It may no longer be sold in our part of the world, but the Honda Jazz still remains an enthusiast favorite. We’ve driven them over the years, and we’re still in love with its playful handling and amazing space efficiency.
The Jazz has also become one of the choices of the aftermarket crowd. There’s audio builds and track setups out there, showing that it makes a solid platform for, well, just about everything.
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But during its early days, one of the wildest Honda Jazz concepts made its debut. Leave it to the folks over at Mugen to build it. Dubbed the Fit Dynamite, it had all the potential to be the GR Yaris of the mid-‘00s.
Okay, it didn’t have all-wheel drive, but it did have a firecracker of an engine. We’re used to seeing 1.3-liter or 1.5-liter engines in the first-generation Jazzes (the GD for you Hondafarians). What Mugen did was take a K20A engine, tune it, and shove it under the short hood of the Jazz.
Yes, that’s the Type R engine. More specifically, it’s the mill from the EP3 Civic Type R and DC5 Integra Type R. Left stock, those engines already put out solid numbers for their time. Without any turbos, those made 217hp and 206Nm of torque. In the Integra, that engine was good enough to propel it to 100kph in 6.8 seconds.
But this is Mugen we’re talking about, so of course that engine wasn’t going to stay stock for long. With some fettling with the internals, power rose from 217hp to 260hp. Oh, and it was all done without the use of a turbocharger. Ah yes, the good ol’ days of all-motor tuning. The Fit Dynamite even benefitted from the Type R’s six-speed manual transmission.
The one-off model did spark interest and clamor for a ‘Fit Type R’, though. But, alas, it was never put into production. Reasons were never given, but we reckon Honda wouldn’t have liked the idea of a smaller, less expensive car going faster than the halo performance cars at the time, the Civic and Integra Type R. Given its light weight, the Fit Dynamite might have even given the NSX a good scare.
Still, we think Honda should revisit the idea of a hot Fit/Jazz. With the current Civic Type R about the size of an old Accord, a subcompact performance hatchback should tickle the fancy of hot hatch fans. May we suggest putting the 200hp, 1.5-liter turbo from the North American Civic SI under the Jazz’s hood? Just a thought.
