Noted Honda tuner Hondata is working on its modifications for the 2023 Honda Civic Type R. Before doing that, though, the company decided to put the bone stock car on its dynamometer to find out how much power it makes from the factory.
The results are surprisingly good, as the new hot hatch makes more power on a dyno owned by Hondata— which is based in Torrance, California — than it is rated for from the factory. According to the tuner, the vehicle makes 327.3 hp (244 kw/331.8 PS) and 359.53 lb-ft (487.4 Nm) of torque.
Those figures compare rather flatteringly to the ones quoted by Honda USA, which rates the vehicle at 315 hp (235 kW/319 PS) and 310 lb-ft (420 Nm). That amounts to 12 more horses (9 kW/12.1 PS) and about 50 more lb-ft (68 Nm) of torque than the automaker estimates.
More: 2023 Honda Civic Type R Makes 315 HP, Goes On Sale This Fall In The U.S.
As we know, different dynos in different locations, attached to vehicles operating under different atmospheric conditions, will deliver different results. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Honda is deliberately underrating the engine, but it is a positive discrepancy that will no doubt please Honda enthusiasts and Civic Type R buyers all the same.
More to the point, however, given Hondata’s records, it is able to tell us how much more power the new car makes on its dyno than the last-generation Civic Type R. According to the tuner, the 2023 model makes about 11 more horsepower (8.2 kW/11.1 PS) and 25 lb-ft (34 Nm) of torque more than the 2017 model it tested previously.
That is close to, but greater than, the improvement that was officially claimed by Honda USA. As a reminder, the last-generation Civic Type R was rated at 306 hp (228 kW/310 PS) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque in North America, or nine fewer horses (6.7 kW/9.1 PS) and 15 fewer lb-ft (20 Nm) of torque than the 2023 model.
Although these dyno results don’t vary as widely from the manufacturer’s figures as, say, a BMW, it will no doubt be reassuring for buyers to learn that in California, at least, they will have access to all of the horses they paid for, and then some.
