2022 Honda Civic Type R AWD
2022 Honda Civic Type R AWD– The Honda Civic Type R is a no-nonsense hot hatchback with a limited-slip differential up front and the most powerful 2.0-liter turbo that Honda has ever offered in a production car. However, wild rumors from Japan suggest that the e-AWD is on the menu for the 2022 redesign.
There are some rumors that are so good, the desire to believe them overshadows second thoughts or a possible asterisk. It’s rumored like that. Best Car, a Japanese publication, believes the next Honda Civic Type R hot hatchback will use an electric all-wheel-drive system similar to that used by Acura in some of its products, including the NSX supercar. That system will allow the Type R to drive a total of 400 system horsepower and provide an all-wheel-drive with side-to-side torque vectors on the rear axle.
The shift from front-wheel drive to torque-vectoring “Super Handling All-Wheel Drive” would make the Civic Type R (CTR) an entirely different beast. But remember, this is already a phenomenal car, even with its dragging front paws. Honda updated it for 2020, significantly honing its lead, but even the pre-refurbished car left a big impression on us. We call it “only the best performing front-drive production car in history” —and that’s how you should think about it. At 306 horsepower today, the CTR experiences almost no noticeable steer torque, a feat for a powerful front-drive car.
If there’s any downside to these rumors, adding all-wheel drive could propel the Civic Type R to another station in the automotive world. It is doubtful that we can call the all-wheel-drive CTR “the best performing all-wheel-drive production car in history” —probably not. Honda is sure to miss out on the superlative qualities of its current model achievements. And it doesn’t even investigate the truth of the rumors themselves. Will Acura agree to lend its signature SH-AWD handling technology to the Honda Civic? How many companies will have to change the Civic platform to accommodate it? Could Honda sell any Civic for perhaps over $ 40,000?
We’re not sure about any of that, nor is it a call we should make. But let’s get back to the wishful Best Car, uh, information. For one, the 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four will be maintained and largely unchanged, but the addition of a twin electric motor at the rear could significantly increase total powertrain output.
Let’s take a look at the Acura MDX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD. It has three electric motors, one placed in the transmission and two on the rear axle. The motor mounted in the transmission produces 47 horsepower, and the two rear motors produce 36 horsepower each. If we assumed that the Civic would skip the transmission-mounted motor and adopt only the so-called “dual motor unit” in the rear axle, and they were the same as the MDX, you would see an additional 72 horsepower of the system. Add that to the 306 hp the Type R makes, and you already have a total of 378 system horsepower. It’s not hard to imagine some of the changes leading up to the 395-400 horsepower figure.
Realistically or not, the Civic Type R all-wheel drive will really be in a different class. If Honda raises the Type R’s performance by that much, we hope the soft yet fun Civic Si will get attention to deliver some of the advantages the front-drive Type R would leave, and move it closer. The current Volkswagen GTI is more powerful and a little more expensive.