For reasons unknown, Honda has remained quiet about the official performance figures and other details of the all-new Civic Type R. Whether it's a pure marketing ploy to hype up the front-wheel-drive sports car or not, the Japanese manufacturer has done its job in making fans excited about their new hot hatch.
Unfortunately, the popularity of the Civic Type R means they can only hold a secret for so long. A member of an online forum for enthusiasts of the 11th-generation Civic posted an image from a Japanese market brochure revealing the FL5's numbers.
To begin with, the FL5 Civic Type R now measures 4595mm long, 1890mm wide, and 1405mm tall. Compared to the outgoing FK8, the new model is 38mm longer, 13mm wider and 29mm lower. In addition, the wheelbase has been stretched from 2700mm to 2735mm, while the front and rear wheel tracks have been increased to 1625mm and 1615mm, respectively.
Furthermore, from 132mm in the FK8, the FL5's ground clearance is lower at 125mm. From an engineer's point of view, the all-new Civic Type R would effectively have a lower center of gravity and a lower roll center, which will definitely improve its handling capabilities. Despite growing in size, the FL5 only gained 38 kg of weight compared to the FK8.
In order to counteract the weight gain, Honda tweaked the Civic Type R's 2.0-liter K20C VTEC Turbo engine to produce 330 PS at 6,500 rpm and 420 Nm of torque at 2,600-4000 rpm, a 10 PS and 20 Nm improvement from the FK8's numbers.
Interestingly, the all-new Civic Type R's 6-speed transmission has a lower final drive than the FK8. From 4.111, the FL5 now has a 3.842 final drive ratio. With similar gear ratios to the outgoing model, this should give the new one a higher top speed at the expense of acceleration.
Honda also gave smaller but wider wheels for the FL5. The Civic Type R now has 19-inch wheels wrapped in 265/30ZR19 tires compared to the 20-inch alloys with 245/30ZR20 rubber on the old one.
Of course, we should still take these numbers with a grain of salt. As we all know, Japan likes to reserve the best specs for their local market. But since the Civic Type R is back to being a made-in-Japan model, we could expect very minimal differences specs-wise to the units we're getting here.
Source: CivicXI.com
