The next Honda Civic Type R will not only be the fastest version yet – it’s tipped to be Honda’s first-ever turbo road car. And our sources in Japan say tuning expert Mugen is already well underway with development.
The Honda City Turbo was a sport compact / hot hatch produced by Japanese automaker Honda between 1982 and 1986, based on the naturally aspirated Honda City AA. The City Turbo is one of a very few turbocharged Honda road cars. Other turboed Hondas include the V6 Honda Legend of the late eighties and the new turbocharged i-VTEC 2.3 L in the 2007 Acura RDX.
The City Turbo was the brainchild of Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda as well as founder and owner of Mugen. In the early 1980s Mugen was a small tuning company that was beginning to make its mark producing performance parts for motorcycles and automobiles, but was yet to gain recognition outside of racing circles. When he created the City Turbo, Hirotoshi took one of Honda's most unassuming vehicles and successfully turned it into an aggressive street rocket, considered to be well ahead of its time. Impressed, Honda took Hirotoshi's idea and made a production version, introduced in September 1982. A few months earlier, Honda staffers took two City Turbos on a gruelling 10,000 km round trip of Europe, all the way from Sicily to Karasjok in the arctic north.
In November 1983, the intercooled Turbo II joined the lineup. Flared fenders, wings, sideskirts and graphics combined for a much more pugnacious appearance, making its "Bulldog" nickname very fitting. In late 1984 the original Turbo was discontinued while the Turbo II continued in production until the City was replaced in late 1986.
