THERE WAS NO QUESTION THE HONDA CIVIC TYPE R NEEDED TO BE a part of TCoty. It’s aced every challenge evo has thrown at it, running away with its first group test and putting in a strong showing at eCoty 2023, outscoring (and often outrunning) sports cars, supersaloons and grand tourers alike. Most recently, it won our mega-test of every hot hatch currently on sale (evo 318). And we know from its original launch at Estoril that it’s a devastatingly capable car on track, too.
So its presence in this test was a given – much like the 911 GT3 RS, it’s an established yardstick against which to measure cars of all genres. But experience also tells us that hot hatches, even ones which are
