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The new Honda Civic Type-R retains the cabin layout of the eleventh-gen Civic, but it adds in a few sporty elements to justify the Type-R badge.

Honda has celebrated three decades of the iconic Civic Type-R nameplate by bringing in its all-new sixth-generation version. As expected, the new Honda Civic Type-R is based on the fastback-styled hatchback version of the Civic. And like the previous versions, it looks the racier form of the latter with sportier-looking tweaks done to the exterior.

Like the exterior, the interior of the Honda Civic Type-R also gets tweaks which evoke a sense of sportiness. However, as expected, the new interior of the Honda Civic Type-R shares a lot with the eleventh-generation Civic, which means that it looks cleaner and more sophisticated than the previous-gen Civic Type-R. So, how does the interior of the new Civic Type-R make your racer-boy heart beat faster without going too overboard? We find out here.

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Gone is the bulky and chunky-looking dashboard of the fifth-gen Honda Civic Type-R and in comes a clean and flat layout for the new sixth-gen model. The previous model had a wide-looking center console with a tapered upper lining and was slightly inclined towards the driver. However, in the new model, the dashboard has a flat and horizontally-stretched design across its width, which looks much more elegant.

However, this is a Type-R – it must focus more on sportiness rather than elegance. So, the horizontally-stretched panel here gets matte surrounds compared to the piano-black surround in the regular version of the Civic. In addition, the co-passenger side of this panel comes integrated with a coveted ‘Type-R’ badge. This panel, which also accommodates AC vents, retains the honeycomb-mesh design of the regular version.

The center console in the middle of the front seats of the Honda Civic Type-R also looks slightly different from the regular version. While it retains some elements of the standard version, present in a more arranged form.

The manual transmission lever in the lower center console of the Honda Civic Type-R gets a satin silver finish for the head of the lever, while the lower cover gets contrast red stitching. The panel on which the transmission lever sits also has the same theme of satin silver, though with a textured finish.

This panel also houses other controls like an electronic parking brake, brake hold, drive mode selector, and the unique +R control for switching between sportier layouts of the instrument console. The twin cup holders are placed behind the gear stick in the Type-R, thus making the console look longer without looking busy.

The Honda Civic Type-R gets a new free-standing 10.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which also features revised positioning for the physical buttons. The screen here is larger than the regular version's unit and features different display modes with additional gauges for monitoring the car's performance while on the go.

Honda has retained the three-spoke multi-functional steering wheel from the standard Civic, though the spokes here get a matte black theme similar to that around the horizontal bar across the dashboard. The steering wheel also gets the Honda badge with red surrounds and a slightly different full-TFT instrument console behind it. This new console gets +R-specific display modes, with one of them featuring a split layout. The upper housing of this new layout shows tachometer, speedometer, and gear position indicator. On the other hand, the lower housing gets a multi-information display in the center, music system info to its left, and G-meter to its right.

Talking about the Civic Type-R and not mentioning the word ‘red’ is unacceptable. Apart from brake calipers, badges, and contrast stitching on the steering wheel, front center armrest, and gear lever, the influence of the color red is heavily visible in the seats, floor, and carpet mats.

The Honda Civic Type-R gets sports seats finished in a theme of red. This same theme of red is carried forward for the floor and carpet mats. The Civic Type-R is a premium offering, but the front sports seats here lack electronic adjustments. Though, the manual adjustments for the driver seat are good enough to find a spot-on driving position even for taller drivers.

The armrests on the door panels at both front and rear also sport contrast red stitching, while the rest of the door panels and speakers have a black theme. The red influence hasn't stopped here, for the cabin also gets bestowed with red-colored ambient lighting for the front foot well area.

Related: The New Honda Civic Type R Gets Transformed Into A JDM Inspired Coupe

So, the cabin in the Honda Civic Type-R is not drastically different from the regular versions of the Civic. However, the subtle improvements for enhancing the sportiness of the interior haven't come at the cost of simplicity and elegance, making it a win-win situation for all.

Hailing from India, Jeo has grown up dreaming about a red-colored Porsche 911. This fascination led him to study more about cars and their functionality in his automotive engineering days from the past. His passion for writing about cars directed him towards blogging, which he has been doing for almost a decade.