Guide: The Japanese Bulldog? - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Honda City Turbo II
Background
Honda conceived their diminutive City range with a view to creating the best economy car of the 1980s.
Launched at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1981, the City also helped Honda target a younger type of customer thanks to its quirky looks and innovative marketing campaigns.
The Japanese firm initially offered their new front-wheel drive hatchback in economical E trim, sporty R trim, or as one of two van configurations. Sales took off immediately and while Honda initially had no plans to create anything more potent than the City R, that changed when management assessed a turbocharged version with electronic fuel-injection developed by Mugen founder, Hirotoshi Honda (the son of Honda founder, Soichiro Honda).
In addition to its peppy little engine, Mugen’s prototype also featured enhanced brakes, suspension and wider wheels along with some sporty new cosmetic enhancements to reflect its performance-tuned nature.
Ultimately, the Honda board were so impressed that the green light was given for a production version and the City Turbo was introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1982.
Press and public reaction to the City Turbo was extremely positive and just over a year later, Honda added an even more extreme variant to their range when the Turbo II was presented at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1983.
Nicknamed the Bulldog on account of its wide-arched stance, the Turbo II also came with a now intercooled version of the ER straight four engine in addition to its more aggressively styled body kit.
Significantly, the City Turbo II was the first car in its class to come equipped with an intercooled motor. On top of that, there was an exciting ‘Scramble Boost’ function that grabbed the headlines and provided additional boost on demand.
Bodywork
Although the Turbo II’s intercooled engine was arguably its most significant new feature, the easiest way to identify this latest iteration was on account of its more dramatic appearance.
All four fenders were substantially flared to accommodate the Turbo II’s bigger wheels and a vent was carved out from each rear arch to aid brake cooling
New body coloured bumpers were fitted at either end instead of the satin black originals.
The front bumper was now home to a full width intake while the nose panel between the headlights was switched from a single opening with large hex-pattern grille to a pair of slim intakes with small hex-pattern grille. Adjacent was a red Honda instead of Turbo decal.
A one-piece hood with much broader power bulge replaced the original two-piece item with its much smaller blister. The old fashioned exterior mirrors that were previously located well forward on each front fender were switched to more modern housings positioned at the leading the corner of the front windows.
Down each flank, the black rubbing strip that spanned the wheelarches was deleted and large Turbo II graphics adorned the doors. Deep new side skirts connected the fenders.
At the back, the Turbo II came with separate two-piece tail lights, body coloured housings for the licence plate illuminators, a red Honda decal instead of a metal badge and new City Turbo II graphics. The rear bumper was re-profiled and came with a different vent pattern.
Overall, the City Turbo II was 40mm longer and 55mm wider than its predecessor. It also stood 10mm taller on account of its bigger wheels.
Engine / Gearbox
In the engine bay was a now turbocharged and intercooled version of the CVCC-II ‘ER’ engine that had been designed specifically for the City.
The intercooler was both compact and highly efficient; Honda claimed it enabled the new car to achieve the world's highest turbo boost pressure for an unleaded petrol-engined vehicle: 0.83 bar (up from 0.73 bar on the original model).
The Turbo II’s intake plenum, inlet manifold and exhaust housings were also uprated and the combustion chambers were refined to improve anti-knock performance. There was a slightly larger throttle body too and a new AR turbo compressor. The compression ratio was increased from 7.5:1 to 7.6:1.
A ‘Scramble Boost’ function increased turbo pressure by 10% for ten seconds when the throttle was fully opened.
The net result of these modifications was a peak output of 108bhp at 5500rpm and 118lb-ft at 3000rpm.
For comparison, the original City Turbo produced 99bhp at 5500rpm and 108lb-ft at 3000rpm.
The rest of the Turbo II’s engine specification was very much as before. The ‘ER’ motor was a transversely-mounted inline four with single overhead camshaft, three valves per cylinder and wet-sump lubrication. It displaced 1232cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 66mm and 90mm respectively.
Both the Turbo and Turbo II utilised the City’s existing cast-iron engine block to which their special aluminium-titanium alloy cylinder heads were added. They also came with a magnesium valve cover that improved efficiency and yielded a decent weight saving.
The RHB51 turbo (a joint development between Honda and IHI) was small, light and able to run at high engine speeds.
Instead of a single Keihlin carburettor as fitted to the rest of the range, the City Turbos used Honda’s state-of-art 8-bit digitally-controlled PGM-FI multi-point fuel-injection.
Transmission was through a five-speed manual gearbox and single-plate hydraulic clutch. Both the City Turbo and Turbo II used exactly the same gear ratios.
Chassis
Tucked underneath the City Turbo II’s fatter fenders were a set of 5 x 13-inch ten-hole steel wheels on 185/60 tyres (up from 4.5 x 12-inch rims with 165/70 tyres on the original City Turbo).
Track was 30mm wider at the front and up by 20mm at the rear.
As per the original City Turbo, the Turbo II was based on an identical pressed steel bodyshell with 2220mm wheelbase as the standard City.
Similarly, an independent MacPherson strut layout was used for the suspension (coil sprung at the rear).
Both turbocharged variants came with a front anti-roll bar (one at the rear was already installed) and progressive-rate coil springs.
The front brakes were ventilated discs instead of the solid-type used on the rest of the City range. Drum brakes were retained at the back.
Steering was unassisted and a 41-litre fuel tank was mounted under the rear seat.
Interior
Inside, the City Turbo and Turbo II were more or less identical with both cars having been equipped with a number of exclusive interior features not seen on the rest of the City range.
The special three spoke sports steering wheel and gear lever were given a soft-touch plastic finish. A high quality gear gaiter was also fitted along with a new central control panel.
The normal front seats were replaced a new sports-type design. Upholstery was light or dark grey fabric for the seat bolsters and headrests. Red or pale grey fabric was used for the seat centres and door panel inserts and the carpet was trimmed to match in either red or dark grey. The backs and sides of the front seats were black vinyl. The face of each front seat came with an embroidered Turbo script. The rear seats were given a completely new centre pattern to the rest of the City range.
These City Turbos also came with a revised upper dash to include a new instrument hood and circular instead of rectangular fresh air vents.
The instrumentation itself was unlike any other City variant. The large semi-circular speedo normally fitted became a rev counter. Housed within the rev counter arc was an LCD read out for road speed. Another LCD read out, this time for turbo boost, was located off to the left. Elsewhere, there were new sliding read outs for water temperature and fuel.
An orange instead of white typeface was used for the dash and switchgear.
Options
Customers could upgrade their City Turbo with a small number of optional upgrades.
Honda offered a basic audio system or their more expensive Bodysonic arrangement which enabled the front occupants to feel music through the seats as vibrations.
There was also a decal kit, tilt/slide sunroof with sun blind and a set of alloy wheels.
Famously, Honda had developed the City so that it could accommodate the firm’s 49cc Motocompo folding moped in the trunk which was also offered as an optional extra.
Weight / Performance
As a consequence of its beefier body panels and larger wheels (along with the intercooler and its ancillary equipment), the Turbo II weighed in at 735kg which represented a 45kg gain over the 690kg original.
Top speed was an unchanged 112mph but the 0-62mph time was reputedly two tenths quicker at 8.3 seconds.
Production Changes
In March 1985 the Turbo II adopted the analogue dash used by the rest of the City range.
End of Production
Production of the City Turbo was discontinued in February 1985.
By contrast, the Turbo II was offered until September 1986.
Although no official production figures seem to be available for the two variants, we would estimate that around 40,000 may have been produced between 1982 and 1986. Of these, perhaps half would have been to Turbo II specification.
City Turbo IIR
For 1984, the Honda City Turbo one-make series which for the last two years had featured Mugen-enhanced versions of the original City Turbo switched to the Turbo II platform.
Once again, Mugen carried out an extensive programme of modifications to the new City Turbo IIR, the chief new feature of which was a new fully integrated ground effect-style bodykit with massive wheelarch extensions and deep running board skirts.
Engine-wise, boost pressure of the production-spec. intercooled turbo was further increased taking the power output from 126bhp to 138bhp. Other equipment included a hot camshaft, bigger fuel injectors, an oil cooler kit and free-flow megaphone exhaust.
As per the previous City Turbo R (also dubbed the Hyper Turbo), bodyshells were seam welded and left bare of all superfluous equipment. The suspension was suitably stiffened up, the brake system enhanced and fat cross-spoke alloy wheels shod with Bridgestone racing tyres.
In the cockpit was a full complement of safety gear to include bucket seats with racing harnesses, a roll cage and fire system.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Honda - https://global.honda/
