Don't Worry, Everyone - the Hottest Civic Money Can Buy Will Come With a CVT

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

An optional CVT, to be clear.

We all know true motoring — as Mother Nature intended — should involve the manual changing of one’s own gears, but even scrappy, youth-infected Honda knows that stick shifts are not the way to have customers beat down your doors.

Hence the availability of a traditionally tepid transmission in its upcoming Civic Type R.

Previously unreleased specifications for the top-rung model, expected to debut at the Geneva Motor Show, showed up recently in Britain’s Car Magazine. Details were then shared with the salivating aficionados who populate the CivicX forum.

According to the publication, which confirmed the details with the model’s head engineer and designer, as well as Honda Motor Europe president Katsushi Inoue, the hottest of Honda hatches will bow with a six-speed manual transmission and optional continuously variable transmission. Honda purists might see this as sacrilege, as many expected an optional dual-clutch setup, though the automaker has seen fit to ensure the CVT doesn’t drain all the fun out of the experience. Engineers have reportedly tuned the gearless box for low-end acceleration.

The Type R should also send its power to the front wheels only, while boasting a noticeably lower center of gravity compared to a regular Civic hatch. What we don’t know for certain is its output. The model’s expected turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder is rumored to make up to 340 horsepower.

Meanwhile, the prototype flaunted by Honda since the middle of last year should be damn close to the real thing, so don’t expect any drastic design departures come March.

[Image: Honda]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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