Boosted Successor | The 2016 Honda Civic Type R

There was one point in life where some of us gearheads wanted a Honda Civic. Those on the other hand dreaded it. But like it or not, this little compact have become significant in the tuner world. It was what people picture when you mention ‘boy racer’. Despite that, it is also and still is a favourite tuning platform among many enthusiasts In fact, it was either you love it or you hate it. For me personally, I might not like some that drives a Civic, but the car itself, it is something I wouldn’t mind having.

Sometime at the dawn of the 90s, Honda started to design and manufacture top range trims of selected models of their cars under the name ‘Type R’. Of course we all know it started from the NA1 NSX, but eventually the Civic started to have their own Type R model based on the EK hatch. It was in no time it became a popular and desirable car especially among the younger crowd.

The formula was always the same for Hondas Type R models, the chassis would always be a built to be very track oriented and the engine would always be a refined high-revving naturally aspirated engine. Back when Best Motoring in Japan was reviewing the FD2R Civic, it was dubbed by as ‘a race car with license plates’.

But recently, Honda just released a new model under the Type R name which is the 2016 Civic Type R FK2R. The majority of the formula is pretty much untouched except this time; it is the first Type R model to run on forced induction. It may not have the iconic scream, but with many iconic sports cars that were known with NA engines going turbo like the BMW M3 and Ferrari, it was the obvious path for Honda to take.

With the exterior taking a hatchback form and for having many flamboyant touches, I find the car to be more fitting as a successor of the FN2R which is the FD2R’s counterpart in the United Kingdom. On top of that, it depicts more as a European hot hatch than a raw race-oriented car with license plates. However, despite that image and its relatively tamed ride, the FK2R is doing 7 minutes and 50.6 seconds around the Nurburgring.

But is it really that good? Well, it’s too early to say since the FK2R isn’t on the road yet in Malaysia and there is only one in Singapore. But with the amount of garages in both these countries purchasing them to be built as a track car, we may never know how far the FK2R will go. But in a context of owning the car from what I see, I would say ‘why not?’ Special thanks to my friend from Traction Circle Club for lending the FK2R for the shoot.