[CanGuy]

Honda has made it clear that it will defend the record that it holds at the Nurburgring for fastest lap in a front-wheel drive car. ”If someone takes our fastest lap, we’ll take it back,” said chief engineer Hisayuki Yagi.

In order to do that, Honda would have to modify the Civic Type R. There is head room that could be dedicated to more power from the engine, and it is also possible to shed approximately 110 lbs.

So it seems as though we could see an even faster Honda Civic Type R if only another auto maker forces Honda to do it.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/06/a-lighter-faster-civic-type-r-could-be-coming.html

 

[RobbJK88]

Seeing honda have a fighting spirit really makes me happy. After the watered down civics of the past few years and the death of all their true sports cars i was afraid they were turning into Toyota... just a bunch of appliances. So happy to see Honda promising class leading civic performance, bringing back sporty cars and defending their street cred with the Type R.

 

[Smartie]

Seeing honda have a fighting spirit really makes me happy. After the watered down civics of the past few years and the death of all their true sports cars i was afraid they were turning into Toyota... just a bunch of appliances. So happy to see Honda promising class leading civic performance, bringing back sporty cars and defending their street cred with the Type R.

Actually you raise an interesting point about Toyota. It was only once Toyota started heading to appliancedom that we saw Honda turn that was as well. Now that Toyota is back to kicking out (or at least talking about) the sporty jams we see Honda getting skin back in the game...

 

[AlwaysHitVTEC]

Actually you raise an interesting point about Toyota. It was only once Toyota started heading to appliancedom that we saw Honda turn that was as well. Now that Toyota is back to kicking out (or at least talking about) the sporty jams we see Honda getting skin back in the game...

How exactly has Toyota regained its mojo? To me, they're still a snooze-fest.

 

[RobbJK88]

How exactly has Toyota regained its mojo? To me, they're still a snooze-fest.

Agreed. I read the reviews for the new Camry... they didn't hate it, but though it may have 0-60 power to match the accord, handling and fun-to-drive factor is still non-existent. The corolla is using the same 15 year old engine (and in some trims the same 4 speed auto!!!) Sure, lexus has some good cars, but where are the affordable sporty cars? Scion? Hardly, reviews of the tC have it ranked below the CRZ even though the tC is more powerful. The FRS is relatively nice, but ultimately suffers from too little power and too high asking price for whats included. The Rav4 was described as totally forgettable.

Meanwhile, honda has been making changes to make its cars perform better, cause more smiles when driving, and offer competitive performance/content at a reasonable price point in line with the segment.

 

[Smartie]

How exactly has Toyota regained its mojo? To me, they're still a snooze-fest.

Lexus LFA, Lexus RC, Supra Project, World Endurance Championship winners last year, Japanese Super GT race winners last year (missing the championship title by 2 points), they're going back to WRC next year...

 

[RobbJK88]

Lexus LFA, Lexus RC, Supra Project, World Endurance Championship winners last year, Japanese Super GT race winners last year (missing the championship title by 2 points), they're going back to WRC next year...

You just listed 2 lexus' and a bunch of non production race cars. How do those at all make the Toyota cars they actually sell more sporty? We're not talking about what race cars and luxury cars they make. We're talking the Toyota cars they sell to people everyday. Honda is stepping up their game in terms of performance and content for the everyday car driver, Toyota is still selling lame duck appliances.

 

[Tim]

toyota is still a snoozefest idd
i have a certain amount of respect for being so reliable and decent
but man... almost looking as boring as a volkswagen!!

 

[Smartie]

You just listed 2 lexus' and a bunch of non production race cars. How do those at all make the Toyota cars they actually sell more sporty? We're not talking about what race cars and luxury cars they make. We're talking the Toyota cars they sell to people everyday. Honda is stepping up their game in terms of performance and content for the everyday car driver, Toyota is still selling lame duck appliances.

Lexus is Toyota like Honda is to Acura. Acuras pretty lame duck, looks bad on Honda. Lexus is badass, great press for Toyota. Akio Toyoda is about of the most speed addled freaks you'll ever come across in this business and all he wants to do is build stuff that goes fast. Hes pushing the Supra through, he pushed the FRS through and he pushed the Lexus RC through.

I don't need to explain that racing is the crucible of innovation do I? What Toyota is doing in WEC with supercapacitor hybrids will be a factor in the Supra project. Why do you think BMW is itching to work with Toyota. Honda on the other hand decided to go to Formula One for its hybrid solution, they've just scored their first points of the season LOL...

Toyota also had the balls to make the FRS...

And while we're on the topic of sporty, what makes you think that consumers want sporty. Toyota is a business and their business is selling cars. If the consumer for the most part doesn't care about sporty what advantage to you glean by selling sporty cars to people who don't want sporty cars?

Toyota simply adopted to what the market place wanted...which brings me to the FRS. Its everything all enthusiasts said they wanted in a new car...why don't you have one, why doesn't anyone have one? Because actual sporty is not practical, simulacrum is all the rage. People don't want to be sporty they want to look sporty...if they wanted to be sporty they would of bought an FRS (ok or BRZ)

 

[Smith]

The new Corolla is a good example of a revamped Toyota with some sportiness, which it never had, which seems to be doing well for it.
Even all their refreshes are like this, Camry, Avalon (sporty/luxury)

 

[Civil]

toyota is still a snoozefest idd
i have a certain amount of respect for being so reliable and decent
but man... almost looking as boring as a volkswagen!!

I think that the NSX will liven things up a bit, but other than that they definitely are playing more towards the conservative side of styling. They also have the CRZ, which has a bit more personality.

 

[Tim]

I was referring to Toyota
most Honda's are okay in my book, some even great :-D
but NSX will be epic (hopefully)

 

[5TAR]

I was referring to Toyota
most Honda's are okay in my book, some even great :-D
but NSX will be epic (hopefully)

Already on paper it looks great we just need to see what it'll do on a track where it really belongs although for the most part that won't matter to how most folks will be driving them.

 

[Civil]

What other vehicles could plausibly take a run at beating the Civic Type R's lap time at the Nurburgring? I'm sure there are already some out there that are planning to take down the Civic.

 

[RobbJK88]

What other vehicles could plausibly take a run at beating the Civic Type R's lap time at the Nurburgring? I'm sure there are already some out there that are planning to take down the Civic.

Well there are cars that are considered competition, but they're all wheel drive usually, so even if they're faster, the Civic R holds its title for fastest front drive car. Here in the States we don't really have any direct competition. In Europe the Megane RS is the Civics biggest competition.

 

[Tim]

yup indeed
for example that golf R is even faster than that type r
a real wolf in sheepclothing
but it doesn't count as it's an AWD

 

[Tim]

just checked the nordschleife lap time of that golf R and it appears to be a full 20 secs slower on the mother of all tracks than the civic!!
but then again it's faster in acceleration

 

[Smartie]

I'd love to se Honda add electric AWD to the CTR for the next gen at least. It weighs similar to a conventional AWD system but does away with the majority ofpackaging concerns. The prime issue is component cost and software IMO...

 

[RobbJK88]

I'd love to se Honda add electric AWD to the CTR for the next gen at least. It weighs similar to a conventional AWD system but does away with the majority ofpackaging concerns. The prime issue is component cost and software IMO...

Exactly, the CTR is already pushing the 30k price tag which effectively puts it out of reach for at least 60% of its target audience in my opinion. They don't need any reason to jack up the price further. If the next Civic keeps a similar price structure to the current car and the Si is in the 23-24k range, i feel they should aim closer to 27k for pricing if they can (maybe the new platform will help with costs as less changes will need made) that would put it in line with the GTI in terms of price, but it'd have performance comparable to the Golf R. That would pull even more sales from VW. Though i hear that the next GTI is slated to have 300hp standard, so that advantage would be short lived for the civic.

 

[5TAR]

Well there are cars that are considered competition, but they're all wheel drive usually, so even if they're faster, the Civic R holds its title for fastest front drive car. Here in the States we don't really have any direct competition. In Europe the Megane RS is the Civics biggest competition.

We can even throw the BRZ into this, while it is RWD, the CTR can be just as fun, RWD isn't an absolute must for some folks. Plus at the same price and possibly better value... why not?