![]() Chasing the Civics’ powerband is only more rewarding with its slick manual transmission. Sure, the engine might only generate 135kW in standard guise, but in a frame that barely weighs a tonne, you’ll be amazed how quickly this Civic will chew up the tarmac. Honda’s heritage Civic Type R has a tasteful aftermarket pipe on it, which only added to its theatre. The V-TEC cam lobe is aggressive, meaning that 5,500rpm jump will make you grin-ear-to-ear. The 1.6L B16B V-TEC engine feels raw and unadulterated. It channels the energy of the 1980’s hot-hatch greats while adding buckets more power, more handling precision, and importantly, Honda reliability. The EK9 Civic Type R is a proper, dyed-in-the-wool, old-school hot hatch. Everyone competing is in the top 1% of their game, but only a few can take the podium.Īnyway, fourth place may be last on this list, but the Civic Type R is no last place performer. I suppose one could liken it to the Olympics. ![]() Particularly so, as it’s the only Type R model to have survived several generations. It feels dirty even thinking about putting the original Civic Type R last. A once in a life-time experience for me? Absolutely.Īs it turns out, ranking these legendary Honda’s was going to be tough.Īnyway, without further ado, here’s how each car stacked up. In short, I’m going to get in it, hoon it, and tell you which one I liked the best. This meant we were out on country backroads, with some tight and technical sections to really enjoy each car’s capabilities.įor the record, this test is as basic as it sounds. We were situated around Clevedon, a rural community on the outskirts east of Auckland, New Zealand. I had a short period with each car, but enough of an opportunity to get a good feel for them. This meant I had the rare opportunity to experience the Honda NSX, Honda Civic Type R (EK9), Honda Integra Type R (DC2) and the Honda S2000, back-to-back.Īnd, I’m about to tell you which one is the best. Honda New Zealand were keen to share that sportscar heritage with us. It was a time when Honda was showing the world what it was capable of. Today, these cars are considered to be amongst the most iconic JDM performance cars. Finally, they capped off the decade with the S2000, a spiritual successor to Honda’s first sports car. Then came the Type R line-up, which included the Integra, Civic, Accord and several more. What followed in the 1990’s was Honda entering what is widely considered to be their golden era for their production cars.įirst came the Honda NSX, which was Japan’s answer to the Ferrari 348. ![]() Honda, realising they were beating Ferrari and Lotus on the track, decided to take it to them on the road. With Gordon Murray and Steven Nichols in charge, and with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost driving, McLaren-Honda fielded the MP4/4, which is still one of the most successful F1 cars of all time. That era belongs to Honda in the late 1980’s when McLaren-Honda were dominating Formula 1. This isn’t even considered Honda’s best era of motorsport either. In 2022, they also took the Indy 500 championship, and they’ve had 7 out of 10 MotoGP titles between 2010 – 2020. It was a Honda engine powering Red-Bull’s RB-18 F1 car that secured the 2022 constructors championship and won Max Verstappen the 20 championships.Įarlier this year, Honda took out the 2023 24 hours of Daytona championship. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame you for losing track of it all.Īlthough, you needn’t look far nor hard to realise just how extensive Honda’s motorsports achievements are. Sometimes they go under their North American name, Acura. In some cases, Honda is a direct participant, in others they’re an engine and parts supplier. More so, Honda’s involvement in motorsport is somewhat hard to follow for casual observers, primarily because their participation isn’t limited to the Honda brand. Why quiet, exactly? Probably because they tend not to grab headlines as much as brands like Ferrari, Mercedes and Porsche. Honda is a quiet juggernaut in the motorsport world. DriveLife got the rare opportunity to test some of Honda’s best road cars of the 1990’s. Before attending the launch, Honda New Zealand said they were keen to showcase some of their sporting heritage along with it. DriveLife recently attended the launch of the new Honda Jazz RS in Auckland.
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