In 2010 due to ever more stringent C02 emission’s targets being set by the EU Honda had to kill of its iconic Type R brand in the UK. However Honda knows there’s money to be made with the big red R and low and behold look what’s been spotted testing in Germany. Could this be the test mule for the new Type R?
The 2 litre VTEC unit found in the last generation Civic Type R produced a daffodil wilting 215g/km of C02 due to its screaming naturally aspirated 8000rpm redline. Over the decades these big revs have been the backbone of Honda’s performance and race car engines, but it seemed that efficiency is a cruel mistress and if Honda wanted to keep up in the MPG race the big redlines would have to go.
It seemed strange though that Honda would abandon a badge for which they are so famed, thus the emergence of these pictures do something to prove the R is on its way back. The power plant of this mystery Civic is somewhat of an unknown though, however like other performance marques, namely the M division at BMW, we can guess that in the pursuit of efficient performance a turbo is likely to feature for the first time in an R. To some Honda purists that may seem like sacrilege, but personally I like to think that a turbo’d VTEC engine is something to get excited about.
When and if it eventually arrives expect the new Civic Type R to have more power than the last gen car. If other current hot hatches are anything to go by power is likely to have leapt up to the 220-240 BHP mark, with C02 emissions down to around 170g/km and MPG up to high the 30’s.
In terms of visuals not much can be gleaned from the test car in the pictures, quite frankly it looks like a perfectly normal Civic with a big wing and a tow bar. It is the wing however that makes us motoring types get all excited as its presence suggests down force was required for presumably high speed testing at the Nürburgring, something which the ordinary Civic isn’t associated with. The tow bar? Perhaps it is there to distract and confuse onlookers from reworked suspension or exhausts hiding under the bumper. Or to actually pull something in order test the torque of the new turbo engine? All speculation at the moment but hopefully Honda will announce something soon.
In the meantime think how good a screaming VTEC engine would sound with the adding chattering and whooshing of a turbo. Not to mention how good the new shape Civic could look in Type R guise.
