The paper describes, for the first time, experimental study results of a novel direct-injection (DI) internal combustion engine (ICE) with high-pressure thermochemical recuperation (HP-TCR) fed by methanol as a primary fuel. The reported system is the first ever working prototype of ICE with HP-TCR. A detailed description of the developed novel technology, physical and chemical processes in the system is presented. HP-TCR system performance is discussed and compared to the previously published study results of the same engine fed with artificially prepared reformate from compressed gas cylinder. HPTCR demonstrates a significant improvement over the gasoline reference case with 19%-30% relative increase in indicated efficiency and reduction in NOx, CO, HC and CO2 emissions by up to 97, 91, 96 and 15%, respectively. The system performance shows a good prospect to continue the research towards an automotive-scale system development. Further performance improvement options are discussed as well. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.