HONDA Civic Type-R Mugen 2009-2010 Photos, engines & full specs

Mugen's work was already known among Honda's fans, who begged the carmaker to create a special version for the European Civic Type-R. And that came in 2009.

Limited to just 20 units for UK enthusiasts, the reworked Mugen Type R was mostly a street version of an FIA Group N racing car. As expected, the works on the vehicle were not limited to just an aesthetic package. Still, they included the whole vehicle, from top to bottom.

The tuner took a standard three-door Civic Type-R and stripped it from bumpers, side sills, and the rear spoiler. Thus, the front of the car looked much more aggressive, with the triangular foglights replaced by round air intakes that flanked the broad lower front grille. Moreover, the upper grille was replaced by a Mugen-badged one, while the hood received two vents that extracted the hot air from the engine compartment. In addition, the side sills were reworked with additional sculptured areas. At the same time, at the back, the bumper sported two wide, round exhausts flanking the diffuser. Last but not least, Mugen added an oversized wing mounted on the liftgate.

Inside, the tuner made some changes to the dashboard and added, as an option, three more gauges above the lower instrument cluster. The Civic VIII had two instrument panels, one lower where the tachometer took center stage and an upper one for various info from the onboard computer, speed, and shift lights.

But the main changes were under the hood, where the famous, naturally-aspirated K20 engine was bored, and its displacement was increased by about ten percent, up to 2.2-liter. Then, thanks to other modifications and a new ECU, the power jumped from 201 PS on a regular Type-R to an astonishing 260 PS (from 198 HP to 256 HP).