Some will disagree with me. Because they like a discreet woman, whom they can introduce to family, friends and take to mass on Sundays without having to hire an exorcist first.
Those of you who don't like an “alternative” young woman, who insists on dyeing her hair fluorescent red and wearing tattoos in the most unexpected places, won't notice. And it's no use, time won't make that vertigo go away for exaggeration, it's in his blood.
Others will hate me for spending long, torrid hours with the woman they've been wanting to date for months. Some will even want to know where I live to get everything cleaned up, because she promised you a hand in marriage later this year, but I already have some brave stories to tell about the curves and against curves we go through together, in a ballet infernal.
Seriously now, grab the chair. I've seen this woman go through more than 50 laps in a circuit without breaking a sweat. Ladies and gentlemen, the new Honda Civic Type R.
Prologue
The invitation foresaw something truly epic: the opportunity to test road and circuit pre-production units of the new Honda Civic Type R. The most attentive will certainly remember – one of the images shared on our Instagram that day had more than 4,000 likes. Today I have 4,000 people who hate me (or do they love me? I'll never know).This being a prologue, it deserves a brief note on the specs. and about that Open this article and learn everything, but everything, about the new Honda Civic Type R. Now that you have the lesson well studied, let's get down to business.
First date: we have to talk about suspension.
On the road, the new Honda Civic Type R is an excellent companion and don't be fooled: the aggressive look doesn't mean discomfort, as this new generation has introduced an important new driving profile, the Comfort mode.
Diogo Comfort Mode? But this car is for always walking with the knife in the teeth and crazy people in life!
And I answer: in your most intimate dreams this is true. Even the most fiery of women will want to go to the movies with yourself just to see that movie of Spielberg. In the same way as from a perspective of regular use, you will not make your daily commute into a national speed championship race and stop your car at work smelling of burnt rubber. Okay, maybe these parallels are going too far…
The fact that the Honda Civic Type R is wider (2mm), shorter (36mm) and longer (165mm) compared to the previous generation does not mean a decrease in the comfort of a car that was already tough enough in its “normal mode”. Like this comfort mode , the Honda Civic Type R becomes an almost bipolar proposal – let's go to +R mode.
This is possible thanks to an adaptive damping program that alters the suspension's response depending on how you drive. The variable-ratio EPS system is individually calibrated in each of the three selectable driving modes: “Comfort”, “Sport” and “+R”.
This system uses updated units of three chamber dampers , providing a much wider range of damping force variability, in the suspension tension and compression strokes, according to the chosen driving program: “Comfort”, “Sport” or “+R”.
On the Honda Civic Type R, putting the speed beyond 200 km/h is very easy, very easy indeed. After long kilometers traveled on highways without speed limits, it is easy to understand the work carried out in the stepping of the gearbox, which makes it almost unnecessary to reduce to overtake.
We need to talk a little more about suspension…
How does this all work? The answer is in the sensors.
Continuous independent control of the damping force on the four dampers is activated by adjusting the current sent to the electromagnetic coils inside the dampers, using information from a set of G sensors scattered around the new Honda Civic Type R. Are you reading Japanese? So-so.
You stand out so much, but no one hears you talk
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. Why doesn't a car with 3 exhausts be heard? This is perhaps one of the big defects from the Honda Civic Type R and I throw the questions at the table: since when did a hot hatch become a purely visual manifestation? Where is the audible exteriorization of all the investment made in making this car one of the most attractive compact sports cars of the moment?release the devil
When I put on a helmet in the Lausitzring pits, I quickly forget the detail of the weak exhaust note. “This is for real”, I think to my buttons. By this time, Tiago Monteiro must have been worried about what he was going to have for dinner that day, because for him it would only be 8 more laps at half gas and waiting for 3 common mortals.
So fast, so effective, so… perfect. The finish line ends with strong braking (hard braking very close to 200 km/h) and right in the first corner-counter-curve section I know I'm at the wheel of something very special: we're going so fast and so “straight”. that even provoked, the rear barely feels. They can brake in support without fear, who is in charge there is the driver. In this generation of the Civic Type R, there is a 37% torsional stiffness improvement and 45% static bending stiffness improvement.
The engine feels strong “on lows”, which allows you to quickly exit a corner and put the speedometer back in interesting numbers. The +R mode makes all the difference – that well-behaved girl in front of her parents, neutered by Comfort mode, quickly becomes “Bully” with the simple press of a button. Tougher, more responsive, +R…believe me, you will be delirious at such a difference in behavior.
This first contact with the Honda Civic Type R, made me think about how much I like technology more and more. With the exception of perhaps the McLaren F1, Lotus Elan and a handful of other industry icons, there are many other analogue sports cars that are excellent poster cars from our childhood and companions to our imagination… and that's it. Have you ever driven a Lancia Delta Integrale? Don't drive. Stay in beautiful and perfect ignorance, or risk losing a childhood hero like I did. Okay, as I said, gather another 4,000 people and come after me.
Many of you lived through that era and those analog feelings, which as you well know, only return when turning the key of a classic. Is the Honda Civic Type R analog? It is, in that it has an internal combustion engine, steering wheel, pedals and one of the best 6-speed gearboxes that Man has been able to create. Everything else is electronic magic, good, like Luís de Matos on four wheels. Who doesn't like a good magic session?
This magic, this digital touch that all brands are putting on their cars (not to be confused with autonomous driving, I'll save that for another article) and that make them faster, safer and more effective, here's one more point in your favor: a Honda does all that, but it puts a smile on your face. And dammit, at the end of the day there's nothing like a woman to make us smile.
Now I'm just going to explain to my wife that I have only one love in my life.