Honda Civic Mugen RR – A Hardcore Track-focused Civic

The Honda Civic Type R is already in stock form a very capable car as it holds the track record for front-wheel-drive cars at the Nürburgring (the world’s perhaps most challenging track). But that did not stop Mugen, a Japanese tuning company from making an even more hardcore version.

Mugen picked the FD2 Civic Type R which was solely sold on the Japanese Domestic Market and which at the time was already considered “too track-focused” for the roads. As their goal was to create a road legal track monster, this was the best starting point they could get.

The result was a tuned-up Civic Type R known as the Mugen RR. Alike Spoon Inc (another famous JDM tuning company) Mugen also aims for perfection. They make extensive research and testing in order to fully understand the product in the stock form before making any adjustments at all. It is required to have a keen understanding of the car’s strong and weak points before starting to improve on it. And that’s not an easy job considering the Civic Type R (CTR) is already a fantastic sports car directly from the factory. Mugen really had to fine comb their way through the entire car in order to find small tweaks and adjustments which would make it more agile and faster, and that, they did.

What Exactly is the Honda Civic Mugen RR?

The Mugen RR was a very rare Civic Type R which been heavily tuned and revised by the Mugen Tuning Company. The Mugen RR was restricted to only 300 production units which makes it one of the rarest JDM cars in the world.

The Mugen RR only came with one color choice, Milano Red which fits the car wonderfully together with all the carbon fiber parts fitted to it.

The Mugen RR’s engine received all-new Mugen tuning parts, such as a new camshaft, exhaust manifold, intake system, as well as a free-flowing twin-exit exhaust and ECU remap which helped boost power to 237 hp and 160 lb-ft of torque from its 2.0L K20A engine. The K20A tends to be very smooth and at times, unexciting. But these upgrades certainly gave the K20 some new energy and are now more similar to a B-series engine as it is way punchier and more responsive. And oh, it revs up to 9,000 RPM. The engine is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission, there were no automatic options.

The Mugen RR’s extensive use of carbon fiber together with an aluminum hood helped reduce weight to 2,767 lbs (1,255 kilograms). And although the Mugen RR just weighs 33 lbs (15kg) less than the regular CTR you have to take into consideration that the Mugen RR uses a lot more aerodynamics such as a large rear-diffusor and a full Mugen body kit which increases the weight.

With this comes a set of 18” Gloss Black Mugen Wheels along with Mugen’s own springs and dampers which lowers the car 10 mm more from its stock form. The Mugen Body kit fitted is carefully designed to enhance the characteristics of the car and increase downforce which allows for more grip and faster cornering.

The red and black exterior theme is kept throughout the interior, which has been mostly kept standard with the exception of the glorious carbon fiber Mugen bucket seats. There are also some minor Mugen RR design changes such as the instrument cluster which replaced the old Type R cluster with a Mugen one.

The Mugen RR is fast and can keep pace with most M3’s, GTR’s and entry-level Porsches on tracks with a lot of emphasis on agility. The Mugen RR is considerably faster than its stock FD2 Type R counterpart as it can carry more speed in the corners, as well as have a more powerful engine.

At first glance, the Mugen RR may just look like a Civic Type R with an engine tune and a bolt-on body kit, but that’s far from the truth. Mugen spent countless hours researching and understanding what makes the normal CTR great. Once they had an understanding of where they could improve the car, they spent countless hours measuring, testing and counting to ensure that the utmost performance was achieved. The body kit for example is custom made with performance being the sole factor in its design.

How Much Does a Mugen RR Cost?

Albeit a normal CTR is not cheap, the Mugen RR certainly takes expensive to a new level. While the regular JDM FD2 Honda Civic Type R can be had for around $20,000 to $30,000 the Mugen RR costs today around three times as much with examples seen listed at around $95,000 and some even beyond $100,000.

The Mugen RR certainly is a great track car, but is it worth justifying a price tag this high? Because we don’t believe you’ll have three times as much fun in a Mugen RR than a regular FD2 and you most certainly won’t find three times the performance. The fact is, that the Mugen RR is today mostly kept as a collector’s car with a few examples still being used for its purpose. A sad but honest truth for most of these limited production cars