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

[blearyeyedboy]

Butter Face said:

J4CKO said:

Its still above your pay grade if you pay £1500 then have to pull it to bits and spend a load more on it.

Can get the wishbones for £70 each, wouldnt be happy driving round on ones that had been welded unless I was happy with the work,.

And its got crap Chinese tyres on it, so probably £350 required for a set to make it handle anywhere like it should.

A grand set aside and some hands on would probably have it whipped into shape.

And really, adjust camber arms/bolts, lowering springs, FRSU, new bushes etc etc etc

To be fair, there are £3000 Civics that will need all that doing to them.
There are questions to be answered, sure, but potentially a good buy for someone who has their eye open and know what they're letting themselves in for.

[Mattaru]

benjidog said:

but at the end of the day it's a future classic and prices are sure to rise in the future.

Not sure on the UK EP3 being a classic in the near future to be honest. The Japanese import Type Rs (DC2s, EK9s, FD2s, CL7, NSXs etc) are all rocketing up at a stupid, STUPID price - sadly. EP3s will be plentiful and around for long enough where they probably won't appreciate for a long while... unless you've got a 30th anniversary premium whatever edition. Definitely worth keeping though!

[Butter Face]

blearyeyedboy said:

Butter Face said:

J4CKO said:

Its still above your pay grade if you pay £1500 then have to pull it to bits and spend a load more on it.

Can get the wishbones for £70 each, wouldnt be happy driving round on ones that had been welded unless I was happy with the work,.

And its got crap Chinese tyres on it, so probably £350 required for a set to make it handle anywhere like it should.

A grand set aside and some hands on would probably have it whipped into shape.

And really, adjust camber arms/bolts, lowering springs, FRSU, new bushes etc etc etc

To be fair, there are £3000 Civics that will need all that doing to them.
There are questions to be answered, sure, but potentially a good buy for someone who has their eye open and know what they're letting themselves in for.

My response was to the ‘handle as it should’ section really, EP3’s from factory are a little underwhelming but with a few tweaks they are fantastic.

[TommyBoy]

Mattaru said:

benjidog said:

but at the end of the day it's a future classic and prices are sure to rise in the future.

Not sure on the UK EP3 being a classic in the near future to be honest. The Japanese import Type Rs (DC2s, EK9s, FD2s, CL7, NSXs etc) are all rocketing up at a stupid, STUPID price - sadly. EP3s will be plentiful and around for long enough where they probably won't appreciate for a long while... unless you've got a 30th anniversary premium whatever edition. Definitely worth keeping though!

Definitely this! I think there were too many EP3s sold - and FN2s - for them to be "classics"...they're 10 a penny round my way. Still good cars but haven't got the rarity / cachet of the JDM Type-Rs.

[irish boy]

TommyBoy said:

Definitely this! I think there were too many EP3s sold - and FN2s - for them to be "classics"...they're 10 a penny round my way. Still good cars but haven't got the rarity / cachet of the JDM Type-Rs.

Plenty sold yes but good clean original ones are scarce. A friend advertised a mint pre facelift 60k example for 6.5k last month and it sold in a couple of days.

[Butter Face]

irish boy said:

TommyBoy said:

Definitely this! I think there were too many EP3s sold - and FN2s - for them to be "classics"...they're 10 a penny round my way. Still good cars but haven't got the rarity / cachet of the JDM Type-Rs.

Plenty sold yes but good clean original ones are scarce. A friend advertised a mint pre facelift 60k example for 6.5k last month and it sold in a couple of days.

Absolutely. Yes there lots sold, but there were 19,000 at the peak and 10,000 left taxed and 2000 SORN (most of which will be dead tbh) and numbers falling every year.

One day they’ll be rare, nice ones will be sought after I’m sure.

[Augustus Windsock]

Butter Face said:

irish boy said:

TommyBoy said:

Definitely this! I think there were too many EP3s sold - and FN2s - for them to be "classics"...they're 10 a penny round my way. Still good cars but haven't got the rarity / cachet of the JDM Type-Rs.

Plenty sold yes but good clean original ones are scarce. A friend advertised a mint pre facelift 60k example for 6.5k last month and it sold in a couple of days.

Absolutely. Yes there lots sold, but there were 19,000 at the peak and 10,000 left taxed and 2000 SORN (most of which will be dead tbh) and numbers falling every year.

One day they’ll be rare, nice ones will be sought after I’m sure.

^ this
To be fair I’m sure there’s a fair number still around but around where I live (edge of the Peak District) they all seem to have exhaust pipes you could lose a small child in, orange alloy wheels, tinted windows so black they’re impenetrable, and are driven by ‘yoofs’ who seem to think the optimum position for the drivers seat is to have the seat back reclined at an angle of 60deg from the vertical
Which is a shame as they are great cars (if you get a good one) whose like, as per large capacity V8s, we won’t see again due to the ‘save the ozone layer / save the shrimp sandal wearing muesli treaders getting their voices heard above those of petrolheads
Never owned one but I think I might just have to if only to be able to comment with some authority...

[anonymous-user]

e42 said:

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!

So tell us about that welded wishbone...

[e42]

Well, since you ask, the car was in for pre MOT check over back in 2017, the day before the MOT was due, mechanic spotted corrosion on the wishbone and suggested that since I didn’t want be without the car to get to work he considered it safe to weld said wishbone until we could replace, which we duly did at the next opportunity. I guess it’s an automotive skeleton in the cupboard, therapeutic to confess here, the only bodge in my driving career though. I even like the Chinese tyres in a strange way.

[205pat]

Great shed, I can’t believe how cheap these cars are still!

[blearyeyedboy]

Butter Face said:

My response was to the ‘handle as it should’ section really, EP3’s from factory are a little underwhelming but with a few tweaks they are fantastic.

Yes, my post was intended to agree with you. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[Butter Face]

blearyeyedboy said:

Butter Face said:

My response was to the ‘handle as it should’ section really, EP3’s from factory are a little underwhelming but with a few tweaks they are fantastic.

Yes, my post was intended to agree with you. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

All is well with the world

[soad]

Am I correct in saying this one is due a timing chain replacement?

Potentially my next car, but how do you know that those oil changes were regular (and not ran low!!). Or that it got warmed up before being revved silly...

How long do the engines last?

[Butter Face]

soad said:

Am I correct in saying this one is due a timing chain replacement?

Potentially my next car, but how do you know that those oil changes were regular (and not ran low!!). Or that it got warmed up before being revved silly...

How long do the engines last?

Timing chain is an odd one, my car has done 140k and hasn't had a replacement.

Engines are pretty solid, mine is 75% more powerful than when it left the factory and (fingers crossed) seems to be ok.

You don't know any of that when you buy a used car, buy the nicest one you can and hope, or buy the cheapest one and hope, it's all the same

[egor110]

soad said:

Am I correct in saying this one is due a timing chain replacement?

Potentially my next car, but how do you know that those oil changes were regular (and not ran low!!). Or that it got warmed up before being revved silly...

How long do the engines last?

You’ll never know that the car was warmed up will you .

Oil changes you could have a big wad of bills but Christ it’s a cheap civic be realistic.

[CacheMonet]

Perhaps a little bit more risky than some recent sheds, but still worth a punt. After owning and FN2R for some time, I can vouch for the K20 engine's mixed bag of reliability.

[egor110]

Pistonheads should do a shed special .

£1500 of civic type r , clio 1*2 , mini cooper s and just do a back to back comparison on track and b roads , maybe chuck a curve ball in there and bung in a sub £1000 puma to .

Despite having owned 3 of them i'm no fan boy but i think on track there will be more difference compared to the b road.

[Krikkit]

egor110 said:

Pistonheads should do a shed special .

£1500 of civic type r , clio 1*2 , mini cooper s and just do a back to back comparison on track and b roads , maybe chuck a curve ball in there and bung in a sub £1000 puma to .

Despite having owned 3 of them i'm no fan boy but i think on track there will be more difference compared to the b road.

I just need to try a CTR to complete the set!

Good idea though.

[greenarrow]

egor110 said:

Pistonheads should do a shed special .

£1500 of civic type r , clio 1*2 , mini cooper s and just do a back to back comparison on track and b roads , maybe chuck a curve ball in there and bung in a sub £1000 puma to .

Despite having owned 3 of them i'm no fan boy but i think on track there will be more difference compared to the b road.

Out of interest which did you prefer? - I love all three of these cars btw and have toyed with the idea of buying them myself as they're so cheap right now...

I would imagine the Civic to be quickest on track (it used to edge the Clio in period track tests with the Cooper S further behind) but the Clio and Cooper so perhaps edge it on a B Road. Would that be correct?

[egor110]

greenarrow said:

egor110 said:

Pistonheads should do a shed special .

£1500 of civic type r , clio 1*2 , mini cooper s and just do a back to back comparison on track and b roads , maybe chuck a curve ball in there and bung in a sub £1000 puma to .

Despite having owned 3 of them i'm no fan boy but i think on track there will be more difference compared to the b road.

Out of interest which did you prefer? - I love all three of these cars btw and have toyed with the idea of buying them myself as they're so cheap right now...

I would imagine the Civic to be quickest on track (it used to edge the Clio in period track tests with the Cooper S further behind) but the Clio and Cooper so perhaps edge it on a B Road. Would that be correct?

I haven't had a civic so can't comment on that .

My last clio was a cammed 182 and that seemed to accelerate really harsh it was almost like having lag , the mini cooper s doesn't feel as fast but i think that's because it accelerates very linearly , it feels very stable almost like a big cruiser .

Also if you go on cliosport , there very open to different cars rather than being total fan boys . Lots of clio owners have gone on to coopers and seem to rate them think there a bit quicker however pretty much all of them end up back in a clio at some point .

Onto the puma , there used to be a well known renault specialist in the west country who said he was more consistently fast in his mrs puma than clios as it didn't get up on 3 wheels and was really stable .

On track , well lets be honest all of the above hot hatches aren't that quick so is it worth spending out when you could just get a puma and still be making ground on the corners only to find something quicker just keeping you behind on the straights ?

I live about 10 mins from exmoor and i think on the b roads around there the pumas just as good i just need to hang onto the gears longer because there's far less torque but the roads are so narrow and twisty that being able to carry speed thru corners is far more important than having the torque to drag the car out of the corner .

Edited by egor110 on Wednesday 3rd April 09:24