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Honda Unveils Civic Type R Concept II, Says It's Faster than Old NSX

Perhaps seeing that last week's Civic facelift reveal left people unimpressed, Honda today revealed yet more details about a car that gets everybody excited every time some details come out, the new Civic Type R. Along with a slightly updated concept, the Japanese have made some amazing performance claims.
Honda Unveils Civic Type R Concept II 5 photos
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Honda Civic Type R Concept IIHonda Civic Type R Concept IIHonda Civic Type R Concept IIHonda Civic Type R Concept II
The all-new Civic Type R will have, and we quote, "unmatched performance compared to all previous Type R cars, including Civic, Integra, Accord and NSX". Simply speaking, this will be their fastest production car around a track… ever… until the new NSX is ready. These bold claims would suggest the Type R is pushing the boundaries of what's possible with a FWD car way into traditional sportscar territory.

Power will come from the mainstay of the hot hatch segment, a 2-liter four-cylinder turbo engine, the first of its kind from Honda. The company isn't keen on letting the competition know what it's up to, so they only told us that it will have upwards of 280 PS, with some sources suggesting this number will actually be closer to 300.

Also helping the Type R's claim to glory is a four-point adaptive damper system, a six-speed manual gearbox and a new steering wheel-mounted ‘+R’ button that turns the car into a wild beast.

Just like Ford did with its Revo Knuckle, Honda has engineered a mechanical solution to the problem of torque steer. It's called "Steer Axis" and Honda says it comprises of two additional kingpins in the front suspension.

Nurburgring by the numbers

In 2002, now-retired racing legend Motoharu Kurosawa set a time of 7:56.73 around the famous Nurburgring track in Germany using the 280 hp NSX-R. We think this is the type Honda wants to beat in the Civic,. The current fastest hot hatch is the Renault Megane RS 275 Trophy-R, being over two seconds faster than the Honda (7:54.36).

Of course, the real challenge here is not just to make the fastest car, but also to ensure it's still drivable on the road. Otherwise, nobody will want to buy it. SEAT, the previous holder of the Nurburgring record, said it will not chase Renault's numbers precisely for this reason.

According to Suehiro Hasshi, Large Project Leader for the Civic Type R, they won't have such problems: “In default standard mode, the Civic Type R is exceptionally agile, an everyday sports car with an enjoyable and fluid acceleration."
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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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