Thursday 15th October 2015

Honda Integra Type R DC2: Spotted

A very nice example of one of the finest driver's cars ever for just £4,000? Come on!

---

You will have to excuse a slight personal bent to this Spotted as I'm currently saving up for a Honda Integra Type R. I say saving, but what that means is watching endless YouTube videos, buying old magazines and spending way too long in the classifieds. Actually buying one is quite a long way off.

Scuffs aren't visible inside...

But once I can, hopefully there will be cars like this still available. It's a 2000 UK car in Championship White - the best colour, right? - without any rust, with a load of paperwork and, most crucially, a knowledgeable and keen PHer selling it. The Integra is being moved on to make way for a more practical family car and, so upset is the seller by this, there's even a thread where he shares his sorrow with like-minded souls. He also owns a TVR, has had a Ferrari 550 and is selling the Honda as well as a Maserati in the garage downsizing or streamlining or whatever the appropriate phrase is. Enforced cull, perhaps. He is definitely a car man.

This is borne out in the advert and the level of care lavished on this DC2. Every service bar two has been at a Honda dealer, it still comes with the red key and the car is completely standard. Even the seats are holding up reasonably well for a 100,000-mile car.

It's not perfect - there are some scrapes on the paint and the aerial is faulty - but a mechanically fresh car is surely far more important than a concours exterior. Integras were never exactly pretty cars, were they? The beauty is in the mechanicals, that screaming engine and sublime chassis, so better to see they are cared for.

... you'll be too busy to care anyway!

We all know why Integras are becoming such sought after cars, right? No? Widely regarded as one of the best front-wheel drive cars ever, it was light, agile and blessed with one of the greatest engines ever seen in a road car. We're not going to get cars that rev beyond 8,000rpm again, and an Integra will prove more than anything else why that's such a shame.

The market is beginning to wake up to this, one low mileage car currently listed at £10K with a deposit placed. The entry point is now about where this car is priced, making it look great value. Sure, it will buy you a newer EP3 Civic Type R but they won't be future classics. An Accord is also very good but heavier. What other turn-of-the-century coupe are you going to buy instead? A TT?

Alright, I'm a little biased here, but there's no doubt the Integra will be remembered as one of the all-time greats and at four thousand pounds it seems like a tremendous bargain. I'm just praying they stay this way, or at least not far off, until I have the cash. Best get saving properly...

---

HONDA INTEGRA TYPE R DC2
Engine: 1,797cc, inline-four
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Power (hp): 190@8,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 131@7,300rpm
MPG: 32
CO2: 208g/km
First registered: 2000
Recorded mileage: 105,000
Price new: £23,000
Yours for: £3,999

See the original advert here.

[Specs: Zeperfs]

[cwoodsie2]

hmmmmm...... been thinking likewise recently. Find an unmolested example, pamper it and hide it away for weekend blasts.

Owned a Milano teg for 4 years and was the best car i've ever owned. No other car i've been in since provides the levels of feedback and fun. Inspires confidence like nothing else. Yes, looks are more than dated now (UK spec) and other hot hatches are quicker, but that's not the point for me. Simply brilliant cars

[anonymous-user]

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

[Ozzie Osmond]

105,000 miles chav-rocket for £4k?

Flip that coin. Is it,
A. One careful owner, or
B. Utterly ragged.

[danllama]

St John Smythe said:

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

What are you doing on Pistonheads?

[vtecyo]

Wouldn't say that one is particularly worth it. The JDM '98 spec is the one to go for. Oh and if you can find a yellow one with yellow recaros, the seats will go for a grand.

[mp3manager]

I had a DC2 for 4 years and a DC5 for 8 years and yes, I'd like another DC2 but not that one, it's an absolute nail.

[anonymous-user]

danllama said:

St John Smythe said:

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

What are you doing on Pistonheads?

Honda has done over 100k so knackered. New Audi would run rings round it.

[garylythgoe]

I had mine for 9 years, and I loved every one of those years.

I still look back at it with fond memories....

[Vee12V]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_pepo98Cbg

[Bodged]

St John Smythe said:

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

and the Audi has a much nicer interior and does more mpg.

[vtecyo]

St John Smythe said:

danllama said:

St John Smythe said:

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

What are you doing on Pistonheads?

Honda has done over 100k so knackered. New Audi would run rings round it.

Not sure if troll.

[anonymous-user]

Bodged said:

St John Smythe said:

Not sure why anyone would buy this when you can lease a brand new Audi A3 for not much a month.

and the Audi has a much nicer interior and does more mpg.

Yes and the four rings of success on the front.

[jontbone]

mp3manager said:

I had a DC2 for 4 years and a DC5 for 8 years and yes, I'd like another DC2 but not that one, it's an absolute nail.

Given that you've spent plenty of time in both, did you prefer one in particular? I've always fancied a Teg, had an EP3 Type R and spent plenty of time in an Accord Type R and an S2000, loved them all. My biggest issue with the DC2 is spending such a high amount on a car with that interior. Exterior wise I love the look of the DC2.

[anonymous-user]

Ozzie Osmond said:

105,000 miles chav-rocket for £4k?

Flip that coin. Is it,
A. One careful owner, or
B. Utterly ragged.

Is that when a car falls apart...105,000 miles? I'd be more worried about your DS3 (in both ways) than a DC2 As for ragged, do you think that anyone buys one to drive around like Miss Daisy? I happily 'used' mine for 6 years and apart from a clutch change nothing failed. Never burnt much oil, everything worked when i sold it. The biggest issue will be corrosion these days.

Brilliant cars.

[anonymous-user]

St John Smythe said:

Yes and the four rings of success on the front.

Aspirational. Innit

[jontbone]

yonex said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

105,000 miles chav-rocket for £4k?

Flip that coin. Is it,
A. One careful owner, or
B. Utterly ragged.

Is that when a car falls apart...105,000 miles? I'd be more worried about your DS3 (in both ways) than a DC2 As for ragged, do you think that anyone buys one to drive around like Miss Daisy? I happily 'used' mine for 6 years and apart from a clutch change nothing failed. Never burnt much oil, everything worked when i sold it. The biggest issue will be corrosion these days.

Brilliant cars.

My EP3 Type R was the only car I've had where nothing went wrong. Great fun, I miss it

[is1]

I have a black UK version with 113,000 odd miles on it. Feels fresh as a daisy.
For the price, these are among the finest focused PH cars out there. They are truly astonishing straight out of the box.
I've had a good number of the other much-lauded front wheel drive cars, a couple of Evo VI TMEs and some rear drivers but the Integra tops the lot.
As a balls out driver's car, it has no weaknesses. Engine, gearbox, chassis, seating position, materials and control weights are all top notch.
They also have wonderful geeky detailing (Recaro Speeds, MOMO wheel, titanium shifter, forged 15-inch Enkeis, double wishbone suspension, a fair bit of body bracing).
Although I've never driven a GT3, I suspect a DC2 is very much how a cut-price GT3 would feel.

And we definitely aren't going to see its like again.

[Jam12321]

Nice, like the look of that. Not after front wheelers currently but would be up there if I did lose all sense of right and wrong.

Honda has made some cracking good cars, just a shame that the s2000 isn't my cup of tea and the NSX costs so much...

[dom9]

mp3manager said:

I had a DC2 for 4 years and a DC5 for 8 years and yes, I'd like another DC2 but not that one, it's an absolute nail.

Have you seen it (genuine question)?

I've had it saved in my eBay watch list for a while.

Thought the shut lines on the bonnet and round the bumper looked a bit suspect in the pics but then a lot of others look like that.

The seats also appear to have pretty collapsed bolsters, though the advert suggests they're good. Then there is the rocker cover that seem to have lost an awful lot of paint.

Genuinely not talking it down as I'm interested and it doesn't seem horrendously priced... I just don't want to go and see it if someone thinks it is hiding a few surprises!

What an engine though! Must own a Honda red top before everything goes forced induction! EP3 is also on my list of cars to look out for...

Edited by dom9 on Thursday 15th October 14:59

[wolves_wanderer]

Ozzie Osmond said:

105,000 miles chav-rocket for £4k?

Flip that coin. Is it,
A. One careful owner, or
B. Utterly ragged.

Chav rocket though