Civic Type R EP3 - JDM

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After a year of driving around in a diesel Mini, I'd been getting more than a little bored. It was bought as a low cost run around for a while, but inevitably the feet had started to itch.

Having recently been through the process of importing a Civic FD2 for the Mrs to replace her Integra DC5 (which we pick up next month), I had a hankering for an imported car for myself.

It needed to be a fairly sensible, reliable and not too expensive to run daily transport to do about 9k miles a year. Machinery such as Evos, Imprezas and Skylines were therefore out. I've never been into the rear drive Japanese stuff either, so another Honda was going to fit the bill.

The JDM Civic EP3 has the same engine and gearbox as the Integra DC5, an all important LSD, thicker roll bar and red Recaros amongst other minor stuff. Power a little better than the UK model at 215 bhp.

Having looked at the auction prices, really nice high grade cars were going to be near enough £10k all in on the road in the UK - nobody in their right mind is going to pay that for one.

So, I thought about looking at otherwise very nice cars that had some accident history or some other issues to sort out.

This one popped up a couple of days ago:

Civic 1 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

It was a grade "RA", which means it had some repair work, but done to a very high standard. In this case, it was just a replaced front wing. Otherwise, as you can see from the auction sheet, the bodywork is incredibly tidy.

It was also a relatively low grade "C" interior. It turned out that there had been some water ingress to the rear - probably due to the dodgy looking antennas fitted to the rear of the roof and some untidy looking wiring through the cabin from them. An inspection revealed the water damage wasn't too bad.

So, the car has one or two issues to be sorted out - mainly removing the antennas and filling the holes they leave in the roof somehow.

The really good news - the auction sheet also reveals that it has just 56,000 kilometres on it. That's 35,000 miles, in a 13 year old car.

I reckon it'll be about £8k on the road for what will be a fully sorted, ridiculously low mileage one of these. Torque GT have one up for sale at the moment for £8k, but it has 73k miles on it.

...and here it is:

Civic 6 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Civic 5 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Civic 3 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Civic 2 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Just got the 2 month wait before its on the road now!

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TheJimi said:

Cracking

What are the things on either side of the roof? Some kinda aeriel?

Yeah, those are the antenna things I need to get rid of. The wiring looks like it goes down to the cigarette lighter for power.

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danjama said:

Shame about the issues, but they do look so good in white. So bored of seeing them in grey or black.

I had to get one with a couple of issues. If it had no issues, it would have cost me more like £10k with that mileage

Forgot to mention that it is also has the C package, which isn't that common. I've yet to figure out what that adds though!

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LaurasOtherHalf said:

I'm not trying to rain on your parade-it's a lovely looking thing so fair play but I have to ask-why not just buy a nice UK model for half the price?

Is the engine that much better in these?

Mainly the LSD and Championship White paint. But it's also about rarity and the "JDM" factor. If you're not into jap cars, you won't get it

I wouldn't be content with a UK EP3, no matter how nice. I could get the best one for sale in the UK for slightly less than the £8k I'll end up paying here, but I'd always be thinking it wasn't quite the real deal I wanted. No disrespect to their owners what so ever

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Butter Face said:

I gotta say, I'm into the scene and love anything 'JDM' (so lame) but I couldn't pay that for an EP3, I'm too cheap

They're nice, but the spec isn't special enough from the UK models to entice me, a DC5 I can understand, but each to their own. It does look ace.

We imported a DC5 for the Mrs back in 2007, so it's been with us for 8 years. So, been there done that. I think the Civic will be easier to use than the teg as a daily driver .......and the JDM EP3 is way rarer than the DC5 in the UK.

£8k for a 35k mile one of these really isn't an issue for me. Look at the prices for the earlier EK9

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It'll be about 10 weeks.

I might be tempted to put an aftermarket induction on it - apparently they sound epic on Vtec with them. Otherwise, no it'll be staying as is.

Butter Face - any chance you could edit your C Pack post? It's making the thread difficult to read

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Very slightly less power than the DC5 and has the same steering as the UK cars. Guess that's their only weak point.

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Nice one, cheers

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God I hope that is the case - would make life a hell of a lot easier

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Got some storage yard photos through.

Not bad for a grade "C" interior me thinks.

EP3-1001603_7_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

EP3-1001603_8_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Looking good underneath.

EP3-1001603_6_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Engine bay is a little...er....dusty

EP3-1001603_12_vga by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

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The stereo is still there, but looks like the screen has been "kept"

Gear knobs on the Hondas are all shipped via post, as they do get knicked during shipping.

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Just a little update to this - got this photo from the importer

Civic 8 by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Japanese history, gearknob and the screen of the stereo have arrived in the UK

Pity the car didn't get on a boat until the 25th July and wont be here till mid September.

Still, the last 7 weeks have flown by, so another 6 isn't too much of an issue.

Edited by rossub on Saturday 1st August 09:30

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Yeah 6 weeks is fine. Need to get the Mini cleaned up for sale in the meantime

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Thanks

It arrived at port in Newcastle on Thursday (14 weeks after purchase!) and now waiting for the Customs invoice to come through.

Be another couple of weeks before it gets here, registered, MOTd and finally on the road!

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Yeah - the wait is starting to annoy me now!! Never thought it would stretch to 16-17 weeks.

I used Aberdeenshire imports to avoid a trek down to England again.

The wait hasn't been good for my wallet either - oops! ....but should sound good

IMG_5981a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

Anyone want a Mini?

IMG_5977a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

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It's arrived with the importer, but that's 45 miles from me. Hopefully going to pop over for a look at the weekend, while it's getting the fog light, speed sensor and Mot done.

Sounds like its in serious need of a good cleaning, but could tell that from the pics. Will post up some UK taken pics shortly.

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Already been on the case with that one

It's going to be on a bracket, so that it can be hidden under the bumper when not needed

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Its some kind of switch on the Civic.

I'm hoping it converts the reading on the trip to miles travelled rather than kilometres, as well as changing the speed reading, but we'll see.

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So, went to see it today. The importer has given it an initial wash and engine clean to take off the worst.

Its clearly been sitting somewhere in Japan for quite a long time and is in dire need of a really thorough clean, clay, polish and wax. Fundamentally the bodywork is excellent - almost immaculate really. There's a damn good car in there that will be revealed in time.

Unfortunately the wheels will need a refurb. Might try touching them in with paint for the winter and then do the refurb in the spring. Will be getting new red H stickers for the centre caps ASAP - they let it down quite a bit.

Minor jobs to do - wiper arms rusty and rubber crumbled off the strips along top of the doors. Antenna to remove, which is just stuck on. Should all be fairly easy and cheap.

Interior - hmmm....its been smoked in and wasn't aware of that. Couple of burns in the driver seat and the whole thing needs a professional valet - don't think its been cleaned, ever! Should come up ok though.

Forgot to take a pic of inside the boot, buts its excellent nick.

IMG_5992a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5993a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5995a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5994a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5996a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5997a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5998a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_5999a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6000a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6001a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6002a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6003a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6004a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6005a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6006a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6007a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6008a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6009a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr
IMG_6010a by Ross Davidson, on Flickr

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It's actually a welcome back. They were made in Swindon and shipped out to Japan - that's why the JDM cars have Union Jacks on the boot lids

Must have annoyed the Swindon workers making these massively better specced cars, which the UK couldn't buy!