I wanted to jove the GR Corolla, but the Civic Type R stole my heart.
, and now there was a bigger, more practical version heading to our shores. Manual only, all-wheel-drive, with a motor from the devil’s lawnmower and a face that was looking for a fight. As a lifelong fan of Toyota reliability, constantly disappointed by the company’s refusal to make enthusiast products, I let myself believe that my perfect car had arrived.The Toyota, for its part, charmed me from minute one.
Somehow, though, I wasn’t too excited about the Civic. There’s no surprise factor here, no trump card over the segment standards. The 2023 model arrived with 315 hp and 306 lb-ft of torque going to the front wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. No part of that is transformative. Every part of it is exceptional.Because the Civic isn’t about ideas that sound great. It’s about good ideas, executed to perfection. Its engine has no world-first or best-evers to claim.
These controls are what stuck out in my head in the months after PCOTY. But when we gathered the GR Corolla—this time a Circuit Edition, not a Morizo—and the Civic Type R up again, for a head-to-head shootout, I didn't know what to expect. I had built up the Civic in my head after PCOTY, lusting after the feel of a perfect heel-and-toe, remembering how smoothly it handled 95-mph corners, and pining for the feel of that engine running to redline.
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