Classic Honda Civic Type R EK9 Gets Epic Cyberpunk Restomod in Tokyo

But it's still an awesome car, and Honda believes its fans should know that its grandpa was just as ripped.

The problem is that the youngins see it as just another crappy old hatchback. But they do love a thing called "cyberpunk," so a futuristic restomod was approved for this year's Tokyo Auto Salon.

What we have here is probably the most epic Civic restomod of all time, and it's even got a name: Honda Civic Cyber Night Japan Cruiser.

As TheSketchMonkey often says, the headlights are usually the first thing that dates a car, so this one has them mostly blocked off to leave just a halo of the original and quite iconic shape. Every line feels like it's that much crisper and built with modern construction methods.

The devil is often in the details. At the front, this 1999 Civic Type R EK9 sports a revised bumper with a kind of 3D mesh for its grilles. They kind of look like Apple's cheese grater. The intakes and spoiler have been revised too. Other mods include the blacked-out wheels, some illumination around the back and a relatively small trunk lid spoiler. Spoiler alert!

Now, at first, the exhaust was impossible to spot, making us think that it's an EV. However, we found the little sneak hiding on the right side of the bumper.

The interior keeps some of the ugly plastics from the 90s but switches to a high-tech speedometer and infotainment system that kind of looks like a home iPhone dock. Bucket seats from Recaro tie everything together.

The EK9 is nothing like a modern Civic Type R. Instead of a turbocharged 2-liter, this uses a 1.6-liter with VTEC of the awesome kind. Even when stock, this produces about 190 horsepower and 118 lb-ft, which was enough to rocket the 3-door compact to 62 in under 7 seconds and push it to a top speed of around 146 mph.