Honda Civic Type R

The Honda Civic Type R is the high-performance line of the Honda Civic, sold from September 1997 as a hot hatchback and, in some generations, as a sports sedan. It was the third Honda to carry the red Type R badge, after the NSX and the Integra, and it follows the same recipe: a lightened and stiffened body, a specially tuned engine, upgraded brakes and chassis, and only a five- or six-speed manual gearbox, with the engine driving the front wheels. The first car, the EK9 of 1997, was sold only in Japan, while the 2001 generation was built in Swindon, England, and shipped to Europe and Japan. Each generation reworks the formula for its decade, and the Type R remains the car most associated with Honda's front-wheel-drive performance tradition.