2012 Honda CR-Z Mugen

We've prayed, we've hoped and Honda have responded. You can buy your very own CR-Z Mugen, one very quick hybrid, from next year.

Car Throttle had the opportunity to take the CR-Z Mugen prototype for a quick test drive at the SMMT test day back in October as well other test cars (which you can check out here) and it was the most fun Adnan had that day.

This little Honda coupe is fast. It can go from 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds thanks to a rebuilt 1.5L IMA engine from Mugen which pumps out 200hp and 158lb-ft of torque. This is much better than the standard car and you can check out our review of that here. Mugen also changed the suspension to improve the handling and Honda themselves took 50kg off the original weight.

All this means that if you are a Type-R nut there's now something new to satisfy that Type-R addiction. It's the reason why Honda put the CR-Z Mugen into production in the first place since there are no hot Hondas in their showrooms at the moment. This also means that there's now a more solid relationship between the British tuning firm and their Japanese parents leading to a possibility of more spiced up Mugen Hondas in the future. Play with the new Civic next I say.

Any differences to the prototype we tested and the production version? Yes, the price. The one Adnan had his hands on costed £150,000 then again that was a one-off prototype at the time. You can get your hands on one from next February at around £23k, similar to the Renaultsport Megane 250 Cup and much cheaper than the Volkswagen Scirocco R (£29,745).