Honda S660 Mugen RA revealed – only 660 JDM units

This car is not for North America....

by Gerard Lye of www.paultan.org

What you’re looking at here is the Honda S660 Mugen RA, a special edition of Honda’s pint-sized roadster, which was announced in prototype guise during the 2016 Tokyo Auto Salon back in January.

Unlike Mugen’s bolt-on parts for the S660, the RA is a lot less aggressive in terms of appearance. Exterior upgrades here include a carbon-fibre grille, ‘Mugen RA’ badging, a twin-pipe sports exhaust and lightweight forged aluminium wheels from BBS.

For the latter, they measure 15 inches at the front and 16 inches at the rear, wrapped with Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R tyres in 165/55R15 (front) and 195/45R16 (rear) sizes. Revisions to the chassis include a retuned suspension featuring adjustable Bilstein dampers.

Inside, the S660 Mugen RA gets red leather seats, a new leather steering wheel, contrast stitching, a ‘Mugen’ start button, ‘Mugen’ instrument panel, serial number plate and carbon-fibre trim pieces. A carbon-fibre gear knob is now fitted on the manual variant, while CVT versions get leather-wrapped paddle shifters instead.

If you’re expecting a bump in power, bad news. Due to Japan’s kei car class regulations that limits engine displacement to 660 cc with an output of no more than 64 PS, the S660 Mugen RA sees no change in output from its S07A 660 cc, turbocharged DOHC three-cylinder engine – 64 hp and 104 Nm.

Interested? Well, there’s a few things to take note. Firstly, the suggested retail price is 2,890,000 yen (RM107,002). Secondly, only 660 units of the Honda S660 Mugen RA will only be made. Thirdly, all of them will be exclusive to the Japanese market, with sales expected to start on October 3 later this year.

Source;
http://paultan.org/2016/05/30/honda-s660-ra-by-mugen/

Honda’s S660 Roadster Spotted In Tennessee

by Paolo Acoba of www.artofgears.com

A lone Honda S660 was spotted on a Tennesse interstate in RHD trim. 

Update: Rumor has it that this particular model is owned by the Lane Motor Museum. They also have a Honda Beat in their collection, the predecessor to this S660.

It looks like the rumor mill for a Honda S660 being exported for other markets is alive and well and this latest spotting surely adds fuel to that fire. According to Chicagoland Petrolheads and car meets member Paul Bulthuis, this particularly clean looking Honda S660 in right-hand drive trim was spotted on Interstate 65 just three miles north of Murfreesboro.

Rumors based on a couple of quotes from Honda management have been floating around for a couple of months now stating how Honda is trying its best to ready this kei-car for U.S. export. Albeit if it makes it down here there’ll be a bit more punch under the rear engine cover. These latest photos certainly stoke our interest as to what this little roadster is doing on U.S. soil. Check out a couple of photos of the potential Miata fighter below and let us know what you think about this car coming over the Pacific in the comments below.

If our motoring friends down under are to be believed, according to their inside source earlier last week,  a special Honda S1000 is already greenlighted for international export. Instead of the 660cc three-cylinder currently churning away underneath the S660, Honda already has a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder developed by Mugen ready to shoehorned in its place. This’ll take the roadster from 63 HP all the way to a more palatable 125 HP.

When Top Gear tested out this new 1.0 turbo triple (in FWD trim btw) they were impressed by how much torque this powerplant had. Stuff it in a car that already weighs a lithe 1,830 pounds and you’ve got the recipe for some real fun.

According to Paul, compared to other American sized cars surrounding the roadster, it looked small. As it should be. Being a good two feet shorter in length than a Miata, there are few cars on the road as short as an S660. It is as wide as a Miata though. Wikipedia lists an S1000 with slightly larger dimensions in length, width and height but no source to back it up.

Honda is doing its best to bring exciting products to market. With the introduction of the Honda Civic with 1.5T (that happens to be killing it in the showrooms), its best-selling Accord and the all-new Acura NSX, Honda is off to a strong start on its revival here in the states. If this S660 to S1000 sighting makes the leap to a confirmed statement of development from Honda, who knows what other exciting products they might have up their sleeves.

We’ve reached out to Honda for comment but have heard nothing back yet. We’ll keep you posted on any developments.

For those interested in seeing what the front end looks like....

Source;
https://artofgears.com/2016/04/04/hondas-s660-roadster-spotted-in-tennessee/