They might leave the factory as humble hatchbacks, but these little runabouts have insane tuning potential. Here are some of the world’s most powerful Honda Civics.
Back in the 1990s, even the hottest of Honda Civics left the factory with under 200 horsepower, but fast-forward twenty years or so and there are (amazingly) hundreds of them making 1000 or more horsepower. Some potentially have double that! Anyway, it’s literally impossible to cover them all, so instead what we’ve done is pick a select bunch that stood out. So, here’s a mad 10-car snapshot of the wonderful world of pumped-up Civics. Before we get into the cars though, it’s worth getting a better understanding of what the high-horsepower Honda scene looks like…
See, the thing with the world’s most powerful Honda Civics is, unlike most other types of car, there’s no dyno queens. In fact, most owners don’t even publicly talk about their dyno numbers, they let their performance on the drag strip do the talking. There’s a lot of them too – the amount of Civics that have managed a 7 second quarter mile is frankly bonkers! To put their performance in to perspective, let’s look at some of fastest accelerating production cars the automotive industry has to offer:
Putting the power into context
The 1914bhp Rimac Nevera, a $2.2million hypercar EV that’s annihilated all production car acceleration records recently. That has an insane 0-60mph time of 1.8sec, takes just 2.99sec to go from 60-130mph, and does an 8.2sec quarter mile at 170mph. The similarly priced, 1500bhp, Bugatti Chiron, does a 2.3sec 0-60 sprint, 4.8sec 60-130mph, and quarter mile in 9.4sec at 158mph.
Meanwhile, the McLaren 720S is by far the fastest modern supercar for your money, costing a mere quarter of a million pounds new, and doing a 2.8sec 0-60, 5.2sec 60-130mph, and quarter mile in 9.9sec. Or maybe if you want a sensible family EV, the 1006bhp Tesla Model S Plaid. 2.4sec 0-60, 4.5sec 60-130mph, and quarter mile 9.39 at 152mph.
So, a typical Civic that’s JUST creeped in to the aformentioned 7sec club, a 7.9sec quarter mile, how fast is it? Well generally it’s 0-60mph in 2.0sec, sometimes slightly faster. The 60-130mph sprint tends to be just 2.5sec, and these things get faster the further they go; in the quarter mile they hit about 190mph! Then bear in mind one Civic in this feature runs 6s, and the majority of them have gone beyond 190mph in the quarter mile. Actually, one has hit 215mph!
Yes, these things are ridiculous, so read on for a look at our selection of 10 very interesting, and VERY powerful, Honda Civics…
World’s Most Powerful Honda Civics
OutlAWD
Speed Factory Racing are probably the best known Civic builders and racers on the planet, and for good reason; they’re the fastest. Their EG hatchback known as OutlAWD is an all-wheel-drive converted car that has ran an insane 6.9sec quarter mile, and has managed 209mph in the same distance too.
The powerplant they use to do this may surprise a few people, as it’s not the K-Series everybody thinks of when it comes to fast Hondas, but the previous generation engine, the B series. This 2.0-liter B-series engine is running an 86mm turbo and makes over 1800hp at the wheels, over 2000bhp at the flywheel, and is likely to go even faster in the future. It uses a H-pattern manual gearbox too; no sequential or DSG here! Click this video to watch it in action.
Competition Clutch Outlaw FWD
Another Speed Factory car, in fact one that looked almost identical to OutlAWD, albeit this one was front wheel drive. We say was, as this beast was unfortunately destroyed in an accident, but what it achieved was nothing short of incredible. With the same 2000bhp+ Honda B Series setup and 86mm turbo, plus a little tickle of nitrous, this thing hit an absolutely ridiculous 215mph in the quarter mile, the highest speed any production chassis front wheel drive car has ever achieved in that distance.
Once again, it used a H-pattern manual gearbox, and was built, tuned, and raced by the guys behind Speed Factory, Kevin and James Kempf. Watch this video to see it in action!
Ostrem Racing 4door AWD EK
Four doors for more, err, nitrous bottles? Whatever the phrase is, the Ostrem Racing AWD Civic is insanely fast, running a best of 7.3sec quarter mile at a ridiculous 198mph, while also being the far less common, and in fact a little heavier, four door model. Running a Speed Factory B Series engine, this car runs a 76mm turbo plus nitrous, and going by the mile per hour and it’s weight, it’s safe to say this car is knocking on the door of around 2000 horsepower at the flywheel. Watch it in action, here.
Jeff Lutz Jr’s EF Civic
While you probably didn’t expect the fastest Hondas to be running B Series engines, we really doubt you expected to see an old EF Civic powered by a turbocharged V8! This insane creation is built and owned by Jeff Lutz Jr, son of Jeff Lutz of Street Outlaws fame, and he took a leaf out of his dads book and converted it to an insane RWD drag car, complete with a Vinson Racing Engines dry sump V8 and absolutely gigantic 118mm Precision single turbo.
Due to its use at Cash Days and No Prep events, they are very cagey about the power it makes and the times it runs, but in the distant past it ran in the 7s in the quarter mile on a much less powerful engine and road legal tires, and seeing as the turbo it currently has fitted is rated to an insane 2800bhp, well, it’s safe to say this thing could run deep in to the 6s. Check it out in this video.
Chapulin Performance Civics
Ok, this isn’t one car, it’s a pair of EK Civics with matching bodywork and graphics, albeit one a hatchback, one a coupe. They both make around 1300 horsepower at the wheels, both run 7s at around 195mph in the quarter mile, and are owned and driven by a father and son team!
This Honda mad family from Puerto Rico stick to the traditional front wheel drive layout, and once again sorry K series fans, but the Honda B series boosted by Precision turbos is what powers these race winning beasts down the track. Watch them take on the strip in this video.
El Freddy
Yet another Civic coupe, but this one with a few differences. Firstly, it’s not an EK, but the next generation EM2 model. Secondly, while it’s powered by a turbocharged K-series it’s powering the real wheels and the car is a full-on tube frame drag chassis.
Many years ago it ran a 7.0 quarter mile at a massive 198mph in an older specification, which alone hints at absolutely massive power levels, and it was scheduled to make a comeback with even more power thanks to a new billet block setup. Unfortunately, despite it being almost assured to get in to the 6s at 200mph+, it seemed to disappear off the scene after some initial testing on its new setup, and we’ve not seen it since. Where are you Freddy?
If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can watch the car in its prime in some old grainy YouTube videos from back in the day.
King 2 is mostly under wraps for now, but this is one of Quentin’s previous builds, King K.
King 2
This RWD converted EK Civic owned by Quentin Boylan in South Africa is simply stunning, possibly the nicest Civic drag build there is, and while we don’t yet know the power or performance of this beast as it’s literally only just been finished, if looks are to go by, the answer to both questions is ‘all of it’.
Quentin is an absolutely massive petrolhead, and as well as a long line of insanely fast turbo Hondas, one recent build was a Lotus Exige fitted with a dry sump 6.2ltr Mercedes V8 and 6 speed sequential box!
His latest Honda drag build, King 2, looks like a typical EK Coupe drag car from the outside, but it’s a full tube chassis draped in carbon fiber bodywork, and is an absolute work of art. A no expense spared build, running a mega spec turbo K Series and air-shifted gearbox, and we can’t wait to see this thing in action. For now though, check out this video of Quentin’s old ride – King K.
Blue Label
Jayson Bello is no stranger to powerful Hondas, having had an 8sec 1300 horsepower turbo Civic by age of 18, building a naturally aspirated Civic that also runs 8s, and also due to the fact he’s built hundreds of big power Honda engines for customers at his company JRB Engines.
His current main drag Civic is Blue Label, an EK Civic coupe running in Extreme Front Wheel Drive class. This K-Series Turbo powered car has ran a 7.8sec quarter at 194mph, not far away from even the fastest all-wheel-drive Civics, and to do 0-194mph in a time many hot hatches do 0-60mph, it’s safe to say this car is easily making over 1500bhp at the flywheel. Take a closer look, here.
Faster Motorsports EK Coupe
How fast can a naturally aspirated, front wheel drive, four cylinder Civic be? How about 8.1sec quarter mile at 165mph! Yes, faster than the fastest production hypercars on the planet, with no turbo, no supercharger, no nitrous, and just a 4cylinder Honda K series engine powering the front wheels.
The Faster Motorsports EK Coupe looks like a pretty unassuming silver EK coupe drag car, and if someone told you it was naturally aspirated you’d probably think it was an 11second car at best. But no, thanks to a mega spec K Series revving to the moon and running on an explosive mix of Methanol and Nitromethane, this thing is almost in the 7s, which makes it the fastest all-motor FWD car on the planet. How much power is this? Well while we haven’t dyno numbers, it’s likely well over 600 horsepower, which is insane for a naturally aspirated four cylinder engine! View it in closer detail, here.
GP1 Racing EG Hatch
Running an absolutely ballistic 194mph in the quarter mile, the relatively subtle looking EG Hatchback from EG Racing is one of the fastest and most powerful Civics out there. Running a best quarter mile of 7.3sec@194mph thanks to a fully built K-series, AWD running gear, and a Precision 8085 Gen2 turbo, it’s currently the Fastest AWD K-Series and second fastest AWD Honda on the planet.
Watch it take on the drag strip in this video!
La Plomera
If you were surprised that most of the fastest Civics run B-Series rather than K-Series, you’ll be even more shocked when you realize a FWD single cam D16Z6 engine Civic has made over 1100 horsepower at the wheels and ran a 8.0sec quarter mile!
Eli Roman’s EK Coupe is incredible, doing 0-178mph in 8.0sec using the 125bhp D16Z6 engine as it’s base! With a MAR Performance engine build and 67mm turbo, this thing is a monster.
Running the factory cast alloy engine block, he actually snapped the whole block in half recently, though he doesn’t think it happened due to power alone, but instead the way the chassis twists under load also twisting the block enough that combined with the massive power levels it literally snapped!
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