by: Noah Joseph
With a name like
Earth Dreams,
you'd be forgiven for assuming that Honda's new family of turbocharged
VTEC engines is more about environmental credentials than performance.
And to a large degree they are – particularly in 1.0- and 1.5-liter
forms. But the 2.0 is another beast altogether.
Thanks to a high-output turbocharger, direct injection, a
high-performance cooling system and, of course, variable valve timing,
Honda's new 2.0-liter four produces upwards of 280 horsepower while
still complying with upcoming Euro 6 emissions standards. Although
actual output has yet to be confirmed, that preliminary figure already
compares favorably with the
Ford Focus ST (252 hp) and
Mazdaspeed3 (274 hp) and rests comfortably in between the
Volkswagen GTI (217 hp) and
Golf R (296 hp).
For demonstration and testing purposes,
Honda shoehorned the smaller 1.5-liter turbo four and 1.0-liter turbo three-cylinder engines into an
Acura ILX and another
Civic hatchback, but the home it gave the 2.0 betrays more than an engine swap. What you see here is essentially the next
Civic Type R,
following a long line of Honda hot hatches. With this latest model, the
Japanese automaker is targeting the front-drive lap record at the
Nürburgring that belongs to the
Renaultsport Megane Trophy and before that, to the lightweight
Megane R26.R. A tall order, to be sure, so we headed to Honda's R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, to take it out for a ride.
Driving Notes:
- Walking around this Type R prototype, you can immediately tell this
is no ordinary Civic – even with the concealing matte black treatment
and taped-up elements. It's got prominent beefed-up wheel arches, a big
rear wing and a rear diffusor from which quadruple exhaust tips protrude
– something you don't see on any of the aforementioned rivals short of
the Golf R. Lightweight alloys do little to hide the cross-drilled brake
discs with bright-red Brembo calipers. Step inside and you'll find
bucket seats deeply bolstered and clad in Alcantara, with a thick-rimmed
steering wheel right in your chest.
- Pulling out of the paddock and onto the access lane to the banked
track, the Type R responds instantly to a floored accelerator. Although
Honda has made no mention so far, the absence of any discernible lag
makes us wonder if it hasn't fitted a variable-geometry turbocharger or
if the Tochigi engineers had managed to tune the turbo and VTEC to work
in concert to eliminate the lag.
- Nor was there much torque steer evident as we sped down the narrow
lane, prompting similar questions over whether Honda is using a
differential – either mechanical or electronic – to keep the beast on
the straight and narrow. These and other questions will, of course, be
answered with time, which isn't something the Type R seems to take a lot
of to reach a rather brisk pace.
- Racing onto the banked track, our car was limited to 200 kilometers
per hour (124 miles per hour), a speed to which it pulled with
authority. The limiter cut in when there was still plenty of accelerator
travel to go and a sixth gear we never had a chance to grab. We
couldn't help but wonder what she'd do derestricted, but for this early
drive, we were forbidden from using the most steeply banked lane at the
top of the track anyway. Just the same, the car tracked smooth and solid
through the sweeping turns, and whatever that lesser car was that
pulled out onto the inside lane of the track as we passed the pit exit
grew in our windshield and shrank in the rearview mirror like it was
stationary.
- Honda has clearly left few greasy bits unchanged in the Type R from
the standard five-door Civic hatch on which it's based. Everything about
it feels tight: the weighted steering, the firm pedal feedback and the
taut suspension that only stiffened at the touch of the red Type R
button next to the steering wheel.
- Unfortunately, our two laps were up in tellingly short time, but we
were left impressed by a solid hot hatch in the making that just might
stand a chance of knocking Renault
off its perch at the top of the Nordschleife leaderboards. We look
forward to seeing it try, but more than that, we're hoping that Honda
finally gifts North American consumers with this most forbidden bit of
fruit.
Source:autoblog
