We want Honda to give us an all-new Civic hatchback with a bonkers turbo engine. But in order to squeeze out all they sales they can from the existing model, they are making us wait. Another "excuse" comes in the form of this Asian market special edition, the Civic RS Turbo Modulo.
To our eyes, this is like that guy who's traveled all over the world and picked up habits, both good and bad. The body is from America, the body kit is Japanese, and the trim level is from Australia or China.
First of all "RS" doesn't mean the same thing for Honda as it does for Ford or Skoda. Here, it's just the name of a trim level, and as far as we can remember, it's not even the top one.
This fake sports sedan was launched in the Philipines this week, where it will soon become available with a familiar engine. That's right, a 1.5-liter turbo is under the hood, making a maximum of 173 horsepower. There is also a cheaper, less powerful 1.8-liter base model that's still decent at 141 hp. In both cases, a CVT gearbox takes care of the power delivery.
We say that the 1.8 isn't bad, but the reality is that a Type R has more than double the power. So it's not very fast, but at least the Modulo body kit makes a difference.
For those of you who don't know, Modulo is the name of a tuning company from Japan Honda works with. So in a way, this is like a Mercedes CLA 250 with Brabus package.
Changes include inserts that go right around the car, including the front bumper, side skirts, and a diffuser. The red and black paint combination is also a nice touch, while tinted glass and black 17-inch wheels are part of the Civic RS trim level.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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