2017 Honda Civic Type R vs. Subaru WRX STI -TRACK REVIEW // ONE TRACK MIND Ep. 6

all right there's one very good reason why you would buy a Focus RS [Music] nothing to go very fast to actually get the car to do what you would consider a drift right but that was just second gear 60 kilometers an hour foot down drift mode allows the car to rotate comes around get on the throttle that's like just so fun it's just so fun [Music] so the Focus RS from me anyway is the benchmark in this class it is indeed very electronic and actually sustaining a clean drift without the computers interrupting isn't as easy as you would think but the fact remains that it still feels rear-wheel drive it's also monstrously fast I reviewed it last year against a Golf R which I do like but found a bit boring on the track now colin has set lap times in the RS and the Golf R so Oh in the drag race you'll see in a minute with the RS I'm going to divert my attention to these two the Honda Civic Type R and the Subaru WRX STI so the type r it's so hot right now seriously there's a lot of hype surrounding this car because for the first time it's available in North America well I say available because even if you have the over $40,000 Canadian it costs it's not exactly easy to get one and if you can dealers seem to be marking them up huge so what's it all about and for starters it looks a bit ridiculous however Honda says that most of those crazy body shapes in that big wing are quite functional in fact on the roof there's a vortex generator to help that rear wing produce more downforce but I'm betting that those fake vents in the rear are well fake now what isn't fake though is the performance 306 horsepower from a four cylinder turbo with VTEC that makes 295 pound-feet of torque way down low in the rev range triple Center exhausts in the rear a limited slip differential up front and 245 with tires make it look like it's ready to tear up some tarmac here's the thing though it's front-wheel drive and with all the all-wheel drive options around today you can't help but wonder how will it stack up so what do we have it up against well your $40,000 can also get you a WRX STI which has exactly one less horsepower than the Type R at 305 and it makes nearly the same amount of torque but you do have to run up the gear to find it however it does have all-wheel drive with an adjustable centre differential this particular STI was donated by the STI bros hence the obligatory red mud flaps and a louder exhaust so with both of these here at Toronto Motorsports Park and the RS on hand obviously we're gonna have a drag race [Music] on the left is the Ford Focus RS 350 horsepower all-wheel drive and launch control in the middle is the STI 305 horsepower no launch control but it has all-wheel drive so it should get off the line just behind the RS the type r is 306 horsepower and is only front-wheel drive but it weighs over 300 pounds less than the others je sang grabbed the RS I took the STI am i racing driver calling Casey who will be setting lap times in these later chose the type r alright let's do this ers killed them right away the real race was between the STI in the type-r oh yeah come on come on and there's the finish line oh that was close oh man yep who won who won I did no you did it no way um yes way that was a good race and it was pretty much exactly how we thought it would be the RS has just smoked them completely right and the STI got off the line good launch type r was last off the line cuz a front-wheel drive and then it just eventually walked past me it's lighter and it's faster that's fair it's exactly what we expected I was already in the STI so it took it out for a shakedown track alright there are a couple good reasons why you buy an STI over at WRX and they go like this number one the steering is better the rack is quicker that makes this a more engaging car to drive number two the transmission is different which means the ratios are closer and the new WRX there is a ton of Rev hang and it is absolutely killer it drives me nuts it does me absolutely nuts I hate Rev hanging and this does not have that okay so that right there is the main reason that I would buy an STI to be perfectly honest now to really experience an STI as much as I hate to say it I shouldn't be on a track I should be on a loose surface because there it's a totally different monster so what is it like to drive on the track right it feels flat in the corners the suspension is just stiff enough that it feels sporty and the steering is good okay the STI has hydraulic power steering so it communicates more than many modern cars which makes it feel old in a good way the power train however is a different story in the Straits on the track its peaky all right when you're in boost use the transmission keep it in the yeah keep it in the rev range and it's quick this is a fast car the sti's powertrain is enjoyable on the track yes but on the road not so much the way that the engines set up the new WX is twin-scroll turbo this is still an older setup this flat four with this turbo has been around for let's be honest too long this is an aging platform Subaru needs to refresh this engine very badly there's an advantage to using this turbo in the STI motor over the twin-scroll that you get in the regular WRX I know that there is but I think we need some more modern tech in this car because out on the road this feels doesn't feel like a fast car out here it actually does it feels very very quick so the question is can I play around with this car at all I've got sport sharp traction control completely off all right let's put deceive if in manual I've got everything shunted to the rear now all right here's the advantage of an STI is that I have control over my differentials I've got LS DS all over the place underneath this car and I can actually control them electronically that's good stuff that's racecar stuff all right under throttle it kind of under steers and there's really no two ways about that the RS will power oversteer it will power oversteer even though it's all-wheel drive because it sends more power to the rear this doesn't send as much power to the rear all right so I end up with just understeer on the track it just understeers I don't like that but what we will do is we'll experiment with a little bit of a different method so I'm gonna toss it into the corner and see if I can get any motion out of the chassis just under steers it's a fun car though makes a good noise I like the torque I like the ratios the transmission is my favorite part of this car because you feel like you're in a race car cuz it's just kind of like he's gonna bang through the gears a car like this to be a track car needs to have an alignment and maybe some different sway bar setups or a stiffer spring rate in the rear maybe because it just doesn't feel as as playful as the RS power power power no there's no power oversteer whatsoever one thing I do have though is traction coming out of the corners because of the all-wheel drive I've got the diff set all the way to the rear right now and when I do get the power down I get a little bit of understeer yes at the limit but I'm still building speed okay which is good for lap times so when Colin sets his lap time in this there's gonna be a couple corners here where the STI is just going to get going out of the corner quicker and it might make up a little bit of time I need to make something very clear though I'm having a good time driving this car out here 100% I like it it's a fun car I'm always gained to drive an STI the STI was as good as ever no better no worse so I hustled back to the pits because I was dying to drive the tie bar all right I are right away I actually really like the interior of this car it's just well designed I like the digital readout the it you know this Alcantara it says Type R right here I really do like the seats they're really well bolstered and actually incredibly comfortable the bolsters don't dig into my legs they're actually wide enough for a normal human all right now the first thing you notice driving a Type R I'm in our mode by the way is the steering the weight is much much much better than your average car especially nowadays oh yeah tons of weight steering ratio is fast all right so we're in our mode that stiffens everything up a little bit and it also does something that I disagree with is it turns on the auto Rev match feature No thank you I will do it myself I actually had to go into the menu through like four menus and select driver aids and then turn off auto Rev match in our mode so we're in our mode with a traction control completely off this is this car at its purest our plus mode stiffens up the steering and it stiffens up the dampers and I found it to be bordering on too stiff for a track like this the pedals aren't as well spaced as the st is for heel toeing just notice that alright let's talk about the engine a little bit we have a VTEC turbo that kind of seems like a little bit of our done didn't see doesn't it VTEC was always supposed to kind of be the the natural turbo biking valve timing there's no doubt the type r feels fast and because of the turbo you have access to the torque way down in the rev range so you don't need to run it right to the redline to put the power down but that doesn't mean that you won't still want to kinda has that like insane like tapping off the rev limiter feel listen [Music] brakes are fantastic yeah this is this is a good car Oh front wheel drive is back in the fight alright so you just turn in and then you just kind of flick back off the throttle a little bit and it tucks the nose in it feels balanced this is a very good car turbo leg is there but it's minimal it still encourages you to rev it right out it kind of hits you VTEC and turbo comes in and it punches you back into the seat I think the shifter is as expected very Honda like snappy short positive throw into the gear absolutely excellent so you can get it a little bit bent out of shape but not really as much as the RS right you can't turn in in drift mode and power oversteer so it is locking back unfortunately all right so if you are getting a car for the hooning around and sliding and having fun at the track this probably isn't the car for you but if you're out here to dist enjoy driving fast and setting good lap times I don't want to say that I'd want this more than the RS but I'm getting close I'm on like lap three and I'm really really enjoying myself all right so Colin decided to challenge me here so he's obviously going to set out as you know and do hot laps in both of these cars to see which one's faster but he put the timing gear in here and he's like set a hot lap see what you can do so basically what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna go in and Barriss myself [Applause] alright let's try and set a serious lap right up to seven oh that's fun 150 160 170 on the streets all right yeah that's quick it has a hard time getting its power down but it does have a limited slip differential so it is putting power to the wheel that has grip brake roll speed in it rotates it so in a second looking for my apex get on it get on it understeer under power there we go gotta be patient still front-wheel drive you really start to push it you can feel that front-wheel-drive breaks down second late apex yeah now it turns just give it more steering angle and it starts to rotate it's not very often you come across a streetcar that will do that rotates under brakes I need to be in second gear for that last corner I wasn't expecting a good time with one lap but I'd find out later because at that time I was having too much fun to care this is a quick car this is a fun car I don't think I've driven a fully front-wheel drive car other than the Focus ST in a long time that I've been this okay with it being front-wheel drive and you know what I don't think I'd want to make this an all-wheel drive car it would make it feel heavy right now it feels light and exciting and frantic this is a little bit of a game changer for the front wheel drive crowd it's a good car this is a good car I have no idea because your phone is stupid I know how to turn on here make it turn on that's my phone's intelligent difference is actually Apple products Apple products Apple products Android Apple products so your best is a 128 eight that's terrible I know right Tyus you are very good on camera if he beats me by five seconds I will actually cry like I will I will tears will come down my face I am hoping to do at least a 123 oh you better not do it okay but but I mean that didn't push that hard that's it it understeers a little bit coming other tight stuff I could have kept making excuses all day but Colin got bored of listening and took each car notice at his best time he ran a ton of laps in both so he could get the best out of each of these cars you were watching his best lap in each for those of you that are just learning to drive on the track pay attention to how smooth he is you might learn something so a 123 76 with a Type R and a 125 65 for the STI here are the Focus RS and the Golf R times for you to compare the type R is in second place by only a few tenths that is seriously impressive considering it's the only front-wheel drive car out of this bunch so the type r was very close to the RS time and it took the STI by a large margin why well it comes down to the way they turn now before you all go talking about how this is rigged I assure you that Colin doesn't care which is faster he just drives both the best he possibly can but the reality is the STI had a very hard time getting turned through some of the corners it simply doesn't rotate the same way as the Type R even with the all-wheel-drive so Colin couldn't carry as much speed on corner entry or exit the type r is lighter faster and more responsive end of story both of these cars were limited by their stock tires and the type r was surprisingly close to the RS but you know what the type r felt much more pure on the track now the question is between these two which one would I take home at the end of the day well even though the type R's aggressive styling did grow on me a bit I don't think it suits me and since I live in Canada and we get assaulted by snow every year the STI is the better all-around car but that doesn't mean that I still really wouldn't consider the type r the thing is I know how good an ST I can be with some modifications so put it this way if I wasn't allowed to mod my car I'd take the Type R but if I was the STI [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 2,905,879

Rating: 4.6501665 out of 5

Keywords: honda civic type r, subaru wrx sti, sti, type r, type r focus rs drag race, focus rs, ford, civic type r, wrx, track review, drag race, e46 reviews with t.h., the straight pipes, one track mind, hot hatch, track battle, sti exhaust, type r drag race, subaru launch, type r launch control, forcus rs launch control, sti launch, type r 0-60, type r lap times, type r review, 2018 wrx sti review, 2017 honda civic type r review, Throttle House

Id: xiKWUL4iEGQ

Length: 19min 56sec (1196 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 29 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/intercede007]

Excellent. I want Ford and Honda to beat up on the WRX and WRX STI. I want Subaru to have to build an FA25DIT for the STI and update the driveline to send more power rearwards. Maybe it should come with the S207 parts standard.

WRX and Evolution beat the world and then the world caught up. Lets hope the WRX can evolve and surprise the world again.

[u/maaaaackle]

I love the shock and awe factor of the new Type R.

The civic went from "this is about as exciting as a bowl of porridge" to "it's too much. its TOO wild"

and i think that is charming in and of itself. sure, they'll probably dial it down but im hoping they keep it the way it is.

that gundam aesthetic really works for me.

[u/[deleted]]

I don't like the Type R boy racer look. But I'm nearly 40, so that might have something to do with it. I would put the STi in the same category.

I prefer the WRX, more of a 'sleeper' look. Although, not really if you know cars. I like that the exhaust is quieter too.

[u/Yojimbo4133]

I like the type R but it looks like a child's car. I'm almost 30, I don't want to look like a teenage hoon.

[u/thisonewillsurelybef]

I was a bit confused by the intro.

[u/argonaut93]

The Sti is effectively more rear bias all of the time: 60% to the rear by default vs the Ford which does 70% to the rear momentarily and is front biased by default.

The reason for the power oversteer in the RS is that the torque allotted to the rear is sent to either the left or right to induce oversteer.

It's funny how not a single review of the RS that I've seen cares to go into detail about that. Instead we get "woohoo drift mode! Makes the back step out cuz its sendin more to the rear!".