Fresh off the 2021 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition setting a new front-wheel drive production car lap record at Suzuka, various publications have started to test out the potent hot hatch.
One of these publications was L’argus and in addition to taking the bright yellow Civic Type R to the Nurburgring for a hot lap, it also headed out onto a highway to test out the car’s top speed. The result will shock you.
With an open strip of road, the Civic Type R stormed through to an incredible top speed of 290 km/h (180 mph) before running out of steam. That’s an utterly insane top speed for a hot hatch and is well beyond the 272 km/h (169 mph) top speed that Honda claims the car has.
Watch Also: 2021 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition Sets FWD Lap Record At Suzuka
However, as impressive as a top speed of 290 km/h is, that’s simply the figure shown by the speedometer and it’s inevitable that if a GPS was used to verify the top speed, it wouldn’t be quite so high.
Powering the Civic Type R Limited Edition is Honda’s familiar 2.0-liter VTEC turbo four-cylinder rated at 306 hp in North American guise with a hefty 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque between 2,500 rpm and 4,500 rpm. Mated to the engine is a six-speed manual transmission driving the front wheels. Honda will build just 600 examples of the Type R Limited Edition for the United States and 100 for the European market.