Mugen Civic news - RR my eyes - 2008

Oh dear. Here at Top Gear we love the Honda Civic Type R. So much so, in fact, that we made it one of our Cars of the Year. 

But we don't like this. This is the Mugen Civic Type RR Experimental Spec, a faster, harder version of the Japanese-spec Type R from the Honda tuning firm that, in this guise, wouldn't look out of place in our Carbage gallery. 

The most obvious enhancements are the carbon-fibre front clip and aluminium bonnet. They've been left unpainted to highlight the lightweight nature of the RR - and, although we don't have any official word on how much lighter it is, we're guessing you could lift it up with one hand - but we pray that, should the RR make it to production, Mugen will see fit to paint the front end. The same colour as the rest of the car, ideally.

The Type RR's engine has been bored out to 2157cc, which means 260bhp and 174lb of torque. That's a lot of power going through the front wheels, so Mugen has fitted a limited-slip diff to help the RR get round corners instead of off them.

Naturally, there are bigger brakes and stiffer suspension along with an abundance of carbon-fibre trim - oh, and something called Intelligent Tyre Monitoring, which keeps an eye on tyre pressure and temperature. 

Chav-spec neon underlights and glue-on chrome filler cap cover remain optional extras, sadly.