New Honda Civic Type R Spied On Japanese Highway

It is safe to say that the Honda Civic Type R is the biggest name in Japanese hot hatch circles, and one of the most famous Japanese sports cars around in general, so when a new one comes around, people tend to make a lot of noise about it. The new Civic Type R prototype made its debut in Tokyo at the beginning of the year, and since then has been spotted chasing records around the Nurburgring. We know that the Type R will be making its official US debut at the Indy 200 in July, but in the meantime, this newly released video of the car cruising the streets of Japan is probably one of the best close-ups we're going to get.

The video, posted to Twitter by a user known as FK7 Honda, shows two of the new Japanese hot hatches cruising on a Japanese highway. Both cars still wear heavy camouflage, but the basic shape of the body and the design of the taillight cluster (which are shared with the standard Civic) are easy to make out, as is that massive rear wing and aggressive triple exhaust exit. The two cars feature number plates with the number 1 or 2, indicating their prototype status. As we've noted before, the new car won't be as aggressively styled as the outgoing model, which should attract more fans than it turns away.

We now have a good idea of what the new Honda Civic Type R will look like, but fans and the media are still not 100 percent certain of what sits under the hood. We think it's safe to assume that Honda will make use of a slightly reworked version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder found in the current model, where it produces 306 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. Power will naturally be sent to the front via a manual transmission, but fans shouldn't count an automatic option out just yet. Some of the details are still murky, but international players such as the Renault Megane RS, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Ford Focus ST should know by now that the FWD hot hatch game is all but lost.