Wednesday 12th March 2014

Honda Civic BTCC Tourer: Time For Tea?

Honda's racing estate in testing at Oulton Park; bring on the new season!

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With the 2014 BTCC starting later this month, testing will be well underway for all the teams. And despite the rather surprising addition of a Mercedes A-Class to the grid recently, there's only one car we're really interested in seeing; the Honda Civic Tourer.

Revealed in a teaser sketch last year and then at the Autosport show, Honda's new racer is the first wagon to race in the BTCC since the legendary Volvo 850 of the mid-90s.

Seen here at Oulton Park (and from only one corner, sadly), the Civic certainly won't go unnoticed in a packed grid. It's not as gigantic as the old Volvo but the silhouette is so unfamiliar that you can't help but look a little longer. An appropriately massive rear spoiler also gives it some presence, though it will surely make seeing other cars behind a challenge...

Like many of the other NGTC touring cars, the Civic's turbocharged engine makes a fair old din without being particularly tuneful. But we'd rather touring cars with turbos than none at all. Heck, even the roadgoing Type R has succumbed to forced induction now. Wonder if there'll be a Tourer Type R?

Watch it here

 

 

[dukebox9reg]

Reckon the SEAT ST or 308 Estate would look better with some race livery thrown at it.

happy to see something different on the grid though.

[Oddball RS]

Its a Toyota in a party frock..............

[HorneyMX5]

It looks rubbish and a bit ungainly for a race car but I'm sure Flash and Matt will be nailing it to apexes all season and getting results.

[TobesH]

Did the test in a Chevron at Donington last month and Matt was out then with his new tourer - looked good from where I was sitting at 130mph

[Quhet]

It's no 850.
Take me back to the 90's

[Pistachio]

OK

[chrisemersons]

[quote=Quhet]It's no 850.

And thats a good thing, it might win some race then !

[OllieC]

I think it looks rather good !

Really looking forward to the BTCC this year, for the first time since 99

[MG CHRIS]

Oddball RS said:

Its a Toyota in a party frock..............

No its not its built from a civic shell with spec front and area subframes attached to it. Also pH the merc was not a surprise entry it was the first car to be confirmed for this year. Also what is meant by the engine being a bit din?