For years, Honda enthusiasts in the United States watched with envy as Europe and Asia had access to the awesome, beefed-up Civic Type R. Launched in 1997, the Type R remained a forbidden fruit for U.S. gearheads for decades. Two decades to be more specific, as the high-performance Civic didn't cross the pond to North America until 2017. And, needless to say, it created the utmost hype, with backed-up preorders and crazy price speculation over to-be-delivered cars. With the hatchback finally on its way to customers, Honda has more good news for Type R fans: the turbocharged 2.0-liter powerplant is now available as a crate engine.

The big announcement was made at the 2017 SEMA Show, where Honda confirmed that enthusiasts would be able to purchase the Type R engine through Honda Performance Development's Honda Racing Line program. The crate engine is rated at the same 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque as the one in the road car. The turbocharged four-banger is priced at $6,519.87, but here is a catch: it's only available for "verified, closed-course racing applications," which means it can't be used in road-going models.

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Why It Matters?

On top of being an appealing car of regular drivers, the Civic Type R was also seen as a great engine source by racing enthusiasts. So, this crate engine is great news for both amateur and professional racing drivers alike, who finally have access to Honda's most powerful engine in the United States. It's also reliable, which makes things that much better on the race track. With Honda Racing Line involved in the project, drivers will also benefit from something similar to factory support, which is way better than just sourcing an engine and trying to make it work by doing your own research and development.

The Bad News

Unfortunately, this engine isn't yet available for road cars. So if you were dreaming of building your own Type R version of the Civic sedan, the Accord, or any other Honda available in showrooms, it won't happen anytime soon. Sure, it could be offered outside the Honda Racing Line program in the future, but it will be tricky to install this engine in a production model and get it homologated for road use. So yeah, this announcement is somewhat disappointing when it comes to road cars, but at least we'll see more of this fantastic engine on race tracks across the United States!

References

Honda Civic

Read our full review on the 2017 Honda Civic Type R.

Read more news on the 2017 SEMA Show.