RE: Honda - Geneva 2015

[allergictocheese]

Mini 360 said:

allergictocheese said:

Gearboxes on high revving Hondas have always been a weak point. This car won't be revving so high, so it'll be interesting to see whether issues appear. Well, when I say interesting. I mean I don't really care!

You must have driven a dog then, as any high revving Type R I have driven (DC2, EK9, FD2 aka the actually nice to drive JDM version of the FN2) had great gearboxes. Nice and short throw with a proper mechanical feel.

Edited by Mini 360 on Tuesday 3rd March 09:25

I was referring to reliability rather than shift quality. I've had and done lots and lots of miles in high revving VTEC Hondas from 1990-2003 models.

[havoc]

allergictocheese said:

Mini 360 said:

allergictocheese said:

Gearboxes on high revving Hondas have always been a weak point. This car won't be revving so high, so it'll be interesting to see whether issues appear. Well, when I say interesting. I mean I don't really care!

You must have driven a dog then, as any high revving Type R I have driven (DC2, EK9, FD2 aka the actually nice to drive JDM version of the FN2) had great gearboxes. Nice and short throw with a proper mechanical feel.

I was referring to reliability rather than shift quality. I've had and done lots and lots of miles in high revving VTEC Hondas from 1990-2003 models.

As have I...and I've clearly had different experiences to you.

That said, I'm aware of two things which are known problems:-
- 2nd-3rd synchro on the K20A gearbox
- general gear linkage 'robustness' on B-series engines
...and both, quite honestly, are down at least in part to user error - people being rough with the 'box and not rev-matching on downshifts. Yes the synchro and linkage COULD be stronger, but if driven with sympathy they don't need to be...the issue is Honda have engineered it 'just so' (I suspect to improve feel/operation vs the competition) but it's being driven by decidedly average drivers*, esp. once in the 2nd hand market, and the less-robust design is suffering more. And I suspect the engine characteristics are forcing more gear-changes on a driver than in a turbo-hatch.

(Compared to e.g. a turbo-Ford or turbo-VAG gearbox, the Honda ones are clearly nicer to use, but are also clearly more delicate as they don't need to handle the torque. Horses for courses - criticising the 'box for its design is the same as criticising the engine for its power delivery...)


* Yes, this is over-optimism by Honda perhaps...but how many mfrs care about the 2nd-hand market and >3yr durability?!?

[WCZ]

looks great, esp in black, and £300 a month is decent too

[jimjim150]

What are those rear wheel arches about?!

[snoopy25]

what an absolute friggin' mess Honda have made of that

[cib24]

WCZ said:

looks great, esp in black, and £300 a month is decent too

Yes, but I believe that is with 30% down, so c.£9,000.

[Fire99]

Certainly a strange looking Type R.. Having driven Civic and Accord Type - R's when they were new, I have a little trepidation that the new car will have a comparable character to the old 'screamer' engines.

It seems bizarre that in this day n age where achieving real high speed on the public highway is further and further 'clamped-down' on, that these cars' strongest point is their sheer speed and what they may lack is the character of earlier slower cars.

If anything we kinda need them the other way round. A car that ultimately does a slower lap time but has all the fun and character to make up for it. That said you can even make a bit of a dogs dinner of that route (Toyota GT86 / Subaru BRZ)

I await the road tests with interest.

[Axionknight]

How can you have a dig at them for having a Type R badge..... On a Type R car? It doesn't have speakers like that either, let us face it..... Infact the speakers in its predecessor were fairly crap,

[b0rk]

hookedonboost said:

Using standard tires as well not very expensive optional extra tires!!

Actually development Continental's, nothing in the press release states you'll get said tyres as standard fit. Don't get me wrong if Continental have developed a full standard road tyre not a track day special that out performs Michelin cups then they are rubber geniuses. Remember cups are technically and legally road tyres.

I'd guess the "development" tyres are/where a new iteration of Continental's ContiForceContact trackday tyres and press release will appear from Continental in due course once development is complete.

The car sat on the stand has tyres completely bereft of any manufacturers markings which is strange.