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Mugen - that's Honda's Japan-based tuning arm - has set about turning the Civic Type-R into a Fast & Furious wet dream, and these are the first pictures. Believe it or not, it's actually coming to the UK too, though supply will be extremely limited. In other words, if you fancy one, and you've got the circa-£35k it's expected to go for, have a word with your local Honda dealer now.
Mugen hasn't told us anything of note about its Type-R, but to say it will go on sale at the end of this year. Word is there'll be 240bhp under the bonnet, it will be significantly lighter than the standard car and that people will soon start to call it "the car the Type-R always should have been." We hereby promise we'll never say that, not once.
There are no pictures of the inside, but we're informed much of the dashboard and touchy bits will be swathed in carbon fibre (which goes some way to explaining its outlandish price) and there's a pair of lightweight racing Recaro buckets in there too.
As you can see, the wheels are new and they house uprated brakes, probably with cross-drilled discs. Triangular bonnet vents provide air for the VTEC engine and the front apron is, of course, lower than Big Brother's viewing figures. Around the back there's a pair of circular, wide bore tailpipes and a fantastical split-level spoiler, which makes the Mugen appear to be giving birth to a Tommi Makinen Evo VI. Rumour has it that parts of the upgrade will be available individually too, so that spoiler could be keeping your 2.0-litre CDTI Civic on the ground in 2010.
Mark Nichol - 23 Jun 2009
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