Following up with its plan to further expand its e:HEV hybrid line-up, Honda Malaysia has now unveiled the 2022 Civic e:HEV RS here on our shores. The hybrid Honda Civic is priced at RM166,500, making it roughly nearly RM16k dearer than the regular Turbo RS variant.
The headline feature, then, is of course the powertrain underneath the bonnet. The new Civic e:HEV RS is powered by Honda’s latest and most powerful i-MMD powertrain, consisting of a 2.0-litre direct injection Atkinson cycle engine, paired to two electric motors – one to function as a generator, and one to drive the wheels.
The unique “series-parallel” hybrid powertrain drives the wheels primarily through the traction motor, with the engine only powering the wheels directly through a lock-up clutch during high-speed cruising. All in all, the 2.0L e:HEV hybrid powertrain here makes 184 hp and 315 Nm, or 2 hp and 75 Nm more than its turbocharged siblings.
Those extra firepower translates to a 0.6 seconds faster century sprint time (7.9s vs 8.5s), while at the same time also returning a significantly better fuel consumption figure of 4.0 L/100km (vs 6.3 L/100km of the petrol Turbo RS).
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Aside from the powertrain, however, very little has changed. The exterior gets a slight makeover with more chrome elements for a more sophisticated look, while the interior is pretty much identical to its ICE counterpart, save for the addition of a new 10.2-inch fully-digital instrument cluster, dual-zone automatic climate control, and a wireless charging pad.
For a more detailed breakdown of the specifications for the new 2022 Honda Civic e:HEV RS, check out our launch coverage here.
