Civic type r question
Discussion
Evening people of PH. My other half has just passed her test and now looking for her car. We've had a look round test drove a few etc. Her budget isn't great (3k). She has her heart set on a civic type R, she knows see not going to be getting the best example for her money, but what should we be looking out for when buying? Any help would be great. Thanks
Butter Face said:
Has she looked at insurance??
I've got a twin turbo supra with flux,I phoned them and they quoted her £197 a month fully comp,they then quoted her 231 a month on a 1.0 corsa..... She's set on a CTR, had a look at focus ST but she wasn't keen. Like I said,I know she's not going to get a pristine example,its going to be a high miler etc but is there anything specific I should look for?Make sure it's got FULL service history. Every oil change, on time and with the correct oil.
These engines, drivetrain etc are utterly bombproof. However, the cam chain tensioner is lubricated by oil. If the oil is not changed often enough the oil ways block up and the tensioner doesn't work.
This leads to chain slap at the best and timing slipped/ chain snapping at the worst. The latter will write the car off!
These engines, drivetrain etc are utterly bombproof. However, the cam chain tensioner is lubricated by oil. If the oil is not changed often enough the oil ways block up and the tensioner doesn't work.
This leads to chain slap at the best and timing slipped/ chain snapping at the worst. The latter will write the car off!
It might be a high mileage, pre-facelift model that she can afford, but with good service history (remember, if its only been serviced every 15,000 miles but has a stamp each time, that coutns as full history even if it isnt the right intervals...so beware of "full service history") What about insurance? They are somewhat desirable cars and people like to pinch them
I paid £2500 for a Milano Red Ep3 Civic Type-R 3 weeks ago.
51 plate, 3 previous owners one for 10 years.
It's completely factory standard and is in excellent condition, FHSH with everything from wiper blades to number plate bulbs done at Honda with receipt, and is only on 117k.
There are bargains to be had if you look around.
As said above a full service history is a must, under £3000 then I would only get one with full dealer history just for peace of mind.
I would avoid anything even mildly modified. A lot of modifications on these cars are done to a very high standard, but without knowing this for sure I wouldn't risk it.
They use a lot of oil, Honda recommend checking the oil every full tank of fuel and expect it to use a litre of 0w-30 every 600-800miles. Ask the dealer/owner how often they check the oil and what oil they use...if its less than once a fortnight and it's not run on the right grade then walk away.
They are prone to rattily heatshields, especially the infamous driveshaft heatshield rattle. If you can hear a rattle from under the drivers footwell at around 3-4k rpm then that's what it will be.
This a good buying guide for the EP3:
http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?8...
And this is common faults:
http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?6...
I love mine and it's easily one of the best hot hatches I've driven, for the age the condition is excellent.
Good luck finding a good one and have a good look on http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/forum.php they are all really helpful!
51 plate, 3 previous owners one for 10 years.
It's completely factory standard and is in excellent condition, FHSH with everything from wiper blades to number plate bulbs done at Honda with receipt, and is only on 117k.
There are bargains to be had if you look around.
As said above a full service history is a must, under £3000 then I would only get one with full dealer history just for peace of mind.
I would avoid anything even mildly modified. A lot of modifications on these cars are done to a very high standard, but without knowing this for sure I wouldn't risk it.
They use a lot of oil, Honda recommend checking the oil every full tank of fuel and expect it to use a litre of 0w-30 every 600-800miles. Ask the dealer/owner how often they check the oil and what oil they use...if its less than once a fortnight and it's not run on the right grade then walk away.
They are prone to rattily heatshields, especially the infamous driveshaft heatshield rattle. If you can hear a rattle from under the drivers footwell at around 3-4k rpm then that's what it will be.
This a good buying guide for the EP3:
http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?8...
And this is common faults:
http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?6...
I love mine and it's easily one of the best hot hatches I've driven, for the age the condition is excellent.
Good luck finding a good one and have a good look on http://type-r-owners.co.uk/forums/forum.php they are all really helpful!
Not all doom and gloom at that price.
Some examples in Autotrader that look ok. Plenty of SH and full MOTs.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
Some examples in Autotrader that look ok. Plenty of SH and full MOTs.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...
billy939 said:
I paid £2500 for a Milano Red Ep3 Civic Type-R 3 weeks ago.
51 plate, 3 previous owners one for 10 years.
It's completely factory standard and is in excellent condition, FHSH with everything from wiper blades to number plate bulbs done at Honda with receipt, and is only on 117k.
There are bargains to be had if you look around.
As said above a full service history is a must, under £3000 then I would only get one with full dealer history just for peace of mind.
I would avoid anything even mildly modified. A lot of modifications on these cars are done to a very high standard, but without knowing this for sure I wouldn't risk it.
They use a lot of oil, Honda recommend checking the oil every full tank of fuel and expect it to use a litre of 0w-30 every 600-800miles. Ask the dealer/owner how often they check the oil and what oil they use...if its less than once a fortnight and it's not run on the right grade then walk away.
My FN2 Type R used approximately 500ml of oil over 4000 miles, so it can vary. I tend to check it once a month. 51 plate, 3 previous owners one for 10 years.
It's completely factory standard and is in excellent condition, FHSH with everything from wiper blades to number plate bulbs done at Honda with receipt, and is only on 117k.
There are bargains to be had if you look around.
As said above a full service history is a must, under £3000 then I would only get one with full dealer history just for peace of mind.
I would avoid anything even mildly modified. A lot of modifications on these cars are done to a very high standard, but without knowing this for sure I wouldn't risk it.
They use a lot of oil, Honda recommend checking the oil every full tank of fuel and expect it to use a litre of 0w-30 every 600-800miles. Ask the dealer/owner how often they check the oil and what oil they use...if its less than once a fortnight and it's not run on the right grade then walk away.
Rear caliper pistons can seize up. Not much you can do to check that. The gear lever gator can ware and can tear in places.
Service stamps are all well and good, but I want to see lots of invoices and receipts for parts/services ect.
Its worth being aware that the cheaper EP3s will come up with out Air Con. It was a £1200 option.
The stereo in the EP3s is known to be a bit crap, so finding a car with an aftermarket will be a bonus.
no-worries88 said:
I've got a twin turbo supra with flux,I phoned them and they quoted her £197 a month fully comp,they then quoted her 231 a month on a 1.0 corsa..... She's set on a CTR, had a look at focus ST but she wasn't keen. Like I said,I know she's not going to get a pristine example,its going to be a high miler etc but is there anything specific I should look for?
I am surprised at the insurance quotes!! I appreciate Flux specialise, but that is too extreme ends of the car spectrum for a very similar cost! (and the supra is cheaper). bakerstreet said:
My FN2 Type R used approximately 500ml of oil over 4000 miles, so it can vary. I tend to check it once a month.
Rear caliper pistons can seize up. Not much you can do to check that. The gear lever gator can ware and can tear in places.
Service stamps are all well and good, but I want to see lots of invoices and receipts for parts/services ect.
Its worth being aware that the cheaper EP3s will come up with out Air Con. It was a £1200 option.
The stereo in the EP3s is known to be a bit crap, so finding a car with an aftermarket will be a bonus.
Yeah it can vary a lot on the oil used and how often you use vtec :P I just went on what it says in the Ep3 owners manual. Rear caliper pistons can seize up. Not much you can do to check that. The gear lever gator can ware and can tear in places.
Service stamps are all well and good, but I want to see lots of invoices and receipts for parts/services ect.
Its worth being aware that the cheaper EP3s will come up with out Air Con. It was a £1200 option.
The stereo in the EP3s is known to be a bit crap, so finding a car with an aftermarket will be a bonus.
A lot of owners will use 5w-40 which will last longer, Honda recommend either this or 0w-30(which is what I use), as long as it's fully synth then it should be fine at either grade.
I hear you on the stereo point though, it is dreadful on the ep3....genuinely rubbish.
billy939 said:
Yeah it can vary a lot on the oil used and how often you use vtec :P I just went on what it says in the Ep3 owners manual.
A lot of owners will use 5w-40 which will last longer, Honda recommend either this or 0w-30(which is what I use), as long as it's fully synth then it should be fine at either grade.
I hear you on the stereo point though, it is dreadful on the ep3....genuinely rubbish.
I have always carried spare oil in all of my cars, so if the light does come on, I can pull over anywhere and just top it off immediately. I had a company VW Golf that could burn through 300ml of oil in 1000 miles A lot of owners will use 5w-40 which will last longer, Honda recommend either this or 0w-30(which is what I use), as long as it's fully synth then it should be fine at either grade.
I hear you on the stereo point though, it is dreadful on the ep3....genuinely rubbish.
I've read that Type Rs can burn through oil at a similar rate. I've heard that some can go through a litre every 1000 miles 
The stereo is fairly tinny. Car stereos are cheap as chips these days. You can buy a no brand double din satnav/bluetooth/ipod control system from EBay for £200 now. I think you can also get a speaker upgrade kit from Kenwood for £200 too

Matt_N said:
£197 a month for insurance!
Yep I thought that to, you can afford £3k for a car and are happy to spend £2364 to insure it.Is this not the reason the Civic Type S was made, all the looks but not all the performance.
When you are buying a £3k 10+ year old car it is absurd to insist on EVERY single bit of history being present.
Perhaps you need to allow a little bit of budget for initial maintenance just to be certain you are happy with oil/filters etc.
aka_kerrly said:
Matt_N said:
£197 a month for insurance!
Yep I thought that to, you can afford £3k for a car and are happy to spend £2364 to insure it.Is this not the reason the Civic Type S was made, all the looks but not all the performance.
When you are buying a £3k 10+ year old car it is absurd to insist on EVERY single bit of history being present.
Perhaps you need to allow a little bit of budget for initial maintenance just to be certain you are happy with oil/filters etc.
If it was me id tell her to get a cheap run about for a year and then hopefully a year of no claims will also mean a reduced cost in insurance and a bit more money to buy a better example / look after the car.
aka_kerrly said:
Matt_N said:
£197 a month for insurance!
Yep I thought that to, you can afford £3k for a car and are happy to spend £2364 to insure it.Is this not the reason the Civic Type S was made, all the looks but not all the performance.
When you are buying a £3k 10+ year old car it is absurd to insist on EVERY single bit of history being present.
Perhaps you need to allow a little bit of budget for initial maintenance just to be certain you are happy with oil/filters etc.
The Type-S has all the looks!? The Civic Type-S has none of the look IMO:
Compared the much more aggressive looking R:
The 1.6 Sport is better looking than the ugly Type-S.
And I don't see how insisting on all the history is absurd, I did and it took me all of 1 day to find a good one. They were a popular car so the amount to choose from is huge, and being a performance car a lot were enthusiast owned, usually resulting in a very comprehensive history.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff



