civic type r for the missus

[no-worries88]

Evening people of PH. My other half has just passed her test and now looking for her car. We've had a look round test drove a few etc. Her budget isn't great (3k). She has her heart set on a civic type R, she knows see not going to be getting the best example for her money, but what should we be looking out for when buying? Any help would be great. Thanks

[Scousefella]

A CTR as a first car after passing her test - I hope you get some insurance quotes before buying.

[no-worries88]

Already have mate. I insure my twin turbo supra with Adrian flux,and have insured 911 turbo with them previously. I reccomended she tried them,they quoted her cheaper than a 1.0 Corsa

[integra1799]

I don't think there's to much that goes wrong with them to be honest. The main thing i would look for when looking to buy one would be service history. When test driving make sure that you can select 2nd gear ok as sometimes the Syncro's wear which can cause difficulty selecting 2nd gear. I've also linked you to the Type R owners Civic buying guide which should prove helpful for you.

http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?8...

Hope that is of some help to you.

[no-worries88]

integra1799 said:

I don't think there's to much that goes wrong with them to be honest. The main thing i would look for when looking to buy one would be service history. When test driving make sure that you can select 2nd gear ok as sometimes the Syncro's wear which can cause difficulty selecting 2nd gear. I've also linked you to the Type R owners Civic buying guide which should prove helpful for you.

http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?8...

Hope that is of some help to you.

Brilliant,thank you very much.

[integra1799]

No worries just other things like checking the oil level to make sure it isn't low and that it's a nice colour. Tyre's also wear more on the inside edges so be sure to check that as well when you're looking.

[rjkoneill]

integra1799 said:

Tyre's also wear more on the inside edges so be sure to check that as well when you're looking.

they dont. a geometry setup will benefit a CTR immensely. my car had a decent geometry setup completed soon after i got it and I never had any issues with uneven tyre wear.

OP - check that the car has had valve clearances done at the correct intervals by a reputable place.

the checklist on TRO is fairly comprehensive, but as your budget suggests you will be looking at higher mileage examples, it may be worth considering checks for valve clearance adjustments every 25,000 miles.

mine had fhsh and came with notes of all the VC checks in the documentation.

[TAHodgson]

02 and earlier EP3's suffer from an immobiliser fault (just had it sorted on mine) that can cost a couple of hundred of your finest to get replaced. They all use oil, some more than others, so a check once a week is good practise, as it should be on most cars. Mine has been utterly reliable aside from that immobiliser fault, the previous owner, a good friend of mine owned it from new and treated it to 6 monthly oil changes. In his time it had a rear wheel bearing aside from routine maintenance. It's just ticked over 130k!

[seany87]

What is this immobiliser fault? I have an early EP3..

[TAHodgson]

seany87 said:

What is this immobiliser fault? I have an early EP3..

The pre-facelift cars were fitted with an alarm/immobiliser system made by Hamilton & Palmer and is a known weak point (the facelift cars were fitted with Honda's own system). Can have various symptoms, mine would lock and unlock the car, but the ignition on but would not turn the car over. I've heard of others getting locked in/out of their cars, and others losing power while driving. As far as I know something goes wrong with all of them eventually, it's just a case of waiting. Any decent auto electrician should be able sort it, as mine did.

[cat220]

TAHodgson said:

The pre-facelift cars were fitted with an alarm/immobiliser system made by Hamilton & Palmer and is a known weak point (the facelift cars were fitted with Honda's own system). Can have various symptoms, mine would lock and unlock the car, but the ignition on but would not turn the car over. I've heard of others getting locked in/out of their cars, and others losing power while driving. As far as I know something goes wrong with all of them eventually, it's just a case of waiting. Any decent auto electrician should be able sort it, as mine did.

I bought an ep3 new in 2003 and there was a recall for the alarm.

[otolith]

I had one new in 2002, don't remember any alarm recalls.

My wife passed her test while I had it, cost me essentially nothing to put her on the insurance.

[Lewtyper]

Mine was faultless when I ran mine. As said, fast road set up works wonders.

OP- Can I ask how old your GF is? Mine is 22, just passed and cant seem to get a sensible quote on anything half decent