Civic Type-R vs Focus RS - King of the Hot Hatch | Everyday Driver TV Season 3

A couple of years ago, for our first television

season

, the Focus RS had just come out. It was the new kid in the world of hot

hatch

es and rally-bred monsters, so we compared it to almost everything, but now that it's been on the market for a while. I wonder if this is still the performance card to beat or aspire to, so we're back now and brought the previous winner to go with the new one: this is the 10th generation Civic and the first Civic

type

-r in the US Now before we start the argument, the 1997 Integra Type-R was an Acura brand product, it was not a Honda, this is the first Honda Type R product in the United States, so while everyone else in .

This space they have decided that all-wheel drive is a necessity. Honda is stic

king

with the traditional hot

hatch

recipe and saying it won't do well in the most popular front-wheel drive hatch, just the car you drive every day should be fun, but it also has to do the boring stuff like travel, be affordable and run your errands you can do both and we'll help you find fun driving cars and great driving experiences for everyone in the

everyday

driver

brought to you by Covercraft. I have to start with the styling of this car because it's very direct and it's the visual manifestation of bragging that this is a Throwdown car, it's like the Aero team took the design team in the back and beat them up and beat them into submission. , saying we're going to win because aerodynamics will drive the function and appearance of this car and you can continue to argue that this car is ugly, it looks like a weird body kit fresh from the factory and that's pretty ridiculous;

You are actually limiting your potential buyer a lot by ma

king

a car. That seems absurd like that, but from the front 3/4 I think it's a genuinely attractive menacing car, the straight rear view is too much, you'll just have to decide whether or not the styling suits your life, whether it makes it wonderful, whether No. I don't understand overall that this is a nicer place to be than the Focus RS. The interior feels very modern but is incredibly easy to use. I love the red decorative lines here. The materials are very good for a car that starts at $35,000.

This one, as we have it, is still under 40, cheaper than the Focus and a better place to be, also considering the fact that the base Civic right now feels like a pretty cheap interior. They've done a good job making it feel like it's gone. upscale a bit while maintaining its

civic

essence a big surprise for me are these front seats, they are actually much more comfortable than the ones in the

focus

and the seats in the

focus

are excellent, a big interior complaint is this touch screen, sorry but the stereo it should only have one dial for volume, it has a slider on the side that pays attention to your finger, maybe 30% of the time the Ford Focus RS is a revised ST, the telltale signs are the more aggressive rear front fascia wing and badges, but especially the paint color, if you look closely you can see the gold colored flakes in the paint, the muscles on this car have muscles and I think it would make your head turn even if it wasn't painted this beautiful nitrous blue, the interior in the Focus looks like any other Focus, except for the blue stitching here and there, it really could be any of the cars in the lineup, the seating position, the RS is still very upright, Of all the hot hatches we've driven, this is the tallest feeling car. like it's up here and it's small this car is shorter with a shorter wheelbase you would think both of those things would help the handling and it has the disadvantage of being a daily

driver

if you want four seats four doors and a hatch.

This has less space in the back seat and much less space in the hatch. The Recaro seats in the Focus RS feel great until you get into the Civic, the bottom cushion pulls your legs too close together and, if your big boys like us, your shoulders tense up. bent forward and it's really uncomfortable, the clutch is harder here which makes it harder in traffic but almost better when driving hard, plus the pedals are placed where you can really go heel and toe This car, this car shouldn't be so fast. So here we are with 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, which is a tremendous amount of power to put through the front wheels.

Covercraft protection offers the driver every day. Regardless of what you drive, this car shouldn't be this fast and capable with 350 horsepower 2.3. Little one liter turbocharged all wheel drive monster, the power this car makes is not like a light switch, it's not that instant turbo on feeling, you know it's boosted? You can feel it, but it has the same

type

of pole as a naturally aspirated engine. That's one of the things I like most about this car. It reduces its power progressively but very quickly. It makes sense that this RS has more power than the Civic. It has a bigger engine, this 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, which by the way means turbo.

It's the same engine you have in the EcoBoost Mustang, it's tuned here to have more power than an EcoBoost Mustang when you get in this car after the Civic, you're instantly struck by how much more powerful it is at all times, isn't it mind-blowing. In comparisons like the Pacific it's close to slow but this car always has an extra oomph over the Civic, the RS can't be driven slowly, it turns your world into a race track and then when you're denied and you can't you just you are browsing. Plus, it's not very fun. Recently, the Focus RS experienced what was known as the head gasket problem.

This was a problem for cars built in a certain time period. These cars, especially in the early build dates, apparently received an incorrect head gasket that eventually wears off. engine damage, luckily Ford has found the source of the problem, they have stepped up, they are replacing the engine and they are fixing the problem in the owners cars like they should, but of course when a new car comes out that is a new enthusiast icon you hate that he has something like that. I wonder if there is some love lost if it is falling out of favor with the enthusiast community.

I don't think it should have been that way and I think those fears are unfounded because of how good this car is and once the head gasket problem is fixed then there shouldn't be any problems right? Honda engineers started the new 10th generation Civic with this car already in mind, they knew they were going to build a new Type R and bring it to the United States and therefore it better be a good 2-liter turbocharged engine which is very edgy but keep in mind they have to put a warranty on this car and it has the Honda badge which means it needs to last a long time, it also has Formula One drip technology from the Formula One engine program Sling.

You have the oil piston cooling and you spray oil on the bottom of the piston to cool down the temperatures in this engine because you know they're pulling. get a lot of power out of it and buy a lot of power. I mean 306 on paper, but I think Honda has gotten to the point where the Germans are messing with us because people have claimed there are 300 on the Civic type wheels. -There is a tremendous amount of power to go through the front wheels most of the time, when you go over 250 horsepower and torque the front wheels just give way, so here we are with 300 horsepower and ​​295 pound-feet of torque, which should be too much.

However, Honda has gone to great lengths to separate the suspension movements of the front struts from what you need the steering to do when you push this car really hard, it still gives up, admits it's front wheel drive because of course , you can't help it, the little four-cylinder honda rev that likes to be at the top end of its range and of course combined with a light and very positive 6-speed transmission in the Civic type-r, it's excellent, Not only does it match your revs on the downshift it matches the boost initially it may seem like Rebbe Match was something they gave you to give you a little extra tech and help you out until you realize that the pedals are in the wrong place and that You need them desperately because I really can't go top to bottom in this car, you might think that gets in the way of the fun and masks and glosses over all the fun, but I say it adds to it and makes it better if you've been wanting a nice six .

Speed ​​up your life again, the Civic Type-R offers it to you. I'm excited to tell you that, luckily, Ford has put a 2-setting damper button right here at the end of the turn signal lever, and you'll want it on the softest setting all the time. It's like the Focus RS, it changes the damper settings, it also changes the steering resistance and throttle input. There isn't a car Ford builds that is more versatile. This car is a hatchback. It is usable. It has four seats. In theory, drive this all the time. This might be your only car, but it's a car that can compete in almost every category that car enthusiasts love.

You press the drive mode button once and it will give you the submenu where you can follow the usage only up. back to normal, so I'll leave it in sport mode for now, the difference is noticeable, the throttle response changes, the dampers change, the steering response is different and the car ducks, grips even more than it It was before, luckily Ford put a 2 damper setting button right here at the end of the turn signal, you'll want it to be on the softest setting all the time. Unfortunately the softest setting is still not soft enough so you have two settings on these shocks stiff and stiff with a sharp edge the steering ratio is a constant ratio there is nothing variable here and I'm surprised how hard you can keep going around a curve with this car.

I'm not saying it's in the league of a GTR where it practically beats Physics, but the technology Ford has put into this car makes you a hero. This RS represents all the latest modern technology, not just all-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive that moves torque depending on where you need it. It can send up to 70% of the power to the rear wheels and then split that 100% either way. The result is that when you push this car into a corner you can feel it thinking you can feel it pushing the power it actually helps. This car turns right on its centerline in a way the Civic simply can't.

What was Honda thinking? Didn't they just take a Civic, leave it as a front-wheel drive car, and add a bunch of spoilers and aerodynamic bits? No they did not. This car weighs just over 3,100 pounds, so with the ability to control power through the front wheels by virtue of this knuckle where they've mitigated the torque steer, Ford did something similar, they called it the Revo knuckle. GM did something similar, they called it. The super strut that Toyota used to make in the 90s is not a new technology. Honda is refining it here to make a front-drive hatch that looks like it can handle all its business all the time.

It handles as well nine times. out of ten it hides it, but then you rev ​​it really hard and the turbo really slams and pulls like every other front wheel drive you've ever driven because there's just too much going on and the front wheels have to leave this car. It makes a lot of power and it's a lot faster than you think, but it's in that Honda friendly way, what's cool is they have three Comfort Sport and Race modes, it's like the Focus RS, change the damper settings, change the steering resistance. Also, and the throttle input, the tie rod has a variable electric steering rack from about 14 1 to about 11 1, so you can get a tighter ratio than constant on that approach, however I think it's It's that variable steering nature that prevents this car from really having any steering field at all, you're in full video game steering mode when you drive the Civic.

Unfortunately, you can't customize it. The steering response here when I return to comfort mode is great for steering feel, but not ideal for Canyon roads. One click forward on the sporty, the steering precision is still there but the resistance is greater now it feels like you're rowing through molasses, it's precise and frankly will turn better than you expected, that approach turns to along its centerline, this kills one of its front tires, but Throw this car into a corner, I mean, really force it to run on its own in a corner and you'll be surprised how well it handles in the continuous effort of trying to take advantage all the power and madness that goes through these front wheels.

This has avery aggressive behavior. Continental Tire says they will probably wear out in 10,000 miles or less. The rubber on the hinge actually looks painted. This is one of the thinnest sidewalls I've seen on a production vehicle and yet somehow the Civic consistently drives better than the Focus RS if you're on a road which isn't ideal if you live in a city with potholes and bad pavement the Civic type-r will never beat you up like the Focus RS you would rather be in it this car and all normal life situations, other hot hatches are like that brother at the gym who only works his biceps and his shoulders and look at his legs, there they are nothing, he is good at one or two things, that is not the case.

With the Civic Type-R it's an athlete, it's good at a lot of things and being comfortable on the road and doing the road trip well is important. It goes back to what Honda demonstrated with the NSX when everyone was saying, "Oh, you can drive it like that." deal and just go to the store and go to Starbucks and whatever, you can drive it like a Honda and then it will race and in some cases destroy, you can't judge a car by its stat sheet, which is something I've said for years . In fact I think the r type is about 80% better, but how have they done this even on the hardest setting?

The R plus setup works better than the focus on any setup, but now it's like choosing your direction, which person are you every day? Driver is presented in part by Brashear Oh, the ultimate detail brush, yeah, I love those A. I love refined nature, but still that weak hiding place deep inside is a rebel. The Focus RS feels like the muscle car of the hot hatch world, you can almost do it. Let's say this is from an American manufacturer with muscle cars in its roots, it has a more aggressive attitude, a bigger slide, bulkier and chunkier, but it's still so aggressive and performs so well that the Civic is a remnant of that lightness and the finesse that a hot hatch can have this has no finesse but it doesn't take away from the fact that it is a lot of fun if you have been thinking about an RS if you have driven it you love it you want it there is no reason not to buy this car on our podcast , we have heard from some owners who have had genuine horror stories with their RS property due to the head gasket issue being fixed upon return and the car was never the same as others have not had. the problem or when they fixed it it feels like a new car, they haven't had any problems, also think about the car manufacturers and it's almost every company on the planet that has problems and even my beloved Porsche has had their IMS. bearing issues, be aware of the internet hate, it's a problem that has a solution, let's take away some of how impressive this car is when driving the Focus RS in a daily commute situation, it's easy to feel like this is a choice terrible, why?

In this car, what's happening on the road opens up and you get a nice curve where you take it down a back road and suddenly you're like, "Oh, I get it." These Civic Type-R Czar Specials are so special, in fact, they have a number. Plate here on the center console. They want you to know it's special, but they don't need to have any license plates for me to know how good this car is. It is already very fun, fast and pleasant to drive. Do you like it? Crisp, light-feeling Honda packed with the big gearbox's light clutch and surgical precision, this Civic type-r brings you back to that Honda thing.

I'm very excited to see this car in their lineup and available now and it's cheap like this. It costs $35,000, what is this car like? It is economical. People sell it for 55 and claim that's the MSRP. It's not to stop him and the dealer sets aside if he can find a new one for 35,000. This is your car. I was thinking about how we approach the Focus. RS last time, okay, you know, we've had it against the STI, the Golf R and the Evo ten, yeah, yeah, and I actually liked the Evo better as a car to drive, but I chose the RS because I thought it was better. around her, so I'm trying to incorporate that thought into this discussion and I was surprised.

I think the RS of these two is the better car to drive if you were just on a track, if you were just doing a canyon. I'm not going to worry about commuting. I'm choosing the RS here, yes, but I think hot hatches have to be everything. It has to be dad's car. It has to be the travel car. And in that world, the Civic wins. Both are four-star cars. for me, available I drive any of these daily. I would drive the Civic daily and not the RS, Civic and Type R. It's the race car. It's the best they build.

You think it might be the most focused model just for a specific topic. audience, it's originally for the style, yes, however, the idea of ​​making a good all-around vehicle or the best in all aspects or resulted in a great interesting second car, here you have the opposite thinking, where it is very focused only on the right market and in fact it's great for everyone it's like the looks are a bummer get it yeah and the looks really aren't favorite but the look of the base

civic

right now is also very strange but now It's like choosing your coach, who are you?

Are you more of a Honda person? Are you more Ford? They're making us better drivers, but I love that technology is pushing us more into the fun category. Well, if you had any of these cars, you would love it every time you had to drive separately. I do. I think it's best when driven hard, but I think the Civic Type-R is the best enthusiast car Honda has made since the 2000s. It's a quiet race car that always questions everyone. It's great even though Ford wants it to be their only car. the ability to be your only car if you don't drive it hard all the time, it's sort of relegated to second car status, the Focus RS is better.

Drive a hard car. I don't know if I want to live with that every day. day, one problem with the hot hatch is that you want it to do everything in that area, the Civic just does it a little better, but what if your commuter car like this could go through a canyon on a Saturday? What if the Honda? they've done it, they've done it if you've ever wondered where Honda went why they don't make great cars for enthusiasts anymore this is the answer this is a great car it's a great car that does everything well done Honda I'm pretty impressed with you