RE: Shed of the Week: Honda Civic Type R (EP3)

[anonymous-user]

Welding a wishbone for an MOT is up there with baked bean cans and exhaust paste to fix a blowing exhaust, newspaper and filler in bodywork holes, and stuffing cable ties into a worn bush. No matter how strong the weld might be the geometry of the arm is going to be completely wrong. A pair of arms is only £120 for nasty pattern parts; this has clearly been run by a skinflint idiot, so I expect it's being sold because something that can't just be bodged into life has broken.

[Nors]

No picture of front seat because it's been replaced with a Deck Chair?

[carinaman]

There's a used drivers seat in red on eBay for £300.

[RSteve]

Great shed.
I picked my EP3 up a couple months back, half the mileage of this one and almost double the price, is in good nick but that hasn't stopped me from giving it a refresh, including discs, pads, droplinks, clutch flywheel. Fantastic car, lots of fun, should see a track in the next 2 months to get a proper thrashing.

[Krikkit]

dme123 said:

Welding a wishbone for an MOT is up there with baked bean cans and exhaust paste to fix a blowing exhaust, newspaper and filler in bodywork holes, and stuffing cable ties into a worn bush. No matter how strong the weld might be the geometry of the arm is going to be completely wrong. A pair of arms is only £120 for nasty pattern parts; this has clearly been run by a skinflint idiot, so I expect it's being sold because something that can't just be bodged into life has broken.

I would question whether it's really been welded to repair, or as part of the assembly and mistaken by the MOT tester.

A lot of the pattern wishbones for the EP3 are welded rather than fully cast.
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161083525321

[anonymous-user]

Krikkit said:

I would question whether it's really been welded to repair, or as part of the assembly and mistaken by the MOT tester.

A lot of the pattern wishbones for the EP3 are welded rather than fully cast.
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161083525321

"OE Quality". I think the engineers at Honda back 15 years ago would sooner commit seppuku than let st like that arm leave the building

[aaron_2000]

I'm gonna voice my unpopular opinion. I absolutely despised my EP3. The dash was too high for the low seat, I love sitting low in a car, but not when the dash makes it feel like an MPV. Pedal spacing wasn't as good as the Leon it replaced, and it didn't feel particularly quick either. Handled awfully, although that was due to the aged Landsails the owner had cursed it with. Steering wasn't great, looked ugly and wasn't overly comfortable. That said, it had by far the greatest gearshift in any car I've ever driven, by a long long way. So good in fact that I ignored the other stuff for a while simply for the stunning gearbox. I would've maybe liked it more if it was a better example, although it was a pretty good one. 123k, clean inside, just serviced with a K&N filter and Borla exhaust. I would've rather had the Accord if I was choosing, but I took it on swap.

[the_hood]

I like Type R's, but wouldn't buy this one.

[exgtt]

aaron_2000 said:

I'm gonna voice my unpopular opinion. I absolutely despised my EP3. The dash was too high for the low seat, I love sitting low in a car, but not when the dash makes it feel like an MPV. Pedal spacing wasn't as good as the Leon it replaced, and it didn't feel particularly quick either. Handled awfully, although that was due to the aged Landsails the owner had cursed it with. Steering wasn't great, looked ugly and wasn't overly comfortable. That said, it had by far the greatest gearshift in any car I've ever driven, by a long long way. So good in fact that I ignored the other stuff for a while simply for the stunning gearbox. I would've maybe liked it more if it was a better example, although it was a pretty good one. 123k, clean inside, just serviced with a K&N filter and Borla exhaust. I would've rather had the Accord if I was choosing, but I took it on swap.

Agreed, I’d take a 172 over this shed.

[Chestrockwell]

I bought one blind in 2016 for 1600 quid, part service history, crap tyres and 140k miles with 6+ owners, done hardly any research as it was the only one for that price and at the time I was looking at 1.6’s and 2.0 mazda 3’s, anyways I bought it and put 10k hardcore miles on it in the space of 6 months, literally abused that car not because I abuse cars but because I had an SE E46 330i auto which was pretty boring to drive despite it being quick and not a single thing went wrong with it, no creaks, no rattles, nothing! Sold it for 1100 in the end with no MOT, cracked windscreen, bald tyres and it needed droplinks, not sure I hit a pothole hard and heard a rattle in the suspension. I still regret selling it so cheap, i will buy another soon enough, best car I ever owned!

[Ollie-DC5]

Buy it, strip it out and a few mods and be glad you aren't another Clio 1*2 at the track day

[832ark]

aaron_2000 said:

I'm gonna voice my unpopular opinion. I absolutely despised my EP3. The dash was too high for the low seat, I love sitting low in a car, but not when the dash makes it feel like an MPV. Pedal spacing wasn't as good as the Leon it replaced, and it didn't feel particularly quick either. Handled awfully, although that was due to the aged Landsails the owner had cursed it with. Steering wasn't great, looked ugly and wasn't overly comfortable. That said, it had by far the greatest gearshift in any car I've ever driven, by a long long way. So good in fact that I ignored the other stuff for a while simply for the stunning gearbox. I would've maybe liked it more if it was a better example, although it was a pretty good one. 123k, clean inside, just serviced with a K&N filter and Borla exhaust. I would've rather had the Accord if I was choosing, but I took it on swap.

Whilst some of items are what they are and didn’t suit you such as the driving position it doesn’t sound like it was a good one. I’d expect it to be absolutely st to drive on Landsails and that tells you all you need to know about how it was treated by its previous owner. Drive a well sorted one and I think you’d be more impressed.

[Munter]

832ark said:

aaron_2000 said:

I'm gonna voice my unpopular opinion. I absolutely despised my EP3. The dash was too high for the low seat, I love sitting low in a car, but not when the dash makes it feel like an MPV. Pedal spacing wasn't as good as the Leon it replaced, and it didn't feel particularly quick either. Handled awfully, although that was due to the aged Landsails the owner had cursed it with. Steering wasn't great, looked ugly and wasn't overly comfortable. That said, it had by far the greatest gearshift in any car I've ever driven, by a long long way. So good in fact that I ignored the other stuff for a while simply for the stunning gearbox. I would've maybe liked it more if it was a better example, although it was a pretty good one. 123k, clean inside, just serviced with a K&N filter and Borla exhaust. I would've rather had the Accord if I was choosing, but I took it on swap.

Whilst some of items are what they are and didn’t suit you such as the driving position it doesn’t sound like it was a good one. I’d expect it to be absolutely st to drive on Landsails and that tells you all you need to know about how it was treated by its previous owner. Drive a well sorted one and I think you’d be more impressed.

They do seem very sensitive to tyres. I've been chasing a pull to the left. Bushes, alignment, etc etc. All good things that needed doing were found. Turns out, if I move the wheels between corners, and get the two "odd" tyres on the rear. And perfectly get the pressures aligned. (0.5 PSI seems noticeable...but might now be in my head) then it's all good.

[benjidog]

Ok so long time lurker - my first post.......

I have a facelifted 2004 ep3 Type R with 177,000 miles used as a daily for the past 4.5 years (purchased via a Pistonheads ad @ 122,000 miles).

It's been super reliable in my tenure. The engine and gearbox are bullet proof and it still amazes me that a 15 year old car with high milage can still get caned on a daily basis (I have a 50 mile daily commute on mainly B roads).

I'm a middle aged bloke and they do have a bit of a Mcdonalds car park image (my friends take the mick and ask if my son knows I've borrowed his car / can you get me fries with that etc) but at the end of the day it's a future classic and prices are sure to rise in the future.

[Krikkit]

dme123 said:

Krikkit said:

I would question whether it's really been welded to repair, or as part of the assembly and mistaken by the MOT tester.

A lot of the pattern wishbones for the EP3 are welded rather than fully cast.
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161083525321

"OE Quality". I think the engineers at Honda back 15 years ago would sooner commit seppuku than let st like that arm leave the building

I'm sure they would! Look rather minging don't they?

[G13NVL]

I also had one many years ago and have since gone on to faster, newer, more ‘premium’ cars but still don’t think I had as much fun as in my ep3! Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses etc or the fact I was 20 and was my first ‘fast’ car but iv been looking at these recently to get back into for fun/track abuse (maybe even throw a rotrex on it!) see if they are as enjoyable as I remember! Must be better than my current 325d estate dog wagon anyways.

[Butter Face]

G13NVL said:

(maybe even throw a rotrex on it!)

it's they way forward for sure

[otolith]

I bought one new in 2002 and put about 60k on it. Loved it, everything I want in a hot hatch bar the slightly crap steering, and with a minimalist interior, great NA engine, manual gearbox and slightly unforgiving handling the opposite direction to where VAG have pushed the concept. Ultimately, though, running it at the same time as my wife's MX-5 I realised that actually I was bored of hot hatches and even one that was almost perfectly developed for my tastes was just too ordinary compared to even a much less capable sports car.

[e42]

Hi all, as the proud owner of said shed I have to admit that the advert isn’t my finest hour, I imagine I’ll be running the car for another year given the feedback, no worries though, and no deckchairs!

[df76]

Still enjoying my Civic shed.