Matchbox’s Civic Type R is The Right Car but an Imperfect Casting

For years, I’ve been telling everyone who will listen that we need more regular enthusiast cars in the Matchbox and Hot Wheels lineups.  Sure, Ferraris and Paganis are great, but they’re the most rarified and expensive cars on the market and are hardly representative of the cars that real world enthusiasts choose to drive.  I firmly believe that we need more diecast versions of the cars you’d see at your local car meet or out on your favorite driving road.  Matchbox, with its longstanding focus on “regular traffic” cars, is well positioned to bring us more of those affordable enthusiast gems. 

Despite all the complaints about dealer markups and the struggles to find one at MSRP, the Honda Civic Type R remains a relatively attainable car for the average enthusiast.  I can pretty reliably expect to see several Type R’s at any local Cars & Coffee, so I’m glad to finally be able to include one in my diecast car meets too! 

Of course, you probably already know that Hot Wheels made an FL5 Civic Type R too.  It premiered in the Boulevard series in 2024, and it’s the rare case of a Ron Wong casting that I don’t really care for.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but it’s based on a Spoon-modified car.  As someone who prefers my diecast cars to look showroom-fresh, the Hot Wheels Type R’s giant wing, modified exhaust, and exaggerated front splitter just don’t work for me.  Even with the clean livery that I hope it someday gets, the Hot Wheels FL5 will still be a heavily modified car. 

In typical Matchbox fashion, their new Civic Type R is bone stock and perfectly specced.  Boost Blue is by far my favorite paint color on the Type R, even if it does clash a bit with the car’s bright red interior – nobody ever said a Type R has to be tasteful!  I do think Matchbox should have tinted the windows on this model, though.  It looks like a fishbowl, and the perfectly clear windows emphasize the lack of B or C pillar detailing, so I think future releases of this casting would look better with a darker window piece. 

The detailing up front looks pretty good, with plenty of detailing in the headlights and a clever use of the base to form the grille.  I do wish you could see the intercooler through the grille like you can on the full size Civic Type R, but that was never going to happen on a $1 model.  However, it does feel like Matchbox could have added the correct mesh texture to the upper part of the grille, as the plain black print feels a little lazy.  Likewise, the lack of a Type R badge on the grille is weird given that there is already silver and red printing being used for the Honda badge.  

On the side, Matchbox’s ability to wrap headlight detailing around onto the sides of their models continues to impress.  As does the casting detail, where we get well-modeled door handles, a gas cap, and the FL5’s characteristic kink near the top of the doors that catches the light.  Though, I can’t help but notice that the panel gap for the driver’s door stops a bit short of the mirror.  The wheels also look a tad too large on this model, though the Civic Type R does get 19’s so you could argue that’s also true of the real car.  Still, I think the big wheels are partly to blame for this Civic’s tall ride height, which looks more SUV than performance sedan.  At least those large wheels fill out the wheel wells nicely, and they sit almost perfectly flush with the fenders!  

The same “good but not great” story continues at the back.  The printed detailing looks fantastic, with a perfectly aligned lightbar and plenty of detail for the brake lights, turn signals, and reverse lights.  Unlike the front grille, the trunk gets its Type R badge, alongside a printed license plate and even red reflectors at the bottom of the bumper!  Compared to the modded Hot Wheels casting, I’m also glad to see the stock triple exhaust tips and more modest rear wing.  Sure, that wing is technically supposed to be black, but that’s an unrealistic expectation for a $1 mainline. 

I do expect my mainlines to have realistic proportions though, and the rear of this Civic Type R looks a bit off to me.  It’s not horrible, but the whole thing just looks a bit too flat.  There should be more of a ducktail on the trunklid, and the bumper should stick out a bit farther from the trunk and have a more rounded shape overall.  Matchbox gets kudos for including the rear wiper though! 

In the end, it’s hard to render a satisfying verdict on this Civic Type R.  It’s a flawed casting in many ways, yet it’s also so cool and a perfect example of the kind of car I want to see from the Matchbox brand!  Loving flawed things is part of the human condition, and I love this model despite its faults.  I can’t wait to use it in my photography and add it to my display shelf and collect a full rainbow of recolors.  

It seems I’m not alone in that opinion, because this model is always one of the first to disappear from the shelf when its mix gets put out.  Even if some of Matchbox’s EV SUV castings may be better castings from a technical standpoint, it’s clear that my fellow enthusiasts crave more cool cars like this for their collections, so I hope models like this help Matchbox continue to refine their product mix over the coming years.  Maybe someday Matchbox will make the hot hatches set that I’ve always hoped for from Hot Wheels!