Leak suggest the 2023 Honda Civic Type R will make 326 hp

Honda pledged that the new Civic Type R will be the most powerful series-produced car it has ever sold in the United States, and leaked documents suggest the company will keep its promise. The hatchback allegedly has a 20-horsepower advantage over its predecessor.

Posted on enthusiast forum Civic XI and spotted by Motor1, a specifications sheet detailing the long-awaited new Type R provides key details about what’s under the hood. Power for the Japanese-spec model comes from a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 326 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. In comparison, the American-spec variant of the last-generation Type R used a 2.0-liter turbo-four tuned to develop 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, though horsepower increased to 316 in global markets.

Honda will continue to make front-wheel-drive and a six-speed manual transmission standard but the final drive ratio checks in at 3.842 compared to 4.111 for the outgoing Type R. We don’t know what effect this will have on performance; Honda hasn’t released acceleration figures yet, but the brochure pegs the Type R’s weight at 3,153 pounds, a 32-pound increase compared to the last-generation Touring. And, as expected, the new Type R is about an inch longer, half an inch wider, and an inch shorter than its predecessor.

Keep in mind that the aforementioned figures detail the variant of the Civic Type R that Honda will sell in its home market and they might not apply to the American-spec model. Official details about the 2023 Honda Civic Type R will emerge in the coming months.