The Honda Civic Mugen RR (based on the new JDM Honda Civic Type R) is limited to a total production run of 300 cars. Japanese track fiends with ¥4.7million to spend on a spiffy, street-legal time attack weapon are its target audience -- and a receptive one at that. On September 14th at 9:00 AM local time in Japan, reservations for Mugen's ultimate Type R officially began being taken. By 9:10 AM, according to the Japanese enthusiast site, Carview, the 300th reservation was placed. However you want to parse the numbers (we're sure additional reservations were taken, in case some prospective buyers bail out), one thing's certain: all 300 cars are spoken for well in advance of the expected January delivery date.
Those lucky enough to secure the Mugen RR receive a lighter, more powerful and track-tuned Civic Type R that in the right hands is capable of lapping Japan's Tsukuba circuit in 1:06:38. At least that's what the folks at Mugen were able to wring out of it. We're sure some of the car's buyers will be looking to top that number as soon as they have a chance. With this thing, life is a driving game, and Time Attack mode is always on.
Japan has its fair share of one-make race series. For well under $20,000 you can buy a stripped out Vitz (Yaris) from Toyota, a March (Micra) from Nissan, a Swift (Ignis) from Suzuki or a Roadster (MX-5, Miata, whatever...) from Mazda specifically prepared to do battle with identical machinery six or so times a year around Tsukuba, Fuji and Suzuka. But the undisputed leading feeder race into Japanese formula racing is Honda's Type R series.
Wannabe Honda F1 drivers have been contesting Integras for the past seven years, but next year's championship sees a return of the Civic Type R to Japan's tracks. The race going version sports the standard R's 225PS KA20 motor and six speed 'box, but has no need for the road-going car's helical LSD, aircon, seats, interior trim, underseal and expensive HID lights, which knocks off not only several kilos its curb weight, but a whopping 40% off the road car's sticker price, bringing it under $15,000 at 1,690,500Yen.
Pity that the entry fee, roll cage, racing seat and harness plus a season's worth of tires and parts will come to at least as much again.
Nihon Car is one of our favorite sites. It's one of the only places you can get quality English-language reviews of the hottest new stuff from Japan. The guys at Nihon just took the new JDM Honda Civic Type R sedan on a 1000km jaunt, and have impressions aplenty to share. The 225-horsepower Civic Type R boasts advantages of 65 horsepower and 19 lb-ft of torque over the standard Civic sedan while weighing 66 pounds less at the same time. Sounds like a recipe for fun, if you ask us, and to hear Nihon Car tell it, it is. They do note that the suspension tuning is so sport-oriented that on anything short of a pristine track, the car's occupants are in for a punishing experience. The mighty NSX Type R is apparently more forgiving, from a ride standpoint.
For their impressions in detail, head on over to Nihon Car, where you'll also find a fantastic photo gallery of their blue tester (the shot above is emblematic of what you'll see) and a much larger version of the video we've got embedded after the jump. Our own gallery of Honda's PR photos of the new Type R is linked below.
As if our fellow car enthusiasts in Australia don't already have it good enough (what with the high-power Commodores, Falcons, Utes and assorted Ford Europe imports), now Honda UK's going to start exporting its Swindon-built Civic Type R 3-door to the island continent. When sale kick off in July, Oz will be the first non-European market to receive the Type R hatchback. It's also scheduled to make the trek to Eastern Europe, with sales in Russia and the Baltic states beginning by the end of the year. This Type R is an altogether different vehicle than the just-introduced JDM Civic Type R (gallery), which is based on the sedan.
Pricing should be in the vicinity of $40,000 Australian dollars (around $32K USD). The Civic Type R generates 201 horsepower at 8,000 RPM from its 2.0-liter DOHC i-VTEC powerplant, makes the run to 60 in around six seconds, and has a top end of 146 mph. It went on sale in Europe in March. As for us, the most recent rumors point to 2010 for a possible US-market Type R sedan. We'll wait patiently.
In Japan, Honda markets a line of child safety seats through its dealer network, and today comes word that the automaker's going to leverage its well-known "Type R" brand for a limited-edition kiddie seat. Limited to just 300 units, the seat, as you would likely expect, is done in black and red. The main seating surface is covered in a perforated red fabric, while the side bolsters use a black suede-type material. An embroidered Type R logo is featured prominently across the top. The exclusivity comes at a steep price: ¥44,100 ($366 USD). The regular version of the seat it's based on goes for just ¥13,650 ($113 USD) by comparison.
Click image to view 62 desktop-sized pics of the Honda Civic Type R sedan
Come Friday, March 30, the new Civic Type R will go on sale in Japan. Based on the current Civic 4-door, the Type R is powered by a screaming, normally aspirated 2.0-liter four cylinder (K20A) that eclipses 100 hp/liter, producing around 225 ponies at 8,000 rpm and 159 lb-ft of torque at 6,100 rpm.. A six-speed manual transmission feeds power to the front wheels -- 18-inch units shod with a set of Bridgestone Potenzas. Four-piston Brembos are visible between the spokes and provide the car's stopping power. Body rigidity is said to be 50% better than that of the previous Integra Type R (Acura RSX), and the car weighs in at 1,250 kg (2755 lbs) with no A/C installed. The creature comfort adds another 20 kg (44 lbs).
During a recent press drive of the Euro-market Civic Type R, Winding Road's European editor Matt Davis appears to have gotten unofficial confirmation that Honda will be offering a Type R variant of the U.S. model Civic in 2010. Speaking with an unnamed assistant chief engineer, Davis learned that the car we'll get is likely based on the Japanese Domestic Market Civic Type R, which is a four-door sedan rather than the Euro market's three-door hatchback. Since Honda already sells the four-door Civic in the States and not the Euro hatchback, this only makes sense. Davis' source also revealed the car would receive a horsepower boost and limited-slip differential. We imagine any car wearing the Type R badge would also lose some weight, as well.
While we do appreciate Honda offering the Civic Si here in the U.S., especially the four-door version, it's high-revving 2.0L enginer producing 197 hp is easily outmatched by many of its competitors that have crested the 200 hp mark and then some. The closest thing Honda has right now to what we'll eventually get in the U.S. is this prototype four-door Type R Civic (shown above) based on the JDM model. It was used as the official pace car for the 2006 F1 Japan Grand Prix and is the prototype for the four-door Civic Type R that will be on sale in Japan this year.
Back when he was riding for Honda, 7-time world champion motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi did this amusing little TV spot for the Honda Civic. In it, Rossi can't shake his riding habits whenever his black Civic Type R stops at intersections, drawing attention from bystanders along the way. Neat little commercial. Too bad Yamaha (his current ride) doesn't sell cars, too...
We're going to spare you the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth that seems to take place every time a new Type-R is released and the U.S. is left off the shipping invoice. It's safe to say that we're getting used to the disappointment, but when we compare the newly designed Euro-Civic to our own two- and four-door offerings, it feels like the knife gets twisted a little deeper into our gut.
For those of you who are blessed with slightly thicker skin and won't start sobbing uncontrollably at the unfair world in which we live, Honda was kind enough to produce a little montage of their new Civic Type-R as it sat on its stand in Paris. The video provides some drool-worthy shots of all the little details that adorn their newest FF-fun box.
The Type-R, for those of you who haven't already pored over the specs, will come equipped with a 2-liter, 200 hp inline-4 that will consume the sprint to 60 in about six and half seconds. The iVTEC powerplant will putter around like any other Honda until about 5,800 RPM, when the second cam lobe brings the engine to boil and proceeds to runs the tach to its 8k redline. A six-speed manual sends power to the seven-spoke, 18" alloys, wrapped in 225/40 rubber of unspecified origin. The interior benefits from Alcantara wrapped racing buckets, a three-spoke wheel, the love-it or hate-it, two-tier dash and a 'Start' button that allows the lucky owner to channel the part of the brain that controls racing ambitions.
In the meantime, we'll wallow in self-pity, occasionally asking why the Honda-Gods are angry with us, again.
We were being good little bloggers and wait for Honda's embargo to break at 7PM, but the website AutoMotoPortal broke it ahead of time so here we are. The production version of the Civic Type-R Concept first shown at the Geneva show earlier this year has been unveiled, and it's a dead ringer for the concept on which it's based. The car is framed in the Civic's Euro-only three-door hatchback body style and augmented with spoilers front and back, a black honeycomb grille and larger intakes in the front fascia, seven-spoke 18-inch alloy wheels, and triangular shapes in the form of foglamps up front and sweet-looking exhaust tips poking out the back.
The Type-R's 2.0-liter i-VTEC engine has been reworked to improve useable torque through lowering the point at which the high-lift, long duration valve timing kicks in to 5,200 rpm. There's now also an indicator light to the right of the speedo to indicate when i-VTEC has taken over at 5,200 rpm. The 2.0-liter receives a small increase in power up to 201 PS (about 198 hp) at a lofty 8,000 rpm. Lower gearing helps offset the Type-R's small increase in weight and ensures that acceleration will at least match its predecessor. Owners will be able to snap off runs to 62 mph in 6.6 seconds, same as the last Type-R, and reach an identical terminal velocity of 146 mph. As with all Type-Rs, handling has been sharpened with additional stiffening of the chassis, a lower ride height, wider track and stiffer damping.
Pricing has yet to be announced for the Type-R, but we do know it will be built alongside all the Euro Civics at the company's plant in Swindon and go on sale next March in the UK.
We expect Honda Global to release an album's worth of images within a day, but for now we have these five shots in high resolution. Check the rest out after the jump along with some of the Type-R Concept for comparison and Honda's official press release with more details.
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