Where did Honda’s history as a performance car manufacturer start, and which specific models left the biggest marks along the way? Though today’s average Honda buyer is probably looking for a CR-V, the automaker has a long and storied history of building performance cars and tends to keep at least a few in the lineup at all times. Today, SUVs are big business for Honda, with models like Pilot dominating their sales charts. This comes alongside a broader market shift away from cars and into SUVs, a trend that picked up steam during the pandemic as more shoppers bought more vehicles designed to put more distance between them and civilization.

• Honda

  Japanese automaker Honda rose from the ashes of WWII and set about its business as a manufacturer of motorcycles initially, only launching its first car, the T360 kei truck, in 1963. Founder Soichiro Honda targeted the American market as the most important nut to crack, leading to generations of iconic nameplates like the Civic and Accord being among America’s best-selling passenger cars. Today, Hondas are renowned for their safety, practicality, and reliability, with a sprinkling of performance from models like the Civic Type R.

  Founded

  24 September 1948

  Founder

  Soichiro Honda

  Headquarters

  Hamamatsu, Japan

  Owned By

  Publicly Traded

• 

  Acura

  Launched in the mid-1980s, Acura is to Honda what Lexus is to Toyota. Honda created it with the intention of penetrating the North American market and has never sold its Ohio-made cars in Japan, although this was a consideration before the 200-2008 financial crisis. Shortly after its birth in 1986, the automaker quickly became a thorn in the sides of premium automakers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In America, the Honda NSX was sold with an Acura badge, and that’s a great relation for affordable everyday heroes like the Integra Type S.

  Founded

  March 27, 1986

  Founder

  Soichiro Honda

  Headquarters

  Torrance, CA, USA

  Owned By

  American Honda Motor Company

Honda’s other stalwarts include the Civic and Accord, each of which comes with the confidence of long-running nameplates with solid reputations synonymous with dependability. Below, we’ll trace the roots of Honda’s 10 most important performance cars all the way back to the 60s, and follow the timeline of subsequent models that followed all the way to present day. We’ll see what Honda added to their technological toolbox with each machine, and some of the interesting places these technologies have wound up in modern-day models.

We’re focusing on the most important Honda / Acura performance cars in this feature, choosing models based on their market impact and technological capability of the day. All figures below are approximate.

10

1964 Honda S600

MSRP: Not available in the US

Back in the mid-60s, Honda was advertising their S600 as a car for ‘the nicest people’ who were ‘choosing Honda for action’. Dual overhead cams, four synchronized carbs and 8,500 rpm on the tachometer gave this very compact sports car a top speed of 90 mph or better, with maneuverability, stability and comfort pushed as key attributes of the GT Fastback Coupe or convertible. Not only was the S600 Honda’s first production car, it helped put Honda on the map for building performance cars out of the gate, albeit at low volume. It was never available in the USA.

Don’t underestimate the feat of squeezing out 55 horsepower from a 600cc engine back in the 1960’s either. Many years later, a power-dense successor to the original S600 came along, and we’ll meet it a little further down the list. According to Hagerty, the S600 has become a collectible Japanese legend, with a record sale on Bring A Trailer pulling in $109,200 last year.

9

1984–1991 Honda CRX (CR-X)

Original MSRP: $7,000

The Honda CRX (also called the Civic CRX or CR-X depending on your locale) launched initially for the 1984 model year, just as Road and Track was then reporting that it outperformed the Lotus Turbo Esprit of the day on the skidpad and slalom, for $42,000 less of your dollars. Introduced as the first Honda designed primarily for the US market, the two-seater came in Economy or Sport flavors, allowing drivers to capitalize on its slim weight to the benefit of either fuel efficiency or performance depending on the engine they selected. A smaller 1.3-liter engine and 60 horsepower propelled the Economy model, giving shoppers a fun-to-drive experience that was exceptionally easy on fuel. The Sport model got a punchier 1.5-liter engine with 91 horsepower, and supporting upgrades. This selection allowed shoppers to use the CRX’s lightweight body to whichever advantage they preferred: great fuel economy, or a cheap, high-performing drive.

In 1986, the CRX-HF became the first mass-produced car to exceed a 50 MPG fuel economy rating from the EPA. Later, it would go on to become a popular choice among import tuner enthusiasts, and helped further cement Honda’s reputation for efficient performance, especially when higher-performing VTEC engines were eventually installed under the hood for some markets.

8

1988 Honda Prelude

Original MSRP: $12,000–$15,000

The third-generation Honda Prelude launched in 1988 with several advanced technologies that helped further the brand’s reputation as a performance car innovator. Four-wheel steering was the name of the Prelude’s game, with a shaft-drive system connecting the front and rear steering units mechanically, while saving complexity and weight versus incoming competitor systems from Nissan, Mitsubishi and others. The 2-liter B20A engine came in single or double-overhead configurations, with up to 140 horsepower.

A chunky five-speed manual transmission drove the front wheels, and pop-up headlights capitalized on a styling trend of the day. The third-generation Prelude was known for balancing a sporty and engaging drive with maneuverability and cruising comfort that were easy to appreciate.

7

1990–2005 Acura NSX

Original MSRP: $60,000

The original Acura NSX, largely called the world’s first daily supercar, first arrived in 1990 and was intended to serve as a technological gene-pool from which future products would draw. This was the first production car with an all-aluminum body, providing Honda with vital experience that could be leveraged in the production of later models. The NSX also brought the famed ‘Type R’ badge onto the scene for the first time, gave Honda’s VTEC technology its first home in a halo car, and delivered a drivng experience that’s gone down in the history books as one of the best among all sports cars, ever, to the benefit of current resale values.

With the NSX back in the early 90s, Honda now had a halo car to draw customers in for a closer look at the rest of their lineup – as well as a set of features and technologies that would become familiar in more affordably-priced applications.

6

1997 Honda Prelude Type SH

Original MSRP: $26,095

Of all the cars we’ve covered so far, few have served Honda as well as the final-generation Prelude Type SH when it comes to laying down foundational technologies that would find themselves in future Hondas for generations. Honda’s VTEC feature was now becoming a must-have for enthusiast drivers, having launched in other sporty models of the day in recent years. Though the four-wheel steering was gone, a new Active Torque Transfer System (ATTS), featuring a slick new differential that could torque-vector across the front axle, gave this generation Prelude its mandatory must-have handling advantage. A VTEC engine, again, powered Honda’s top sports model, and Prelude’s ATTS front differential would eventually evolve for use in the rear axle of a new, performance-enhancing AWD system that was preparing to hit the market under the Acura brand.

5

1997 Acura Integra Type R

Original MSRP: $25,000

The Integra Type R was released in 1995 as the second-ever Acura to wear a Type R badge, right behind the NSX. The B18C 1.8-liter engine made peak power at 8,000 revs, with 108 horses per liter. At the time, Honda said this engine’s long stroke and high revs gave it the highest piston speeds in the world, even faster than legendary Honda F1 and Indy car engines of the day. A helical limited slip front axle, which would become popular on future high-powered front-drive Hondas, was also fitted. With the Integra Type R, Honda brought to a market a model that pushed the capability of their VTEC engines at a relatively affordable price point, helping further pick up steam as a go-to brand for world-class performance engines and tremendous fun factor at a reasonable price.

4

1999 Honda Civic Si

Original MSRP: $18,275

The Si or ‘sport injection’ badge was worn by numerous Honda models including the Civic, CRX and Prelude. In 1999, the latest Civic Si hit the market with a B-Series 1.6-liter, 160-horsepower engine, stiffer progressive-rate springs, stiffer stabilizer bars, a larger exhaust system, bigger four-wheel disc brakes, a front strut-tower brace, and low-profile 15-inch tires. Red-themed instruments added a serious edge to the Si’s interior instrumentation, and Honda once again gave drivers a fast-revving, 100-horsepower-per-liter option in an affordable, fun-to-drive machine that became a go-to for sensible performance, and the center of a major import tuner community. Like the CRX before it, the 1999 Civic Si catered to the demands of Honda shoppers after a taste of their performance car history, in an everyday-friendly package.

3

2000 Honda S2000

Original MSRP: $33,000

When it hit the market in 2000, Honda’s hot two-seat convertible shipped with another revolutionary engine that stayed true to its soul and would earn a place in the history books for its power density. Without a turbo or electric motor in sight, the S2000’s 2-liter four-cylinder engine made 240 horsepower at a furious 8,300 rpm. This was the most power-dense engine Honda had ever made. It wasn’t much for torque, but the lightweight body, close-ratio manual gearbox, race-car rev counter and weight-saving ‘high-X bone frame’ helped keep weight and mass down, while keeping safety, stiffness and handling up.

In building the S2000, Honda gained experience using different materials and components to support the operation of a high-revving performance engine, as well as experience building unique performance vehicle structures to maximize strength and minimize weight. The S2000 went on to become a highly sought-after performance car – and a worthy successor to the fast-revving S600 convertible decades before it.

2

2005 Acura RL

Original MSRP: $50,000

The 2005 Acura RL is a weird car for our list, since it’s a luxurious cruiser more than a performance sedan on the surface. Still, beneath its skin, the RL packed an award-winning secret weapon that gave it high-performing handling characteristics, while marking the first-ever application of a flagship performance technology called Super Handling AWD (SH-AWD). Using hardware and lessons originally sourced from the last-generation Prelude several years earlier, the RL was the first Acura to put this exclusive high-performance AWD system into production – and this comfortable cruiser cornered like absolute bananas, especially when drivers kept the throttle on hot. The SH-AWD system had successfully made the RL handle and engage its driver like a smaller, lighter car.

The star of the show? A rear axle based on the torque-vectoring ATTS differential in the Prelude before it. Now fitted between the rear wheels of the RL, the resulting SH-AWD system could effect a wide range of torque-split scenarios that used a single over-driven rear wheel to help steer the RL into corners when drivers pushed. This gave the RL some exceptional handling when driven with intent, and put SH-AWD on the map for the first time. Today, 20 years later, Acura has built millions of SH-AWD equipped cars, SUVs and performance models, and the system is now in its fourth generation.

1

2023 Honda Civic Type R

Original MSRP $45,000

You can add every generation of the Civic Type R in here, as we did with the main image, but we’re going with the one most people are familiar with. For 2023, an update to the Honda Civic Type R moved it into the ‘FL5’ generation, upgrading almost everything about the previous car which was itself a culmination of everything Honda knows about high-performing front-wheel drive. Track-tested and offering 158 horsepower per liter from its VTEC Turbo engine, the Civic Type R is now wider, faster, and smarter than ever. Output climbs to 315 horses, brakes have been retuned for better feel and improved durability. Fast Hondas have long been about maximum driving pleasure and capability for the buck, and the latest Civic Type R takes this to Honda’s highest-yet levels.

At a time when cars are about to change dramatically, the latest Type R is likely to go down as a sort of technological time-capsule of the latest and greatest Honda performance technologies on this side of a six-figure price-tag.

Sources: CurbsideClassic.Com, SWCP.com, Kelley Blue Book, Honda, Acura, Hagerty