I've never hidden my enthusiasm for the FK8 Honda Civic Type R. As I wrote when we covered its recent demise, the FK8 was a car that I knew, from the minute I first tested it at its launch in Germany, was going to be a hero a car. Something gratifyingly special. And so it transpired to be. It wiped the floor with everything around and, personally, if it were still on sale today, I'd pick it over a Toyota GR Yaris without a second thought.
I've never driven the FK8 Limited Edition, but from what I've read about it - and knowing what fine foundations it was built on - I can well imagine it's the daddy of the FK8 range. A Type R with added S T U V W X Y and definitely some Z thrown in for kicks and giggles. Honda made only 1,020 worldwide and of that number just 20 came to Blighty. All were Sunlight Yellow with gloss black detailing.
On top of the prescribed styling, Honda indulged a weight-loss programme that stripped away 47 kilogrammes. 20-inch forged BBS alloys removed 2.5 kilogrammes of un-sprung mass per corner, and they were shod with sticker Michelin Cup 2 tyres instead of the standard car's Continentals. Elswhere it removed the sound deadening from the bulkhead for a further 14 kilos, and deleting the air conditioning system which saved ten kilos. Five kilos were saved by doing away with the infotainment and that was a win-win. By not having an infotainment system, it instantly made the infotainment system better. That was the worst thing about the Civic; it reminded me of something you'd buy from Halfords to modernise a Nova.
Honda tweaked the gearbox but this was applied across the whole Type R range. It changed the shape of the aluminium gear knob and the shift quality - it became even sweeter. In my opinion, it became the best manual shift out there. Plus the steering was sharpened and the adaptive dampers recalibrated to the Limited Edition's newfound dexterity. What didn't change was the power and torque - but that was fine. The 2.0-litre turbocharged K20C1 was already mighty, and I don't recall anyone saying that its 320hp, or the V-TEC fizz that catapulted you towards 7,000rpm, was a let-down.
The Type R Limited Edition was just a fiver less than £40,000 and its nearest rival would have been the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R. That employed a similar philosophy of same power and less weight but went even further, by ditching the rear seats and employing an even more rigourous ride quality. If you specified one with the carbon wheels, you were looking at a bill for £70,000.
But by all accounts, the Type R Limited Edition was faster on track, still had its rear seats and a bewildering level of comfort. Which, of course, was the incredible thing about the FK8: it never seemed to be trying too hard. Just like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the speed came naturally. Yes, this one may seem steep at £59,995 plus VAT, but for a like-new example of such a low volume model which is no longer being made, there's arguably method in the madness. Especially when you factor in the idea that it will go down as one of the all-time great hot hatches.
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