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”.
