Introducing the 2018 Civic Type R Prototype - Finally!

Can anybody tell me why the air intakes (housing the foglights) are blatantly blocked off like that? Is it cost savings? Not a good look on a performance car. Change it Honda.

I'm wondering if this is just a base hatchback with the body kit and those will actually be open on the production version. I'm surprised nobody has asked any of the reps at the show if that aspect is finalized yet.

Does anyone know if those parts are able to removed from the bumper or if they molded on?

Not sure if anyone caught the interview from SuperStreet Magazine and someone who looks important from Honda, but they indicate that the US will have this car next spring. The US will be getting the caR first.

You will have to view the video on the super street Facebook page. Im not internet enough to grab a link.

JYR said:

Not sure if anyone caught the interview from SuperStreet Magazine and someone who looks important from Honda, but they indicate that the US will have this car next spring. The US will be getting the caR first.

You will have to view the video on the super street Facebook page. Im not internet enough to grab a link.

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Some great info! Thanks @JYR! I uploaded the vid to share. At 2:07 he says I really hope enthusiasts embrace it then quickly looks away....basically you no like NO MORE FOR YOU...lmao

staylurkn said:

Can anybody tell me why the air intakes (housing the foglights) are blatantly blocked off like that? Is it cost savings? Not a good look on a performance car. Change it Honda.

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There's nothing behind it. Why open the honey comb when you'll be cooling nothing but the splash shield and some wiring for the fog lights?

In fact the main reason they are closed and angled is to direct air into the openings at the edges of the bumper. This creates a lower pressure situation at the corner of the vehicle and allows the car pass through the air instead of fighting it. Excellent for windnoise and also great for high speed aero. Think of the honeycomb as a wall directing the air and as a blade instead of a hinderance. (See 2017 MDX, BMW X5, NSX, etc)

Also notice the openings underneath the honey comb, around the splitter area. This is for brake cooling. Nobody sees that I guess.

Engine cooling is already engineered with the FMIC opening and grille opening.

The hood scoop is more for high speed aero and hood lift at high speed instead of engine cooling. Often times, the engine bay is a hot high pressure bubble with a need for relief to prevent drag and cooling effects. It still has some cooling properties but more focus is on the high speed aero.

I'm more impressed the engineers actually went with the vortex generators. The rake angle to wing dimension on the 2015 Type R was easier managed from a flow perspective where as the 10th gen is a longer and tougher angle to manage.

The rear diffuser has fins to manage wake drag. Pretty awesome stuff on a mass produced vehicle. It's all about how you manage the aero around your vehicle. They'll optimize the 2.0T with a small hp gain I'm sure, but decreasing weight and adding aero for a vehicle that was designed from start to finish to be focused on performance will greatly have its reward on the track.

Will you see impact of aero daily driving? Not until speeds of about 40+ mph. You'll feel it on the interstate though at 70-80.

RockyD said:

I actually have and use a dedicated Echo leaf blower for my cars now. I also have a Master Blaster and Master Blaster Sidekick for drying.

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\Lolz.
I use my air compressor and the 30" wand to blast water out of door handles, side mirrors, and other seams.

Eddie said:

Some great info! Thanks @JYR! I uploaded the vid to share. At 2:07 he says I really hope enthusiasts embrace it then quickly looks away....basically you no like NO MORE FOR YOU...lmao

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I caught that too... I'm hoping they sell well enough to keep feeding them to us because going the DIY TypeR build just isn't quite the same.

I think the interviewer called him Sage? Did anyone else catch that in the last 30 seconds as he was thanking him? Not sure who he is...

I found it most pleasing to hear him say we'll see it in the spring - repeatedly. Also said about info showing up 'into the new year' so as arduous as this has been (I've been following the "CTR coming to America" rumor and waiting for 3 years now) we can look forward to learning something in the new year. Geneva is the 2nd week of March and, if I'm in London that week as I plan to be, I'll be catching an afternoon flight to Geneva and a night flight back to London so I can check it out in the flesh. (Also trying to push for a visit to Swindon of course...)
I'd expect to learn the final power number some time by January and a production version at Geneva as has been stated somewhere on here.


So, on the topic of performance - what are you guys thinking for the new Civic Type R? The current ran the 'ring in what 7:49 right? I wouldn't be surprised if the new one turns 7:40 thanks to better aero, less weight, and a 10% bump in peak power with a 7-15% bump in power at certain ranges.

Grambles said:

There's nothing behind it. Why open the honey comb when you'll be cooling nothing but the splash shield and some wiring for the fog lights?

In fact the main reason they are closed and angled is to direct air into the openings at the edges of the bumper. This creates a lower pressure situation at the corner of the vehicle and allows the car pass through the air instead of fighting it. Excellent for windnoise and also great for high speed aero. Think of the honeycomb as a wall directing the air and as a blade instead of a hinderance. (See 2017 MDX, BMW X5, NSX, etc)

Also notice the openings underneath the honey comb, around the splitter area. This is for brake cooling. Nobody sees that I guess.

Engine cooling is already engineered with the FMIC opening and grille opening.

The hood scoop is more for high speed aero and hood lift at high speed instead of engine cooling. Often times, the engine bay is a hot high pressure bubble with a need for relief to prevent drag and cooling effects. It still has some cooling properties but more focus is on the high speed aero.

I'm more impressed the engineers actually went with the vortex generators. The rake angle to wing dimension on the 2015 Type R was easier managed from a flow perspective where as the 10th gen is a longer and tougher angle to manage.

The rear diffuser has fins to manage wake drag. Pretty awesome stuff on a mass produced vehicle. It's all about how you manage the aero around your vehicle. They'll optimize the 2.0T with a small hp gain I'm sure, but decreasing weight and adding aero for a vehicle that was designed from start to finish to be focused on performance will greatly have its reward on the track.

Will you see impact of aero daily driving? Not until speeds of about 40+ mph. You'll feel it on the interstate though at 70-80.

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And this is why I ask questions. Awesome post. Especially appreciate the blade analogy for the honeycomb design. Car looks insane, but even better so knowing exactly how it came to be.

Eddie said:

Some great info! Thanks @JYR! I uploaded the vid to share. At 2:07 he says I really hope enthusiasts embrace it then quickly looks away....basically you no like NO MORE FOR YOU...lmao

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Oh man if we could have asked one question - how many of these things do they expect to make and send over here? I'm really hoping for like 1000 of each color, but some folks have supposed we'd get 1000 total which will make securing a blue one pretty tough-

09CivicSiBrian said:

Oh man if we could have asked one question - how many of these things do they expect to make and send over here? I'm really hoping for like 1000 of each color, but some folks have supposed we'd get 1000 total which will make securing a blue one pretty tough-

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That was asked by someone, forgot who. Honda's response was that they'll make as many as the market will absorb. I don't think this will be purposely limited like the ITR was.

09CivicSiBrian said:

I think the interviewer called him Sage? Did anyone else catch that in the last 30 seconds as he was thanking him? Not sure who he is...

So, on the topic of performance - what are you guys thinking for the new Civic Type R? The current ran the 'ring in what 7:49 right? I wouldn't be surprised if the new one turns 7:40 thanks to better aero, less weight, and a 10% bump in peak power with a 7-15% bump in power at certain ranges.

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He is Sage Marie, Honda PR man. Also races some Honda products, like at Pikes Peak.

I'm with you on the 7:40 time. The VW Clubsport S took the record by just 1.6s, but I think this new CTR will be a much bigger leap than that.

Design said:

That was asked by someone, forgot who. Honda's response was that they'll make as many as the market will absorb. I don't think this will be purposely limited like the ITR was.

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I think I heard that too, but I didn't know if it was said in passing or was actually fact. Hope it's the latter!

PirelliPZero said:

He is Sage Marie, Honda PR man. Also races some Honda products, like at Pikes Peak.

I'm with you on the 7:40 time. The VW Clubsport S took the record by just 1.6s, but I think this new CTR will be a much bigger leap than that.

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Nice - good info. So we can probably take what he says pretty completely as fact. That's awesome - it likely means Spring is confirmed (HPJ said May several months ago). Only 5.5 months until spring!!!

I'm hoping the new CTR will put up a number, like 7:40, that sets the bar quite high. It will also be interesting to see another article "Cars the TypeR is faster than 'round the ring"

I wouldn't put much emphasis on the Ring time. The difference between the GTI and the CTR is so small that it could be attributed to 10 degree difference in weather.

The new CTR's Ring time is more marketing than anything else. Unless the gap is more than 15 seconds, I wouldn't really look too much into it.