Honda Civic Type R vs Civic Si Styling Differences

Taking a closer look at the new 2023 Honda Civic Type R versus the Civic Si in regards to their styling, plus the Type R’s aerodynamic and brake enhancements. For starters, the Civic Si is only available as a sedan whereas the Type R uses the Civic hatchback body style. It goes beyond that, however, with a wider track that necessitates a wider body (and therefore being built at a different factory than every other Civic hatchback). Unlike the past generation, the Type R is actually a cleaner design than the Civic Si, especially up front, but don’t worry, it’s still got that mighty wing.

Video Transcript

- That is the all new Honda Civic Type R. And that is its Honda Civic Si sibling. Let's take a look at both to show you the differences, at least visually, between the two.

For starters, let's talk about the body style because the Civic Si is sedan only, whereas the Type R is hatchback only. And since it's such a focal point, we can talk about this giant standard wing in the back of the hatchback. And there's just a little bit of a lip spoiler on the Si. That's not just little, it's pretty substantial.

In terms of wheels, these are 18s on the Si. These are 19s on the Type R. And they have fatter Brembo brakes stuffed into them. Obviously not Brembos, and they are smaller, up here.

Let's talk about aerodynamics a bit. Just a regular Civic side sill here, whereas over on the Type R has this piece down here that focuses air around the wheels. This also has a wider track, which you can see a bit there on the side.

And then, if you go up top, you can see those fenders bulging out. Let's look at the front of the car. They do have this hexagon trim of the grille that carries into the lower portion. You do have fog lights down there.

And then over here, well, it's a totally-- it is a different mesh pattern. You have the Type R red Honda emblem, larger opening down here. And then this here is not a vent, but rather an aerodynamic element that is beneficial for downforce. This is a duct for the brakes to cool them down. There's another vent back here. And there goes in through here, and then up through this vent right there.

Now let's head inside these two. Let's start off with the Civic Si. The Si does have red seats standard. It's the only upholstery you can get. It's very tech fabric. There's some black fabric here. It's a bit pink, honestly.

Other elements, as you do have red trim around, these Civic-signature, hexagon air vents. You have gloss, black trim on the dash. And then you have a leather-wrapped shifter with a real metal topper on top. And then the back seat is plain black, cloth upholstery. It's not my favorite element of this car. Always seems a little cheap to me.

But now let's take a look at Type R. Immediately, you can see that it's much richer color red, higher quality upholstery. It really looks lovely to have the red carpet throughout the back seat, still black unfortunately. Does have red seatbelts though. That's pretty nice. They're more aggressively bolstered seats.

They are split here, so that when you depress the clutch, the seat moves differently. It's a nice feature. It is appreciated. Speaking of clutch, the manual transmission shifter is a solid piece of metal. For both of these, you're going to want to keep a glove or something in the car on hot days because it can get a little scorchy.

And then, the trim on the air vents is silver, rather than red. You do have this special plaque that lets everyone know which Type R you have. And then this bit here is this matte gray finish instead of gloss black, and then read on the logo and unique gauges.

Let's take one last look at the rear ends of the two. Got your Type R and your Civic Si.