Honda · Civic

Honda Civic Type R (EP3)

Years
2001–2005
Chassis
EP3
Drivetrain
FF
Honda Civic Type R (EP3)

Image: MrWalkr / CC BY-SA 4.0

Story

Built at the Swindon plant in Britain, it was treated as an imported car in Japan. Its development concept was "Dangan (bullet) Hot Hatch".

Stories

01

Whoever conquers Europe

Compact cars were said to be a field where whoever conquers Europe, with the most rivals and the toughest judgments, conquers all. Just beating rivals in every area there was hard enough, yet it was decided to develop the TYPE R, the pinnacle of the Civic hatchback, exclusively for Japan. Hasshi at first felt he had been given a target that was too high, but together with the team he reframed it as a chance to hone the car on all kinds of roads in Europe, the home of the car.

Chassis

Length 4,135 mmWB 2,570 mm1,430 mmHeightWidth 1,695 mm

Production plants

US import eligibility

Earliest cars
Eligible from December 202625 years after sales began in December 2001
Last cars
Eligible during 203025 years after sales ended in 2005 (month not recorded)

Eligibility depends on each car's month of manufacture on its build plate, not on the sale dates shown here (NHTSA).

Japanese cars reaching 25 years in 2026 →

Engineers

Suehiro Hasshi

Suehiro Hasshi

Development leader of the new Civic Type R (EP3). Chief engineer at Honda R&D Co., Ltd.