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Honda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by Shiftech

Hot hatchbacks made all over Europe are trading punches to see who deserves the belt in this segment. Without question, the Civic Type R is one of the top contenders.
Honda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by Shiftech 13 photos
Photo: Shiftech
Honda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by ShiftechHonda Civic Type R Turbo Engine Tuned to 356 PS by Shiftech
Right out of the box, it's got proper energy in a straight line, thanks to a 310 PS version of Honda's first 2-liter VTEC turbo engine. But a Leon Cupra now has 290 horsepower, so it's pretty close.

Thankfully, turbocharged engines are easy to tune, unlike their naturally aspirated cousins. You don't need new pistons and injectors, just a laptop. A French company called Shiftech strapped the Type R to the dyno to prove its ECU update can lift the total output to 354 PS. Torque is also up from the already impressive stock figure of 400 Newton-meters to 487 Nm.

We still remember how insane the previous generation Focus RS looked when it came out. People really thought it needed a huge rear wing, flared wheel arches and green paint just to handle 300 horsepower through the front wheels.

This tuned type R has almost as much power as hyper hatchbacks like the pre-facelift A45 and the RS3, only it puts it down through the front wheels.

Turbocharging has opened up a world of potential for Type R. The previous generation Type R reached its red line at 9,000rpm. However, it was only under hard acceleration that the full power and exhaust sound were revealed. In 2015, the hot Civic has become more usable, thanks to a turbocharger.

So what about the front suspension, can it handle this much torque? A few years back, the Ford Focus RS, Astra OPC and Megane all had trick front suspension systems that reduced torque steer by minimizing the camber change on the front wheels when you cornered. Honda's 2015 system is called Dual Axis Strut Front Suspension, and it doesn't cure the problem completely, just reduces it by 55 percent.

Honda says that because the front suspension is up to 177% stiffer than the standard Civic, there's no need for anti-roll bars. Surprisingly, they also kept the torsion beam rear set-up because of platform restrictions.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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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.
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