What Does The R Stand For In Honda Civic Type R?

The Honda Civic Type R is one of the most legendary Japanese performance vehicles of all time.

From its earliest iteration in the 1990s, through a number of exciting and technologically “cutting edge” versions, the Civic Type R remains an absolute icon of automotive performance, especially when it comes to front wheel drive vehicles.

Don’t believe us? How about this video of the latest Civic Type R Limited edition blasting around Suzuka and setting a track lap record:

Here at Garage Dreams, we are massive Civic Type R enthusiasts. Below you can check out our buyer’s guide for the different generations of the Type R.

But one little question remains:

What does the R stand for in Honda Civic Type R?

The Type R badge is not unique to the Civic, and has been used on a number of other models including the ultra rare (and ultra cool) NSX-R, the Integra Type R, Accord Euro R and more.

So what does Type R stand for on the Civic and other Honda models?

If you were hoping for some kind of crazy meaning, then you might be a bit disappointed!

The ‘R” in Honda Civic Type R stands for ‘Racing’.

It is a badge that is applied only to Honda’s sportiest vehicles, generally heavily factory modified versions of standard vehicles.

What is really interesting in our opinion is that there was never a Type R version of the Honda S2000 (read our S2000 buyer’s guide here).

Perhaps one reason for this is because the S2000 was never a “normal” car to begin with (unlike the Civic or the Integra).

However, this theory doesn’t work when you consider that there was a rare, unimaginably cool NSX-R:

But long story short, next time you see a Civic Type R driving around (or any Type R for that matter) and you’re wondering what it means, the R stands for “Racing”.

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  • Ben

    From his early days playing the original Gran Turismo and with his Hot Wheels car set, Ben has had a long interest in all things automotive. His first foray into the world of automotive journalism was way back in 2009 and since then he has only grown more interested in the industry. Ben also runs and heads up the video production side of Garage Dreams, focusing on small informative documentaries about some of the world's most legendary cars.

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