Honda’s longest-standing nameplate the Civic has turned fifty and to help celebrate this epic achievement, Honda New Zealand has released a Mugen edition and we got to play with it.
Despite it not being ‘official’, Mugen is the performance name that’s essentially gone hand in hand with Honda since Hirotoshi Honda (son of Honda’s founder) launched the brand in 1973. Mugan started out as a parts supplier (initially for motorbikes) before venturing into engine tuning and then motorsport, but despite the family connections and very close brand ties, Mugen has always been kept somewhat at arm’s length.
Over the years, Mugen has been seen on numerous Honda nameplates but the one we’re most interested in is on the 11th generation Civic. Now before you get all ‘unduly’ excited about there being another (as well as the Type-R) high-performance Civic on the market, the new Mugen offering is more cosmetic than mechanically significant, but the result goes way beyond eye-candy.
My review model came in premium crystal blue, which commanded attention regardless of where (or if) the sun shone. This special model’s aerodynamics have been fettled with thanks to a front, side and rear under spoilers and an body coloured tailgate spoiler and in my case, the optional 18-inch MUGEN FS10 Forged Wheels that drop 4kg un-sprung mass per corner, reducing the weight and improving driving dynamics.
The other optional extra that my review model came fitted with, was the Mugen stainless sports exhaust system that has been designed to produce a deep and mature tone which compliments the 1.5L VTEC turbo powertrain (with a Mugen blue oil cap) it’s attached to. The stainless steel construction helps realise high efficiency and performance, with a centre resonator and dual mufflers and oval tailpipes.
Mugen insignias can be found on the front grille, rear tailgate, door handle protectors, sill garnishes and one that sits loud and proud on the centre of the dashboard. After that, the rest of this special edition Civic is more Sport-model based, with a mesh grille, LED lights and bucket style sports seats with contrast red stitching.
Aesthetically the Mugen Civic looks more muscular and more sporty and that somehow transfers to the way this special model drives. As I said before, the numbers themselves haven’t changed 131kW and 240Nm and yet this new hatch just feels and of course sounds quicker and more vibrant (although a little droney on long SH1 drives).
Having test driven the new Honda Civic before and put it through its ‘family chore’ tests, I was fully aware of how versatile it was for heading to the store and school runs, but since this model carried the Mugen flag, I headed out of town, selected Sport mode and stamped down on the accelerator.
131kW of power, delivered to the wheels via a CVT gearbox is not going to make your heart pump wildly in your chest, but as the exhaust note intensifies and steering feels heavier, the sensation of driving a performance vehicle is more than evident. The handling is positive and cornering is impressive, I assume aided by the lighter feet with an offset of 50. It may have been predominantly in my head, but this Mugen model seemed more powerful and more spritely than the regular sport model I tested before.
When you add in the new feet and deeper voice, the Mugen model does start to venture closer in price to the Type-R, however, this is arguably more of a daily driver than an outright performance model and you’ll probably use it more. Great to see the Mugen name back and happy 50th Civic.
