EP3 Civic Type R. SHOCKED!
EP3 Civic Type R. SHOCKED!
Author
Discussion

cashmax

Original Poster:

1,487 posts

263 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
My 19 year old lad has been mad about his CTR since he got it about a year ago. My extent of involvement has mainly been helping him maintain it, upgrading some of the safety aspects (brakes etc) and general mechanic.

He went to a caffeine and machine about an hour away last night and got carried away and ended up having a few pints and couldn't drive back. Which left it to me to drive back since we met him there later on.

The car is pretty much standard apart from a brake upgrade and the obligatory awful noisy back box.

I drove it back, just over an hours drive on some relatively empty road and a mix of a few few dual carriageways and a+b roads.

I was completely amazed at what an involving, fun and competent car it is. Perhaps one of the most complete driving experiences I have had on uk roads for a very long time. This comes from someone who races caterhams, has owned cars like a Ferrari 458 and various bmw M cars over the years.

It just seemed to be in the perfect sweet spot where you can use almost all the performance, without travelling at stupid speeds.

So pleased my son gets to enjoy something as pure as that before these cars get legislated off the roads.


andy43

12,567 posts

277 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
biggrin
We’ve had a ten year old Mini JCW for six months, replacing a Honda E. Original plan was 3,000 miles per annum. I’ve had to double that.
Something like a CTR would be even more fun.
New cars suck.

Smint

2,850 posts

58 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
Truly excellent cars.
Petrolhead daughter has two Rs, an NA and a turbocharged model, she often says she gets more fun from the NA because it can be driven using all the revs, the turbo version is almost too rapid for the road.

Glad you're helping with the mechanical stuff, Japanese brakes especially i find (having two Japanese vehicles ourselves) need regular proper maintenance, something now almost impossible to find outside of DIY.

BlueJazz

790 posts

195 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
Super Sonic said:
And it isn't the best Honda.
It isn't even the best typeR.
You can't leave us all in suspense!

s m

24,159 posts

226 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
cashmax said:
My 19 year old lad has been mad about his CTR since he got it about a year ago. My extent of involvement has mainly been helping him maintain it, upgrading some of the safety aspects (brakes etc) and general mechanic.

He went to a caffeine and machine about an hour away last night and got carried away and ended up having a few pints and couldn't drive back. Which left it to me to drive back since we met him there later on.

The car is pretty much standard apart from a brake upgrade and the obligatory awful noisy back box.

I drove it back, just over an hours drive on some relatively empty road and a mix of a few few dual carriageways and a+b roads.

I was completely amazed at what an involving, fun and competent car it is. Perhaps one of the most complete driving experiences I have had on uk roads for a very long time. This comes from someone who races caterhams, has owned cars like a Ferrari 458 and various bmw M cars over the years.

It just seemed to be in the perfect sweet spot where you can use almost all the performance, without travelling at stupid speeds.

So pleased my son gets to enjoy something as pure as that before these cars get legislated off the roads.
Just out of interest, what did you drive back 25 years ago? Never tried anything like that or a Saxo VTS/106 GTI or Clio 172?

rossub

5,519 posts

213 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
Which is why I’m picking up a low mileage JDM one in 2 weeks time.

Back to basics - light, manual, fun, NA hot hatch. Planning to keep it for good weather use only as long as I’m able.

No doubt the driving gods will be on shortly clutching pearls about the electric steering…. they sold nearly 20,000 in this country and no hot hatch ever made is perfect.

Glenn63

3,743 posts

107 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
I had one back in the day saved up for several years and got one on my 21st birthday. Great cars, loved the gearstick right next to the steering wheel, the second vtec shove at 6k rpm just, I keep looking at DC2 integras to get back some of that Honda NA magic.

BlueJazz

790 posts

195 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
I bought a Civic VTi couple back in 2000, lovely fun with a screaming engine.

cashmax

Original Poster:

1,487 posts

263 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
s m said:
Just out of interest, what did you drive back 25 years ago? Never tried anything like that or a Saxo VTS/106 GTI or Clio 172?
Honestly, never really had many hot hatches of that era. I was very into Alfa's and had many, many suds, sprints, etc, but missed out on the type of cars above, when I could afford, I went with things like Mercedes cosworths and bigger alfas, like 75 and GTV's. The only hot hatches I had was a renault 5 turbo and a golf gti.

Looks like I missed out.

cashmax

Original Poster:

1,487 posts

263 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
rossub said:
Which is why I m picking up a low mileage JDM one in 2 weeks time.

Back to basics - light, manual, fun, NA hot hatch. Planning to keep it for good weather use only as long as I m able.

No doubt the driving gods will be on shortly clutching pearls about the electric steering . they sold nearly 20,000 in this country and no hot hatch ever made is perfect.
I guess the steering would be the only factor that could be improved on, very little feedback, feels a little dead, but after an hour driving it, I didn't even notice it anymore. But on balance, still surprised at just how perfectly the performance is matched to UK roads. I'm 55, and haven't changed gear that many times on 60 minutes in a very long time.

s m

24,159 posts

226 months

Sunday 15th March
quotequote all
cashmax said:
s m said:
Just out of interest, what did you drive back 25 years ago? Never tried anything like that or a Saxo VTS/106 GTI or Clio 172?
Honestly, never really had many hot hatches of that era. I was very into Alfa's and had many, many suds, sprints, etc, but missed out on the type of cars above, when I could afford, I went with things like Mercedes cosworths and bigger alfas, like 75 and GTV's. The only hot hatches I had was a renault 5 turbo and a golf gti.

Looks like I missed out.
Well I think if you had a 5GTT you didn’t miss out entirely on the ‘flavour’ - one of the very best even if they weren’t n/asp.

You had some great cars along the way - similar tastes to mine but I also managed a few of the hot hatch greats like the VTS and GTE 16v as well

Terzo123

4,648 posts

231 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Nice low mileage one for sale here

Used 2005 Honda Civic 2.0 Civic Type-R 3dr for sale | James Glen Car Sales Ltd https://www.jamesglen.co.uk/used/cars/honda/civic/...

Super Sonic

12,242 posts

77 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
BlueJazz said:
Super Sonic said:
And it isn't the best Honda.
It isn't even the best typeR.
You can't leave us all in suspense!
I have deleted my post as, looking back, it looked like I was criticising the ep3, which wasn't my intention.

Vsix and Vtec

1,308 posts

41 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
I owned an FN2 for a few years, the Type-R is strange in that people know they're fun, but are still surprised this is true when they drive one. Cracking little things, an absolute "bucket list" car for any petrol head.

rossub

5,519 posts

213 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Terzo123 said:
Nice low mileage one for sale here

Used 2005 Honda Civic 2.0 Civic Type-R 3dr for sale | James Glen Car Sales Ltd https://www.jamesglen.co.uk/used/cars/honda/civic/...
The problem with that one is that mileage is so low, you’d be scared to use it. Definitely one for a car collector.

I’m getting one with 43k - another 20k on it won’t make a lot of difference to the value.