Honda has unveiled its newest Civic Type R hatchback at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4 and is officially now the world’s fastest front-wheel-drive car.
But the even more surprising news from the Japanese carmaker is that an even faster version of the Honda Civic Type R is now on development, reports Auto Express.
Dubbed as a race car for the road, Honda pits the new Civic Type R with the Ford’s Focus RS, which was also unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
The new Honda Civic Type R sports a 2.0-liter turbocharged VTEC gasoline engine that is capable of producing maximum power and torque of 306 brake horsepower (bhp) and 400 Newton-meters respectively at 7,000 revolutions per minute. It can go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 5.7 seconds and has a top speed of 167 miles per hour.
Breaking the record
Honda disclosed that it has also tested the hatchback at Nurburgring Nordschelife, the legendary German racetrack, and the new Civic Type R clocked an impressive lap time of just seven minutes and 50.63 seconds.
It is Nurburgring’s new record as it shaved nearly four seconds off the current fastest time in the 20.8-kilometer racetrack.
Nurburgring has been a testing ground for any car that claims sporting credentials. Exactly one year ago, the record on the racetrack for the fastest front-wheel-drive car was held by Seat Leon when its car clocked a remarkable seven minutes and 58.4 seconds.
However, two months later, the Renault Megan broke the record with its even more impressive seven minutes and 54.3 seconds lap time. The Honda Civic Type R bested the Renault Megan.
The bigger victory
More than lording it over the Nurburgring racetrack, the Honda Civic Type R is also more affordable than its competition when it is officially released to the market this coming summer.
Honda reveals that the price of its latest hatchback will start from $45,700, which is way below its current competitors in the market, with the exception of the new Ford RS, which has practically the same price as the Civic Type R.
The Japanese carmaker also disclosed that is also now working on the development of a lightweight track-focused version of the Honda Civic Type R.
Yagi-san, project lead of the new Honda Civic Type R, confirmed that the company is working on an even faster version. He said that should another car manufacturer attempts and becomes successful in beating the Civic Type R’s record in Nurburgring, they can still pull another ace up in their sleeve and reclaim the record right away.
The Honda executive said that Nurburgring is a very representative track among carmarkers. If anyone would like to contend to become the world’s fastest front-wheel-drive car, they just have to break the lap record at Nurburgring. That’s a key requirement so it has to be the cars that should be doing the talking on the racetrack.