2018 Honda Civic Type R Makes Exhaust Pop on 'Ring, Might Have Rev Match System

What strikes us as being odd is how often the exhaust system pops on the overruns. Usually, test car drivers don't bother to intentionally trigger this, which leads us to believe that it's an engineered feature.

One possibility, though an unlikely one, is that an automatic transmission is being used. Cars like the MINI JCW, Golf R and A45 AMG all have specific sports engine maps that pop the exhaust when changing gear. Honda has twin-clutch gearboxes in production, and an auto Type R would be awesome for America, but we have nothing to confirm this.

The other possibility is that there's a manual gearbox with a rev-matching function. We want to mention the Nissan 370Z, because it's the first car we sampled this feature on, but this is by no means an exclusive. Even BMW's M2 has one.

Honda fans have been asking for something that gets rid of the "rev hang" for many years. This could be it, but, of course, we are just speculating on a video that's less than a minute long.

"If you can drive stick, you should learn how to do a proper heel-toe," the purists will say. Except the affordable performance car market wants just as many new features as the people buying the all-steering, turbocharged Porsche 911.

Something we don't need to speculate on is the shape of the car. Honda has very kindly provided with a concept car that's very near to the production model and looks just like what's under this camouflage. While the wheels are a little smaller, the sonorous performance of the exhaust is a huge bonus.