Type-RR - It's finally an official model

[CivPilot]

Ignore past claims, this is the only new Civic to be officially called "Type-RR" and acknowledged as such by Honda. Its just not made by Honda themselves.....



240BHP & 160lb/ft, 15mm lower and 66lbs lighter than the JDM Type-R on which it is based. They are only going to build 300 cars total so don't expect to see any imported just yet.

And both Honda and Mugen have confirmed that this is the only car to officially be named "Type-RR". I wonder if magazines like Autoexpress & Autocar will acknowledge that little snippet about the name, they seem so sure that the JAS Type-R was actually called "Type-RR" (Denied by JAS Motorsport) that they reported is as fact for so long. This official confirmation on the naming will kinda kick sand in thier face a little so don't expect them to mention it.

[FWH]

BMW won´t be calling that copyright infringement?

For example Volvo had to rename the S4 to S40 due to Audi, so RR?

[PJS]

300 per year.
This is old news, as it's been official for at least 4, maybe 6 weeks now.

[CivPilot]

Originally Posted by PJS

300 per year.
This is old news, as it's been official for at least 4, maybe 6 weeks now.

Yes Mugen showed thier own Type-R in pictures a long time ago (the pearl white car with the more extreme wing) and those pictures appear here.

This car was officially unvieled and named on the 28th of June (Mugens own date on thier website) but I havent seen anyone talking about it here with those official shots, hence the reason for the post. The car is not even available until the start of September and does not yet appear on Mugen's own website as an official model, only as a teaser page. Changes over the white car include more power, a new twin exhaust and center LED brakelight and fully revised suspension & brakes.

And again, according to Mugen, there are only 300 cars total Not 300 per year.....

Availability is limited to 300 cars only, all in the Milan Red finish shown, and the pricing has been set at Yen4,777,500

...and probably already sold out .

It seems that loads of other motoring boards have been talking about this car but nobody here seems to either know about it or want to acknowledge it? Strange, I would have thought this was of high interest seeing as Mugen are making the move into the UK market some time very soon. So parts and components developed on this car may well become available for the Euro shape Type-R. They already show a very tasty airbox & filter system on thier website for the JDM shape so I would not be surprised if this was already being developed for the Euro engine bay.

Here is a youtube video of the standard Mugen testing at Tsukuba (1.06 lap... VERY quick)

YouTube - MUGEN CIVIC TYPE RR=

Ps. BMW should be fine as "RR" is an abrieviation of "Rolls Royce", it is not a particular model name (the cars are called "Roll Royce Phantom" not "RR Phantom"), so their should be no infringment on copyright.

[Brodick]

Only problem is that the only 4 door model in the UK is the Hybrid
don't think we will see s hybrid RR

It will be good to see mugen in the UK - should be some interesting times ahead

[PJS]

I guess part of the lack of enthusiasm is the fact the difference between this and the JDM CTR is minimal in reality, but yet Mugen want another £8 or 9K for the mods!
I know the air box, suspension, and exhaust system from Mugen isn't cheap, but they aren't THAT expensive.
And that's before it's landed, which by Litchfield standards for the imported JDM CTR, would equate to a car costing the thick end of £30K!
Far too much never mind the exclusivity aspect.
Speaking of which, I knew 300 was mentioned, but thought I'd read that was initially, with the potential intention of becoming a yearly figure.
Factor in with Mugen being a part of Honda, they'd have been involved in the CTR from the off, so no real separate R&D expenditure to claw back with the price difference.
I'd love one, but I wouldn't pay for it myself!
I'd have also liked to have seen a unique colour as well.

[CivPilot]

Originally Posted by PJS

I guess part of the lack of enthusiasm is the fact the difference between this and the JDM CTR is minimal in reality, but yet Mugen want another £8 or 9K for the mods!
I know the air box, suspension, and exhaust system from Mugen isn't cheap, but they aren't THAT expensive.
And that's before it's landed, which by Litchfield standards for the imported JDM CTR, would equate to a car costing the thick end of £30K!
Far too much never mind the exclusivity aspect.
Speaking of which, I knew 300 was mentioned, but thought I'd read that was initially, with the potential intention of becoming a yearly figure.
Factor in with Mugen being a part of Honda, they'd have been involved in the CTR from the off, so no real separate R&D expenditure to claw back with the price difference.
I'd love one, but I wouldn't pay for it myself!
I'd have also liked to have seen a unique colour as well.

The difference between this car and the standard JDM Type-R is pretty large actually. Not only does this car have more power and torque (the airbox and exhaust on this car differ from the normal Mugen parts), but its much lighter and has completely different suspension & brakes. The body styling on the RR is also different to the standard Mugen model (involving Carbon fibre for lightness) and will not be available seperately.

The RR is limited and each of the 300 cars is numbered and that information has been taken from Mugens own press release. So although the colour is not unique (shame) the styling and alot of the parts are. The car apparently does the 0-62mph sprint in around 5.7secs but Mugen are notorious for being very conservative with thier claimed figures. Put simply in last few years every Mugen model has ended up beating its manufacturers claimed figures when tested some models quite convincingly.
Mugen do also sell their own "standard" Type-R model (which actually looks more extreme than this car funnily enough) with only a few hp more than the Honda model and moddified suspension etc. It is this "standard" car that is not limited and contains the parts listed on the Mugen website.

According to Mugen (who should know) the RR is much faster round a track than thier "standard" offering, which itself is considerably faster than the standard Honda model and the RR is a limited "this is what we can do" exercise.

Incidentaly your comment "Mugen being a part of Honda" is actually incorrect.....

Mugen Motorsports (M-TEC Co., Ltd) is a Japanese company formed in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda, and Masao Kimura. Mugen, meaning "Without Limit", is an engine tuner and parts manufacturer closely associated with the Honda Motor Company. Despite the family connections, however, Mugen is not, and has never been, owned by Honda. Things were complicated for some time as Mugen was owned and run by Hirotoshi Honda, who has been the major shareholder in Honda since his father's death in 1991.

They are a completely independent company and have no financial or operational ties with Honda. They do however have an extremely close relationship because of the family connection but are totally free to do whatever they want. They will have received their Type-R's earlier than anyone else but had no involvement in the development of the Honda car. Think of their relationship with Honda as very similar to Brabus and Mercedes (who also often get confused and named as one company).

Yes the UK import price would be large, but does that mean we don't talk about it and automatically discount it? Besides the Japanese Type-R is rated extremely highly by all those who have sampled it and although it is about £5k more than the UK car (on the road with 3 year warranty, 12 months tax, plates, cat1 alarm etc) is rated as so much more.

evo magazine said the following.....

...but such is the gulf between the watered-down experience offered by the (euro) hatchback and the full-strength fury of the (JDM) saloon there's little sense in making a direct comparison. Prehaps you'd be better looking upon this import-only Civic as a four-door NSX-R, for it possesses much of the supercar's spirit

Surely Civic's of this ilk have earned their right to be talked about on this Honda Civic forum and not dismissed out of hand as old news?

I am seriously considering the JDM Civic as a replacement for my Euro EX model when the time comes (that or a seond hand Exige ), I think it would be wrong to dismiss the car based on its price when everyone who has sampled it rates it so far ahead of Honda UK's offering (not slagging the UK car, it was no.1 on my list until the JDM turned up).

[Pottsy]

Originally Posted by CivPilot

Surely Civic's of this ilk have earned their right to be talked about on this Honda Civic forum and not dismissed out of hand as old news?

Not at all CP, and thanks for bringing it to us!

I'd dearly love a car like this. A good raw and wild car in a world of tepid, overly safe and conservative jellies has to be a good thing.

It's a shame that a mainstream manufacturer can't see that a run of these would be as good for us as it would their image - the snag of importing these JDM specials is simply the price. Porsche UK a while ago managed to persuade Stuttgart to make the 968CS and it was a roaring success and is still revered 13 years on. Because it was stripped and lighter, and despite the nicer suspension and brake components fitted, it was significantly cheaper than the standard car. Perhaps Honda should have a think about this.

Perhaps of more interest in the real world is the knock on effect a car like this may have on the large existing ownership base here, and that's the availability and effectiveness of tuning parts or kits that have been developed on a car like the RR. I'm going to guess that there are a large number of UK R owners who would happily pay £2k to £3k for a reliable 40 bhp.

[z1ppy]

Originally Posted by Pottsy

I'm going to guess that there are a large number of UK R owners who would happily pay £2k to £3k for a reliable 40 bhp.

Absolutely Pottsy. I long for reliable (key word) upgrades. I feel like the type-r is such a finely balanced hot hatch that i would only want upgrades developed by honda specialists. I would hate to mess up such a good experience.

I cant wait to see performance upgrades becoming available. I just hope they are recognised by honda uk and dont invalidate warranty!