GReddy Turbo EF Hatch Is the Best Golden Era Honda We Could Think Of
When it comes to timeless aesthetics and perfectionism of details, there isn’t quite another build like this.
When we think of great Honda’s from the past, one that always comes to mind is the EF hatch. The fourth generation Honda Civic holds a certain weight in the community as being one of the best chassis to ever come out of Japan. Its characteristic boxy design is so representative of the time period that its unmistakable as a late 80’s car. The double wishbone suspension in the front gave the EF chassis some of the most responsive and tactile steering feel of any Civic. One of important features to the EF was the lack of weight, coming in at just over 2,000 pounds, the car was incredibly nimble and precise. When we saw that the legendary Honda aftermarket tuning shop GReddy were putting together a EF-based passion project, with coverage provided by StickyDilJoe, we were beyond excited to see what was to come.
With the popularity of the new Civic Type R, we were surprised to see that a shop as big as GReddy was building such an old car as a project. However, we couldn’t be happy to still see the light of these golden era Hondas shining through in our modern times. The mastermind behind this build is GReddy’s own Kenji, the founder of the company.
He describes that he has only had the car for two years and when he initially bought it it had a B18 engine in the car already. However, because this was going to be a proper shop build, he brought the car to bare bones and had it stripped and painted inside and out. The car then got a bespoke B18C1 built by the team at D-Sport that is capable of around 1,000 HP. However, the purpose of the car was not made make crazy power or be all out track warrior, but rather a cool and fun street car.
ALSO SEE: B18C-swapped EG Civic is Pinnacle Golden Era Honda
One of the coolest features of the engine bay is not just the turbo set-up, but the custom air-to-liquid intercooler which is supposed to look like a factory airbox from the original engine. If we wouldn’t have known anything about the car, we would have never even known it was a turbo build. Of course, being a GReddy car, it hosts their own turbo, which they use for their FI kits for the Toyota 86/Subaru BR-Z chassis.
The interior features original JDM EF interior with some beautiful expression pieces such as Hybrid Racing B-series shifter, which looks absolutely amazing. The exterior features some of the prettiest wheels ever, Speed Star Racing EX-C Neo’s on one side and Mugen CF-48 wheels on the other. Good luck finding either of those sets without a trip to Japan. The details on this EF are some of the best we have ever seen and we expected no less from Kenji and the team at GReddy.
This car is so cool, there is an authentic Hot Wheels version of it (which happened to be finished before the actual build). We would say that if you’re in Southern California and love Hondas, it might be worth the while to go check out this car at one of their many meets or events. Trust us, you wont find another one like it.