From across the ocean it comes, an invader on these shores, a stranger 'round these parts.
Your boring aunt's car evil twin.
Fitter, faster, harder.
On the track a beast, on the road still a beast.
It's a Honda Civic.
Yeah it is, check it out because this isn't just any civic.
This is the car that makes front engine, front wheel drive look sophisticated.
This is the car that invented a whole culture right here in the U.S. where it was never
even sold.
This is the car that every other manufacturer wanted to rip-off, and yeah it's a Honda Civic,
like the one your aunt has.
Except it isn't.
No, no, no, no, no
It isn't at all because it is the Honda Civic Type R. And that means its badge is red.
So how did one red badge turn this
Into this?
This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Honda Civic Type R.
Honda makes nice, reliable, affordable, sensible cars.
So in the 1980's they decided they would build a super car, because that makes sense.
I can't believe you've done this.
The only thing weirder than a Honda super car was the fact that they actually made it,
and what's even more weird than that is it's actually good, like really good.
As I said I think it's a super-super car.
The NSX changed the scene when it debuted in 1990, it was a sensible, affordable, reliable
super car.
Naturally the old super car brands weren't happy about the new competition and responded
by starting an arms race.
To keep up with the newer harder products from Ferrari, Honda realized they had to take
their young NSX and make it lighter, more powerful and even more insane than it already was.
I am awaited in Valhalla!
The result was a new off shoot called the NSX Type R. 300 pounds lighter and six horsepower faster.
Yeah six!
My favorite number is six.
The NSX became Honda's flagship.
The car was so awesome it made the entire range look cooler.
To help distinguish the Type R they gave it a red badge.
Sweet!
And they painted it a color called champiobnship-white, after Honda's formula one color from the 60's
The car is a legend, the NSX Type R is still a saught after collector's item in garages everywhere.
In fact the Type R branding was so succesful Honda started to put it on all the other cars in their range.
Frist the Integra and then the Civic.
Of all of them the Civic Type R, first launched in 1997, was the most affordable and therefore
the most obtainable by enthusiasts all over the world.
Hello.
The first Civic Type R, dubbed the ek9, got weight reduction, a close ratio gearbox, an
LSD, stiched welded chassis, red seats, and a B16b engine.
At 182 horsepower the B16b boasted one of the highest power outputs per liter of any
naturally aspirated engine ever.
In 2001 they introduced the Ep9.It looked like a tiny minivan and the Japanesse market
got red Recaros and a fully worked K20 motor.
The FD2 was introduced in 2007, it was the forst 4-door Civic Type R as well as the first
with independent rear suspension.
Europe got a weird looking hatchback version called the FN2, which was sold as the Civic
Type R Euro in Japan.
The FK2 was released in 2015 and it's the first turbocharged Type R and featured an
R-plus button which increased chassis and throttle response wehn you pressed it.
You remember the little red button?
Yeah.
Push the little red button.
And you may want to put on a seatbelt.
To add insult to injury, the engine was built in Ohio but the car never sold in the states.
I said no!
We were jealous and so the humble civic made the American underground desperate for Japanese dosmestics
or JDM.
See, right around the turn of the millenium Japan was making some really cool cars.
For one reason or another they never converted over to U.S. specification.Cars like the Skyline
GTR adn Civic Type R became America's most wanted.
And the fact that we could not get them only made them even more wanted.
So a whole new subculture was born, JDM, or Japanese Domestic Market.
Basically a grey market emerged that imported these cars on to U.S. soil to be sold legally
they’d have to be rebuilt with part that would pass U.S. regulations, but those in
the know would buy them from sellers and then build them back to Japanese standards.
Those who had them became kings of street racing.
Although they had to be careful because they weren't legal and if you got caught they would
get crushed.
This was all very hush hush.
Shut your mouth, shut your, shut your mouth.
Outside of street racing circles so street racing itself hit the limelight in the very
first Fast and the Furious movie in 2001.
The film featured a number of JDM cars for Vin Diesel and crew to race around and against.
The opening and closing heist scenes even featured Honda Civics.
While they weren't Type R's they did drive in to the American public's mind that Japan
had some seriously cool cars, but unless you were willing to navigate the grey market you
couldn't get them.
The trouble for Honda was while they were hoarding the Type R's in Japan their competition
jumped in.
Subaru took the legendary WRX and made a more powerful, lighter version with the WRX STI
which they made available in the U.S. Volkswagen took the Golf GTI and turned it into the R32
and Golf R and made it available in the U.S. Then Ford took the Focus of all things and made
the badass Focus ST, and the Fiesta ST, and the Focus RS.
These mega hatchbacks blew up in the U.S. and around the world and finally convinced
Honda that they've missing out on a huge market.
So in 2017, finally, Honda is releasing the Type R that meets America's standards right
off the assembly line.
Which means no more grey market, no more shady body shops, no more getting pulled over and
getting your car crushed.
Now I'm gonna have to give you a ticket on this.
Anybody in the U.S. can legally get one and it only took 20 years.
So does that make the Type R old and cranky by comparison to it’s competitors?
Or has the grandmaster come to teach the student's a lesson?
Well both are kind of true.
See, where all the competitors are all-wheel-drive the Type R is proudly front-wheel-drive.
Man front-wheel-drive sucks, all-wheel-drive all the way!
Well, most people who vape would agree with you but Honda says you are wrong.
Unlike all it's competition the Civic Type R only sends its power to the front half,
why would they do that?
Well all-wheel-drive is great but it is really heavy and the point of this car is to be light.
So instead, Honda's engineers cooked up a brad new thing called Dual Strut Axis Front Suspension
which uses science!
Science rules.
To produce wizardry.
You!
Reduce torque steer to keep the car moving where you want it to.
That does still put a lot of traction commitments on the front wheels, but a good driver can
use the weight savings to overcome all that and still cross the finish line first.
All together that means the Civic Type R compared to all the other mega hatchbacks is both more
old school and more cutting edge.
It's like a typewriter with broadband and 4K.
And if the early word is right, it's really really good.
So at long last the Japanese Domestic Market has gone global.
The Honda Civic Type R, the grand daddy of the mega hatches is here in all its front-wheel-drive
glory.
Halleluiah.
And at 35-grand it's not even that expensive.
It's about 350.
It is living proof that dependable doesn't mean boring, and awesome doesn’t mean broke.
It's just a fantastic all around everyday racecar.
I'll take mine in championship-white with a red badge.
That's everything you need to know to get up to speed on the new Honda Civic Type R.
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What other cars do you want us to talk about?
What did we miss?
If you know where my dad is please let me know.
Give me a ring-a-ding-ding I'll give you my number.