tap anything with the front of the car, even relatively gently, because replacing sensors and bonnet brackets and resetting the pedestrian safety system could be a ferociously expensive and long-winded process.
INTERIOR
Red ambient light strips in the door cards, red stitching, red seatbelts, red carpeting, and superbly comfortable red seats came together to create a unique and special environment. Some might say that all the redness went better with the Championship White body paint than (for example) Racing Blue Pearl, a £650 option in the UK (black, red, and grey were also available), but that aside, it was hard to imagine how you could improve the Type R’s seats or the lower driving position, other than maybe with a squab extension for taller drivers with longer legs. The feel and action of the controls were smack on.
All the sportiness didn’t meekly vanish once you were in the rear, either. Back-seat passengers didn’t get red seats – an easy and effective win for Honda, you would have thought, and a chance missed – but they did get red belts and a fair share of Type R-ness. Even your luggage in the 410-litre boot (covered by a neat side pullout blind) was Type R-ed up if you paid £150 for the monogrammed boot protector. If somehow you still weren’t sure what car you were in, there were plenty of badges to remove any doubt. The one in front of the passenger included your car’s build number.
The FL5 did have fewer seats than doors, so if you needed to carry five human beings rather than four plus two drink cups in the middle space at the back where you might have expected to find a fifth seat, this wasn’t the right car for you. The same applied if you wanted a peaceful cabin, because tyre and road noise were quite high. That was one of the FL5’s few weaknesses. Honda did try to overcome it by piping in some artificial engine/exhaust noise, but they let themselves down a bit there by fitting the car with some very average speakers. US spec Rs were given Bose audio systems. Some owners reported buzzings from the dash and annoying rattles from the windows when they were halfway down. We seem to remember that last one being a thing on the FK8 too.
The digital driving instrumentation was new for the FL5 and bespoke to the Type R. LED shift lights were included, as was a LogR telemetry system that gave you scores for your driving skills, or lack of the same, along with data logging so you could see if you were getting better or worse over time. It incorporated a stopwatch, tyre friction circles to display the maximum tyre force the vehicle could achieve, and a 3D vehicle motion display. Maybe Honda could have angled that infotainment screen a little bit more towards the driver, but that apart there was very little to criticise. The screen itself and the cabin design overall seemed superior to the FK8’s. Apple CarPlay was standard, as was wireless charging. The aluminium teardrop gearshift knob was lovely to look at and to use as long as the weather wasn’t too hot or too cold. Cabin storage wasn’t great, but the concealment of the front air vents behind a honeycomb dash trim strip was.
PH VERDICT
Whether you agreed with the stylistic direction of travel or not, you couldn’t dispute the FL5’s competency, which remained satisfyingly extreme in the finest Civic Type R tradition. So was the quality: it was built in Japan. And actually, although it did look tame compared to the FK8, that was a good thing for more mature owners. Compared to most other tackle, it had more than enough visual impact on the road thanks to unique touches like the triple exhaust and the wealth of R design details.
Although it was more than ready to indulge your Senna fantasies, the FL was also perfectly happy – arguably, more happy than the FK8 – to look after you on gentler drives. The bandwidth, as they say, was wide. The Focus ST, one of Honda’s few genuine rivals at the top of the hot hatch tree, is now out of the new car reckoning. Renault isn’t in there anymore either. Of course, you can still buy on the secondhand market, where you might also consider alternatives such as the BMW M2 or M240i or the GR Yaris. Some might demand all-wheel drive for Type R money, but then it wouldn’t be a Type R, would it? And that’s a fabulous thing, solidly backed by the trust most of us have in Honda.
While we’re on the topic of money, you did need rather a lot of it to buy a new FL5, but the strong residual values we’re seeing two years on suggest that Honda actually wasn’t off the mark with its pricing. You could buy one, enjoy the hell out of it for a year or two, and then move it on having enjoyed a very favourable smiles-per-pound experience.
The most affordable FL5 on PH Classifieds at the time of writing in June 2025 was this ’23 car in red with 11,000 miles on it for just over £38.5k. If you preferred black or blue, used options were available at under £40k – not a great deal less than the £47k-ish they would have cost when they were new in 2023.
Just as an aside, there’s still plenty of love for FK8s, and plenty of price overlap between late ones and early FL5s, with one 2021 delivery mileage Limited Edition FK on PH for nearly £55k. These LE cars had 20-inch forged BBS alloys with Cup 2 tyres, modified dampers and EPAS, gloss black paint on the roof, door mirrors and bonnet vent, and a new option of Sunlight Yellow everywhere else. To save weight, the cabin was stripped back with no infotainment or air con, and there was a reduction in the amount of sound deadening. One hundred Limited Edition FK8s were made for the European market only.
While we’re comparing historic Type Rs, guess how much a very slightly Barried but otherwise generally nice 58,000-mile EP3 Type R from 2004 might cost? We’ll let you discover the answer to that one for yourself.
1 / 12
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)