Tuesday 14th February 2017

25 years of Type R: Spotted special

We've spent the past few days in some VTEC greats, so what better time to go hunting around the classifieds?

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Hopefully by now you will have read about what a great show Retromobile is, so now's the time to talk about the journey down there. Specifically the five Honda Type Rs that formed our convoy, not the bit where a Parisian street was partially blocked because we'd arrived at the wrong car park...

In chronological order they were an Integra Type R, Accord Type R and the first UK Civic Type R, plus then the second-gen car and the current turbocharged version. Or DC2, CH1, EP3, FN2 and FK2, if you're up on your product codes. Each has its merits and, with Honda celebrating 25 years of the Type R badge in 2017, it seemed the right moment to go searching out some VTEC thrills in the classifieds. Look away now if you like easy torque!

That the Accord was so good wasn't exactly a surprise given what's been written about it, though it still takes some recalibration to get the most from an Accord that's this well sorted. It responds well to being driven hard (even on slightly old tyres), the diff-enhanced front end keen and the steering so much better than later electric systems. This is old fashioned VTEC too, with a wicked step up in performance from about 5,800rpm that's sustained all the way to nearly 8,000rpm. In an Accord!

It's a rare car, the Accord Type R, though one or two are often available. The post-2001 facelift cars are desirable for alleviating the gearbox synchro issues that afflicted some early cars, plus they can be run on 95 RON (pre-facelift models require 98 RON). Some though prefer the styling of the first model. On PH currently there's a very nice 1999 car with a decent ad and a £4,300 asking price, plus a facelifted example with more miles at less than £2K; values are slowly climbing though, so get in there while you can!

Though it appeared revolutionary back at its launch, the first UK Civic Type R (the EP3) now feels pleasingly old fashioned. It's light and agile, screams its way through eight-and-a-bit thousand revs and will lift-off oversteer with a bit of provocation. It's a right old giggle in fact, even allowing for some duff electric steering. That entertainment is now on offer from just £2.5K , with a selection of decent cars at around £4K and the very best late ones at £6K or so.

For something a bit different, how about a Japanese Domestic Market EP3? With a limited-slip diff and another 20hp, it promises even more excitement. They're available from £7K.

As has been well documented, the FN2 was never received as well as its predecessor. In its defence, the later car sounds even better and its steering is better sorted. The ride is fairly pants though. You'll pay around £5,000 for a decent early FN2, though if you particularly want one it's worth stretching to a Type R with the factory-fitted limited-slip diff, either a Championship White edition or one of cars from late 2009 onwards where it was standard.

Much has been written on PH about the current FK2 Civic Type R, so that doesn't need to be repeated here. What can be added is that the turbocharged car didn't feel out of place amongst its forebears, even if its sluggish throttle response was even more cruelly exposed than usual! It remains a fantastically thrilling hot hatch; with production now coming to an end there will be far fewer FK2s than previous Type Rs, which may help residual value. For now the cheapest route in is this Sporty Blue car, priced at £24,450.

To the Integra then, finally. Honda's latest heritage acquisition will be given a more detailed assessment in due course, so we won't divulge too much here. Everything that was raved about in 1998 is most certainly present and correct here though, the Teg comfortably more exhilarating than anything else in the group. In fact its talents perhaps shine even more brightly in 2017, so seldom are they now found in performance cars. If you want one - and yes, you really, really do want one - then leggy UK cars start at just over £4K, with the best examples now pushing £10,000. Sadly on PH at the moment there aren't any UK cars, though the mechanically similar Japanese Integras are the same sort of money.

Keep an eye out for rust and enjoy!

[dannyDC2]

Owned my DC2 5 years now, longest I've ever owned a car by far.

It's that good, I've had to buy another one, just with less holes in it.

Edited by dannyDC2 on Tuesday 14th February 10:07

[dannyDC2]

Omega_Dan said:

If you drive a JDM car and a UK spec DC2 you will never want a UK spec again.

The JDM machine is more superior in every way... It annoys me in articles like this when the UK car is described as "the one to have" - It isn't!

Absolute bullst. What makes the JDM car superior in every way? Is it the identical engine, brakes, steering rack, suspension bushes, gearbox, or interior?

There are some differences along the years with the above, it all gets a bit confusing when you dig into the different model specs between 96 spec, UKDM, 98 spec, USDM, AUDM, EUDM etc etc - but they all share the same components and engineering.

The only differences worth noting between the JDM and UK cars is the power output. It's slightly less on UK cars due to the exhaust manifold being narrower, larger catalytic converter, and ECU. Probably done to meet with some EU regs? Not sure, but it's easily rectifiable. The engines themselves are EXACTLY the same. Some early B18cs were hand built, but in the later days all B18cs and B18c6s (the EU model of the DC2 Type R engine), were machine ported for accuracy and identical internally.

The UK spec cars actually had the better of the two gearboxes from launch... the 4.7 S80.

Please explain yourself.

[dannyDC2]

havoc said:

stuff