Torneo Euro R: the docile Type R
The Torneo R was a special edition of the sixth-generation Honda Accord. And the Milano Red Torneo Euro R is as pristine as it can be for a 20-plus-year-old Japanese import
What if I were to tell you that, in an alternate universe, Honda had a hot red answer to Toyota's Carina GT, that too with a proper VTEC motor and a flared, muscular and sportier body to boot? A CL1 Accord/Torneo Euro R just happens to be the answer in this universe.
It's no secret that Honda targeted the Euro R range to a different crowd, a matured one to be obvious, which is reflected in the subtle and sleeper-esque styling the CL1 received. The Torneo R was a special edition of the sixth-generation Honda Accord, which was produced from 1997 to 2002.
Like all good things JDM, the Torneo R was primarily sold in Japan, blue balling the rest of the world in true JDM fashion. In all essence, Torneo and Accord were cut from the same cloth, just with different front fascias.
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Some of the key features that made the Torneo R special included its unique front and rear bumpers keeping aerodynamics in mind, side skirts, a subtle rear wing spoiler, which gave the car a more aggressive look and special "Euro R" badging and stickers. It also received a stiffer suspension and larger wheels and tires than the standard Accord, which improved its handling and grip.
But of course, no special Honda is complete without a crisp manual shifter with a polished aluminium knob. Under the hood is where the party piece of the Torneo R lies; equipped with the H22A engine, a 2.2-litre motor with VTEC!
The factory-equipped limited slip differential (LSD) puts the 'sport' in this sporty sedan as it helps harness grip while cornering which is rarely unheard of from front-wheel-drive cars since torque steer happens to be the norm in cars of this specific segment. Always rely on Honda for achieving front-wheel drive witchcraft.
Realistically speaking, the Euro R on paper was a worthy opponent to Toyota's T-Sport trim levels but with a proper boot as opposed to a hatchback.
This Milano Red Torneo Euro R we are featuring today is as pristine as it can be for a 20-plus-year-old Japanese import. Fun fact: the paint code is shared by the mythical FD2 Mugen RR!
Its current owner, Refaet is no stranger to taming special Hondas. You might find this red Honda strolling in and around Dhanmondi at specific times of the year because Refaet's job description requires him to travel overseas for an extended period of time.
Hence, this specific example is indeed a garage queen for most of the year, not to say he doesn't enjoy driving it; before our shoot, the Torneo just came back from a weekend road trip to Cox's Bazar with the entire car loaded.
During a short ride along with the owner on one Friday morning, it was evidently clear how different this machine was from its rivals which seemed to grow timider by the minute. The car kept on asking for more and more heavy right foot action as it sifted through its crisp cut gears, to the VTEC threshold and beyond.
The current exhaust is vibrant and fruity to say the least, helping the motor to hum better than the engineers at Honda intended it to be with just the right amount of exhaust drone. The Zestino tires did their job well enough as their limits of grip were constantly being tested, occasionally chirping from the first to the second gear shift.
While it's no fully fledged Type R by any means, the most outlandish way I could explain it to you, the reader, is through the lineage of Huskies and how they have been domesticate through the centuries to adapt to human civilization. Hailing from Siberia, the once mighty ice wolves have now been trained to be house pets, a bigger alternative to a cat basically.
Similarly, Honda decided to put in a motor from the prelude, a relatively light and genuine sports car and domesticate it inside a four-door family sedan fit for grocery-getting.
All these factors make sense why the rest of the world never saw these special yet small motor cars from the East. Truth be told, the Western landscape and road networks would have been hard to adapt to the small displacement and shorter gear ratios in these cars made specifically for Asian roads.
Western cars are designed to eat up highway miles, chugging little to no gas at all while gracefully doing 100 miles at 1500 RPMs. Meanwhile, to achieve the same in a small Japanese car would require the driver to row through the gears, wringing the engine by its neck to redline while risking its lifespan.
However, give it a narrow twisty stretch of road and they tend to shine the brightest. Small wonder why the West never got a taste of forbidden Japanese fruits then.
Specification:
Engine: 2200cc inline-4 H22A
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Power: 217 bhp
Torque: 221 N
