Category: Hot Hatchbacks 
Price Range: £14,224 to £19,565
Incredible traction, glorious induction noise, one of the best gear changes around.
Still lacks low-down urge, fussy split rear tailgate, uncompromising ride.
Limited slip diff almost transforms the Type R into one of the very best hot hatches.
If yobs are generally perceived to drive hot hatches, lunatics must pilot Type Rs because, to get the best out of this hottest Civic, you need a masochistic streak.
Outright deviants then will be rejoicing when this, the Championship White Civic Type R - touted as Honda's most hardcore iteration of the current Civic - range, goes on sale.
So how extreme is it? Well first off, there's no more power from the normally aspirated 2.0-litre. Neither has the already light Civic Type R undergone any further drastic weight savings.
This means the performance figures remain the same, but before you write off the Championship White as nothing more than a clever marketing exercise and a fancy paint job, there is more to this than meets the eye.
Honda engineers have been hard at work developing and adapting the Type R to work with a mechanical limited slip differential. So although this version doesn't have any more straight-line grunt it should be better in the twisty stuff.
Sadly, the Type R Champ costs an alarming £1,100 more than the GT on which it's based. That's a considerable price to pay for a new diff and the Champ's white paint scheme (unique to the range).
The question is, is it worth the added cost and is it enough to keep Type R competitive against its more powerful opponents?
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