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IT DOESN’T come with a fearsome nickname such as Godzilla, but the red R badge on Honda’s latest creation turns a doting runabout into a raucous hot hatch looking as though it was ripped straight from the pages of a manga comic book, ready to rumble with the best.
Wheels recently pitted the front-drive hot hatch contender against Ford’s rip-snorting Focus RS, and Volkswagen’s understated but undeniably formidable Golf R – both of which come to the showdown bearing all-wheel drive.
You can read tomorrow how the three compared on the road, but what we will focus on today is the trio’s performance capabilities at the drag strip.
But all the power in the world can’t trump traction. The Focus RS is the quickest on test to crack 100km/h from a standstill, doing so in 5.0 seconds flat against an official 4.9. The Blue Oval’s hot hatch has a launch control function, but we found the best numbers were achieved by having the engine sing to redline, and simply side-stepping the clutch. The Golf R did the same feat in 5.6secs (against an official 5.2), while the Type R languishes down the back of the pack with a tested acceleration time of 5.8secs.
In a sprint to 180km/h the Civic overtakes the Golf, doing so in 16.3 seconds – a tenth quicker than the VW. However, it’s the Focus RS which remains out in front, pushing the speedometer past 180km/h in 15.8secs.
Clearly the all-wheel-drive Focus RS and Golf R have an advantage over the Civic from a dig, so we also timed rolling acceleration from 80-120km/h in gears three to six. The Honda was quickest in all cogs bar sixth, which is where the Focus RS’s torque advantage came into play.
The full performance testing results can be found in our comparison, but here are the key facts and figures.
