The Next Step for Honda: Getting back into The Performance Game

By: Grattan R

If you are like most people, you probably view Honda as just an everyday run of the mill car manufacturer. Which is not wrong, but it also isn’t the whole truth. Honda has had a long history of racing and sport most people simply just do not know about. Believe it or not, Honda actually makes airplanes, boats, motorbikes, formula 1 cars, their standard line up of vehicles, and LMP race cars. But Honda is viewed as that manufacturer that just makes cars, nothing special.

Honda’s first sporty (if you will) car was the old EG Civic. Honda is known for their 4 cylinder engines and that’s exactly what this car had, as well as most of their other cars at the time. Its inline 4 configuration was high revving (redlining at 8,000) and was comparable to that of a stock Toyota Supra (one of the most iconic cars of the 90’s). Following the civic was the Integra and NSX, though produced by Acura until 2005, they still sported the same engines and performance as other Honda cars, with the exception of the NSX being a v6. The NSX and Integra became icons to tuners in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. After those 2 was my personal favorite and one of my favorite cars to date, the s2000. With the s2000’s inline 4 cylinder revving to 9,000 and producing 250hp out of a 2.0 liter, Honda created the most horsepower for liter out of any naturally aspirated car, which took Ferrari 8 years to beat.

Then, after the s2000 was removed from production, the sporty image died out, most people forgot about the manufacturer as a company that once had sports cars in their lineup. Up until the release of the new NSX, rumored release of a new s2000, and the unveiling of the Project 2&4, Honda had left the performance game. The 2&4 will be aimed at fighting the Ariel Atom, as well as the BAC Mono, and a KTM X Bow. Sporting a v4, an unusual setup for a 4 cylinder engine, the car will have 212 horsepower and weigh 450 kg, which gives it a better power to weight ratio than a Bugatti Veyron, so it will be anything but slow.

Honda getting back into the performance market pleases many as well as brings back old memories of good minimalistic sports cars. Hopefully Honda will continue to innovate the sports car game as well as continue to be a part of it. Recently Honda has made a return to f1, and have the most reliable record in history, which will hopefully be implemented into their future cars.

Sources Cited

Bell, Matt. “Honda Project 2&4 concept (2015): as minimal as a car can be?”. Car Magazine. CarMagazine.co.uk. 16 September 2015. Web. 25 March 2016.

Rix, Jack. “Honda Project 2&4: “There will be a next step,” says designer>”. Top Gear Website. TopGear.co.uk. 16 September 2015. Web. 25 March 2016.

Image Sources

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