[Zell]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/honda/civi...mpaign=review2

Honda doesn't hang around. Barely three months after it releases the Mugen Type R Concept, along comes the real thing in full production spec and ready to buy.

The trouble is that each one of the 20 cars available costs £38,599 - a staggering sum for a hot hatch, no matter how exclusive it is.

However, for your nearly £40k, you do get a bit of star treatment. Mugen, the AMG of Honda, will tailor the car to your exact requirements, and you'll be intimately involved in the build process because Mugen engineers will be in constant contact with you. Even the engine's ECU mapping can be tailored to suit you.

Mugen doesn't like turbos, so the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre engine with a new red line of 8,600rpm has had to be extensively retuned to generate the 237bhp and 157lb ft. That's 39bhp over the normal Type R. You'll also find stiffer suspension on this Type R, and the Mugen Civic has spent a fair amount of time in Honda's wind tunnel to get all those scoops and that faintly ridiculous rear wing working properly.

The results are impressive. It's an astounding car, because the whole thing feels so in tune with your every movement that you don't so much drive it as simply think it around the track. It's that intuitive. You feel like you're hardwired into the car. The throttle response is incredibly sharp, and everything feels brilliantly responsive, while a shortened gear change gives a quicker time between cogs, simply adding to the experience. Considering Honda gearboxes are already the snickiest in the world, this must've taken some doing.

As I only drove it on the billiard table tarmac at a track, it's difficult to know whether that stiffer suspension has affected the ride. But the concept felt better damped than the normal Type R when we drove it on UK roads in August, so there's no reason to suspect this production version will be any different.

The 20mm larger brakes deserve particular praise. When I drove the Mugen, it had been thrashed a lot before I got into it, but the brake pedal was still really firm under foot. No suggestion of fade here.

You can still go as hardcore as the concept by opting for sticky tyres or Recaros. Mugen will also charge you more money for taking away some car (you can shed 86kg by ditching the rear seats), but this version should be enough. Adding yet more pennies to a £38k Civic, even one as brilliant as this, just isn't worth it.

You've gotta be a hardcore Civic fan to justify that much on a front-wheel drive grocery grabber.

[mmm def]

Lol. That's a ton of coin..and some people will pay it.

[Year's_End]

£40k + FWD = You're doing it wrong.

[Garduna]

Originally Posted by Nikkahtropolis

£40k + FWD = You're doing it wrong.

+1. Clearly someone wasn't thinking in the right direction

[hks786]

Originally Posted by Nikkahtropolis

£40k + FWD = You're doing it wrong.

haha lol

[Scorpion]

Vtec will definitely kick in with that yo.

[bavarian19]

[Schn3ll]

with the S2000 no longer to be in Honda's lineup, this is their new halo performance car? Mugen better rethink that turbo thing, it does wonders... 237hp? They are like the modern day caveman, trying to reinvent the wheel over and over.

Honda/Acura needs to do something interesting and soon, even the most vanilla car company in the world (Toyota) has 2 respectable performance cars (both F cars).

And to think, I applied to work there as a designer... pfft.

[Muffnbluff]

This was a test drive back when it was just concept, the guy comments that if they could bring it out for under 25k pounds they'd have a winner on their hands. But yeah, $62k for a civic is fuckin nuts. I'm sure it's fun to drive, 237hp is enough to propel a car that light fairly quickly.

[graider]

never in my life would pay that for a civic. LOL

[ACZakka325i]

That this IS loud as hell.