When the
Mugen Type-R was announced you'd have been forgiven for thinking Honda had lost its marbles; who of sound mind would buy a tarted-up Civic Type-R for £40,000? We've had time to digest the whole thing now, though, and it makes more sense: only 20 will be made - half of which have been snapped up already - and it's bound to be pretty special.
For the rest of us - well, 200 of us anyway - Honda has unveiled this, the Civic Type-R Mugen 200. It's essentially a Championship White edition Type-R with Mugen bits, so it gets a limited slip differential, 19-inch alloys, a mildly mental body kit, gloss black door mirrors and a plaque on the dash that you'll have to explain to grandma one Sunday afternoon while she's picking her teeth out of the footwell.
The engine is standard, sadly, though Honda dealers will carry a load of Mugen tuning parts from April, whatever they may be. The
Championship White Civic Type-R has now been discontinued, usurped by this one, though there are still a few sat on Honda forecourts. To order a Mugen 200 you'll have to wait until March.
Mark Nichol - 16 Feb 2010