The long wait is over, and the all-new Honda Civic Type R has finally been unveiled in the PH. Following its official launch held last night at Karrera Showroom in Alabang, Honda Cars Philippines announced that the FL5 has landed in the country and that it will fetch quite a hefty price. That is if you’re lucky enough to get an allocation.
All-new Honda Civic Type R makes PH debut with an equally jaw-dropping price tag
There’s been a lot of speculation as to when the FL5 Civic Type R (CTR) will make its way here. Prior to yesterday’s event, spy shots of the newest CTR made their rounds on the internet, and the cat was pretty much out of the bag then. But that didn’t take away from everybody’s excitement when the Karrera Showroom was opened for the big event.
Trust us when we say that that was one of the most thunderous we’ve ever heard for any car reveal, and really, it was very much deserved.
Once the covers were off we finally saw the revered red-badged Honda sports car and it really was a sight to behold. Compared to its FK8 predecessor which was all gruff and angular and had “aggressive” written all over its design, the FL5 was, in complete contrast and as we say, “all grown up”.
Creases were kept to a minimum, and the overall shape of the Type R just flows. A good balance of sharp corners and rounded-off edges make for a sleek and elegant hot hatch. The particular specimen on display showed off just how two-toned the car is; that is, its main color plus black trim pieces on the outside such as the massive grill, side mirrors, chin, side skirt, rear diffuser, wheels, and wing. The only accents you’ll get on the Type R are its red [H] badges and the Brembo brake calipers.
On the inside, you get pretty much the same treatment as the previous Type R. Black pillars as well as a black headliner are perfectly accentuated by red seatbelts, seat upholstery, and contrast stitching. But perhaps the biggest change is that of the dashboard. In keeping up with Honda’s current design language, the FL5 carries the current Civic’s dash from its overall shape, the cluster hood, the infotainment screen, and air conditioning vents. Overall it really is a much simpler, cleaner look, and those who like the “normal” Civic will feel right at home inside the Type R.
Powering this beast is the K20C1 motor. It’s a gas-fed, 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder turbocharged engine that’s able to put out 315 HP and 420 Nm of torque. Mated to a 6-speed manual transmission, you know that this (and every other Type R that’s come before it) means serious business, especially on the track. After all, it is a high-performance vehicle, not that we’re saying that paddle shifters take anything away, but come on, you would never expect a slushbox inside a red-badged Honda.
Now we come to the most important information: the price. The 2023 Honda Civic Type R FL5 retails for a whopping PHP 3,880,000, much more than the PHP 2,980,000 tag that the FK8 came with when it was first released. Even if it was bumped up to PHP 3,210,000 when the second batch of deliveries came, this is still a pretty big jump in terms of pricing. Why? Tech. The folks over at Honda said that a lot of good tech – from literal technologies to engine R&D – went into the FL5 and that’s why it’s priced as such. Can’t blame them now, can we?
What makes this more of a prize for its price is the fact that there is an initial allocation of only 39 units in the PH. We say “initial” because Honda PH is pretty mum as to whether they’ll bring more units in or not. A lot of hullabaloo was caused by resellers who flipped the previous Type R – the first to ever make its way into the PH legitimately from the dealerships – in the market for a massive mark-up, and if Honda is just being cautious, then again, we can’t blame them for that either. Still, we do hope that more units of the Type R will be made available in the near(est) future.
As this Editor is and has always been smitten with the CTR, the entire team is just as excited to get our hands on this beautiful beast. Once we get one for a Review, then we’ll get to see what all the hype is about. Everything looks good on paper and in the metal, and unless we miss our guess, we’re pretty sure the FL5 Type R will be just as good, if not leaps and bounds better.
