HONEST JOHN AWARDS - The Honda Civic Type R takes the Best performance award at this years ceremony.

Honda’s race car for the road, the Civic Type R, has been named as the most popular performance car at the annual Honest John Awards held yesterday in London.

Having won the ‘Best Real MPG’ award at the Honest John Awards last year with the frugal Civic 1.6 i-DTEC, this year sees the polar opposite with Honda’s sporting heritage triumphing with the aggressively styled Civic Type R, which hit showrooms last July.

The honestjohn.co.uk awards come from the best experts of all: the website users.  The awards are not decided by judges or a panel, instead recognising and rewarding the cars and vans that the users search for most on the site. Put simply, the reviews which create the most interest among honestjohn.co.uk users are the winners.

The British built Honda Civic Type R is powered by the most extreme and high-performing Type R engine ever built. The direct-injected turbocharged 2.0 litre VTEC TURBO petrol engine delivers power, torque and performance figures unmatched in the front-wheel drive hot hatch segment. Peak power output is 310 PS at 6,500 rpm, and peak torque is 400 Nm at 2,500 rpm – both higher than for any previous Honda Civic Type R model.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk commented: “One of the most highly anticipated cars of recent years among performance car enthusiasts, we rate the new Honda Civic Type R as one of the most engaging, enjoyable and exciting cars on sale. And honestjohn.co.uk users clearly agree with the Civic Type R proving popular enough to win Most Popular Performance Car for 2016. If you want a thrilling hot hatch, look no further.”

Phil Webb, head of cars at Honda UK, commented: “The latest incarnation of the Civic Type R continues to win awards but this award means more as it is simply down to the mass appeal of the car and the number of people searching for it on the Honest John website.”