The Honda Civic Type R and Volkswagen Golf R are two cars that are similar
in a lot of ways but they're also quite different in others. Now that might sound
a little crazy but hear me out. They're both four-door, compact
hatchbacks. Both have turbo 2-liter four-cylinder engines that make around
300 horsepower and both have six-speed manual transmissions in the
configurations we have here. One of the big differences between the two is their
drive lines with the Civic Type R having front-wheel drive and the Golf R
having all-wheel drive. But in the way they look feel and drive, they're
surprisingly different beasts. But to find out which one is the best we took
them to Great Lakes Dragaway to test acceleration and braking performance and
Gingerman Raceway to gauge their track chops.
We also enlisted the help of driving instructor Hollie Heiser to help evaluate
the cars and set our lap times. Here's how they performed. In our drag strip
testing the Civic Type R edged out the Golf R in our acceleration tests with a
zero to 60 mile per hour time of 5.63 seconds and a best quarter-mile time of
13.9 seconds at 104.74 miles per hour.
The Golf R meanwhile accelerated to 60 in 5.84 seconds it did
the quarter-mile in 14.09 seconds at 101.92
miles per hour. Though the two cars acceleration times were close, the
experience of launching them was quite different. Cars.com's Joe Bruzek
was at the wheel for these tests and he noted that it was hard to get the Golf R
to leave the line aggressively with it feeling like the engine management
system was holding the car back. The Civic Type R meanwhile made smooth
launches with little wheel hop and it was easy to get its fastest times. In our
60 to zero braking test the Civic Type R came out on top again stopping in 107.7
for feet versus 114.69 feet for the Golf R. With the Civic Type R
having the advantage at the drag strip our contest was ready to move to the 11
turn 2.14 mile Gingerman circuit in Hollie's capable hands for
fastest lap testing. Here the Civic Type R again had the advantage with
Hollie turning in a lap time of just under one minute and 49 seconds that was
about two seconds quicker than her best time in the Golf R. While the Golf R
was actually faster than the Civic Type R on the track straights reaching
115 miles per hour to the Civic's 110 miles per hour on the long back
straightaway, the Civic was consistently faster through the corners and that made
the difference. The Civic Type R feels really secure on the track with weighty,
super precise steering that makes it easy to place where you want. At the same
time the car delivers tons of grip and feels less squirrely than the Golf R
thanks in part to its more aggressive tires. It all adds up to a balanced car
where everything works really well together. I also like the Civic Type R's
turbo four-cylinder engine. It feels more eager to rev and power out of corners in
a way that the heavier Golf R doesn't. Factor in the short throws 6-speed
manual and you have a great performance drivetrain. From a comfort standpoint I
like the Civic Type R seats more. They have bigger bolsters that do a better
job keeping you in place than the Golf R seats. In the end it's pretty clear that
with the Civic Type R most of the money has gone to the things that make it the
really fun car it is to drive whether you're on the track or the street. One of
the big things that's different about the Golf R is its steering tuning. Where
the Civic Type R's steering wheel has that weighty feel, the Golf R steering is much
lighter. Even though the Golf R has all-wheel drive it doesn't have a rear
bias feel like you'd expect from a performance car. Instead it feels nose
heavy and that's disappointing. The Golf R's engine revs smoothly but it lacks
the immediacy of the Civic Type R's engine when exiting corners. You keep
pushing the gas pedal down but it takes a moment longer to get moving. The engine
pairs with a taller shifter that has less of a mechanical feel than the Type R's. Though the Golf R seats are comfortable they don't hold you as
tightly as the Type R's seats and with the Golf R's greater body roll even in
its most aggressive race mode you feel like you have to hang on to the wheel
more to stay in place. The result is a less purposeful feeling car on
track. So I'm here with Hollie Heiser our pro driver and we just got done driving
some laps at Gingerman and just really wanted to talk about how you thought
these cars performed. I mean first let's start with handling. These are two kind
of handling focused cars, what was your take on them and which ones you prefer?
Well they both really impressed me. I like the handling on both. Both the
steering inputs on both cars were really really well, felt really good out there. I
preferred the Type R over the Golf R because the Golf R tended to understeer
more as I came through some corners. The Type R felt more planted but even
with that being said with the Golf R it was really really good out there so I
enjoyed both of them a lot. In terms of powertrain, the transmission, we have two
manuals here. Is there anything that kind of stuck out is one being better than
the other two. They're both around 300 horsepower so kind of working with the
same specs but those don't always tell the story. Yeah I think like they both
felt really good. I still prefer the Type R, I like the way that it shifted better
it felt easier to get into the gear and those rev matches that happen for you if
you want it to. It's a really nice feature to have especially for people
that don't want to do that heel-toe it's very quick and responsive and then the
Golf R. Also like it felt really good, really good shifts in this car too I
just felt more comfortable in the Type R. So the Type R is around $35,000 the Golf
R is around $41,000 so I really want to know which one do you think would be the
better performance buy and also which one would you want to have if you're taking
it to a track day? The Type R on both those questions for sure. I think it's a
better value for the money, I think that it performs really well out there, it's
cheaper and I think it's great. I think you could take it from the street, you
can load it up with a whole bunch of stuff because it's got plenty of room
and just go out and track all day and then drive back home. So there you have
it, the Type R is our winner. We really enjoyed driving it on the track and it's
really capable in that setting too but at the same time it's really usable in
daily driving situations. It's got a comfortable interior that's roomy for
four adults it also has a ton of cargo space. If you want to see all the details
from this comparison test check out Cars.com.