445bhp 2019 FK8 Civic Type R

445bhp 2019 FK8 Civic Type R

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L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Monday 5th April 2021
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Having always loved Hondas in 2015 I purchased the best I could afford in the shape of a black 2009 FN2 Type R which I absolutely loved but after 4 years and 60,000 miles in it, modifying it and taking it on tracks as often as I could, it was time to move on.

An FK2 Type R was the obvious upgrade but I could never fully get on with the styling of the back end. I looked at alternatives including the Focus RS Mk3 and Golf R but neither were my cup of tea.

I realised an FK8 Type R was in financial reach and started ringing round my local Honda dealers to test drive one with the intention of buying one brand new. This turned out to be easier said than done, 2 dealers said they had a car but wouldn’t let me drive it due to me being under 30, another dealer said they couldn’t even get hold of a car to drive rolleyes

After finally finding one to test drive the decision was made that it was that good, I couldn’t not have this car in my life!

After always regretting not getting a championship white FN2, I knew which colour the FK8 had to be and in June 2019 the deal was done on a car sat in the same dealership I purchased the FN2 from ironically.



The first drive home, I really didn’t enjoy, I’ve never owned a brand new car before and never owned a car anywhere near this value so I was absolutely terrified of even a stone chip on the drive home, plus the FK8 shape Civic is not a small car at all, it’s big enough to be an Accord and took some getting used to on where to place it on the road vs the FN2.



Edited by L20FK8 on Monday 19th April 21:53

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Monday 5th April 2021
quotequote all
After owning the car for a couple of months and putting the first 1000 miles on the clock, I knew I’d made the right decision.

My old FN2 had tonnes of money spent on suspension and brakes to make it handle and stop way better than the stock car, the FK8 made the FN2 look a little silly when it came to both braking and handling, it’s not difficult to see where Honda have spent the money on this car and how they have progressed the cars in the last 10 years!

One thing I noticed almost immediately was that the marmite styling (I personally love it) makes the car very difficult and time consuming to keep clean, especially on a white car. I decided to get the car ceramic coated to protect the paint and keep it clean that bit longer, even to this day I’m still surprised at how well it works.



Of course it wasn’t long before the modifying bug got to me and an intake and intercooler were on order courtesy of PRL over in the USA. There are plenty of options available on the market for aftermarket bits for these but the build quality on these PRL products is second to none, including the billet CNC end tanks on the intercooler cloud9




jamesbilluk

3,654 posts

182 months

Monday 5th April 2021
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Congratulations on the purchase, they really are fantastic cars! I love the way they look too (I'm slightly biast though!) Have you noticed a difference with the PRL intake? That's a modification I'm looking to do.

MDMA .

8,849 posts

100 months

Monday 5th April 2021
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When these first came out, I thought they looked dreadful. There's a couple near me that I see quite often. I've changed my mind now and think they look great.
Hope you enjoy it. I think white is the best colour for them.

fantheman80

1,412 posts

48 months

Monday 5th April 2021
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Lovely choice sir, I have a 67 champ white, injen evo intake, remus and ktuner

If you’ve not already get yourself on Facebook Civic Type R fk8 owners, good community

Commander2874

374 posts

84 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
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Congratulations and a great looking car! I'm surprised there has even been a debate on the looks as I think they look awesome!

I bought my pmm last December and absolutely love it! Also had mine ceramic coated so you definitely did the right thing there!

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
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So roll into early March 2020 and there’s a few cases of some new unknown disease called Covid-19 that have appeared in the UK, thinking nothing much of it and with a weeks holiday booked down in Devon, this is an obvious first proper trip out for the Civic.

It happily swallowed me, the girlfriend and the dog, plus all our luggage with tonnes of room to spare, and whilst it did feel a little wide at times on the single track Devon roads, it never missed a beat and happily averaged 45mpg on the way down whilst providing all the performance you could ever need when you needed it on the twisty roads.





Mid March 2020 and there are rumours of the unthinkable, a countrywide lockdown!

Good job we’ve got a track day booked at Croft to put the FK8 through it’s paces and see what it’s like round a circuit.

The answer is, it’s epic. Anybody that owns one of these and doesn’t take it to a track at least once, you’re missing out massively! The stock brakes are incredibly impressive to say they work so well on the road, it’s so composed through the corners and the LSD helps drag you out the other side.

Up against some rather tasty machinery including Lotus Exiges and endless 911 GT3s the only place it felt a little lacking ironically was down the straights.



L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
jamesbilluk said:
Congratulations on the purchase, they really are fantastic cars! I love the way they look too (I'm slightly biast though!) Have you noticed a difference with the PRL intake? That's a modification I'm looking to do.
It definitely makes a nice difference to induction noise, which is a little lacking on the stock setup, I’d say it did feel a little better coming on boost and felt like it spooled up a little quicker.

Not a night and day difference on its own but if you are planning on remapping it later down the line I’d say it’s well worth the money.

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
fantheman80 said:
Lovely choice sir, I have a 67 champ white, injen evo intake, remus and ktuner

If you’ve not already get yourself on Facebook Civic Type R fk8 owners, good community
Yep already on there, you’re right about it being a great community, a lot of knowledgeable people on there for sure.

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
The first lockdown turned out to be quite expensive in the long run as I decided to go down the route of more power and invested in the Hondata Flashpro setup.

If you’re not familiar with the Hondata system it comes pre installed with customisable off the shelf base maps with the facilities for full custom tuning if you know what you’re doing (more on that later).

Fortunately I work for a Milltek exhaust dealer so a Road+ catback exhaust was purchased cheap and with the intercooler and intake, plus V-Power fuel the base map was estimated to produce around 350bhp and 460nm which made a decent performance gain over the stock car without being over the top and un-drivable.



I managed to squeeze another track day in between the first 2 lockdowns at Blyton Park and the new found performance really brought the car alive, it was great with stock power but with a little more it was phenomenal coming out of the corners and down the straights. It certainly liked a drink at this point with it averaging just over 7mpg each session!



The Rotrex Kid

30,191 posts

159 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
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Great work taking it for a kicking around the track, looks very at home there!

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Monday 19th April 2021
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So roll on November 2020 and it’s time for more power and noise in the shape of a Milltek sports cat to free up a few more ponies. Of course it would be a shame to fit everything and just run a base map to suit...



As with my previous Type R, I took it over to the wizards at TDI North and TPW Engineering and with all the mods fitted plus a tank full of Shell’s finest, we achieved a mental 445bhp and almost 590nm eek

Strangely in the dry the chassis seems to have absolutely no problems coping with all the extra power and torque, in the wet or damp the power does take some managing but the Hondata traction control is a massive help in putting the power down.

As far as I’m aware this is one of the, if not the most powerful FK8s in the UK, it’s certainly an even bigger event to drive now, if a little intimidating at times and doesn’t take long at all to be in license losing territory!



Bright Halo

2,950 posts

234 months

Tuesday 20th April 2021
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Great improvement in power there and I’m sure it will handle it easily. Should make a great track weapon.
How does it go down with your warranty and insurance?

L20FK8

Original Poster:

57 posts

158 months

Tuesday 20th April 2021
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Bright Halo said:
Great improvement in power there and I’m sure it will handle it easily. Should make a great track weapon.
How does it go down with your warranty and insurance?
Warranty wise my local Honda seem to not have any issues, obviously if something serious goes wrong powertrain wise they won’t cover it but for example I had the camera which controls the lane keep assist, emergency braking and cruise control etc fail late last year and they had no issues replacing it under warranty.

Insurance wise the actual modifications themselves cost virtually nothing to add on, the remap was around £80 if I remember rightly so not too bad!

jamesbilluk

3,654 posts

182 months

Tuesday 20th April 2021
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Blimey, bet that goes well!

In standard guise it seems to struggle to get the power down sometimes!

How is it with the new power?

Gameface

16,565 posts

76 months

Tuesday 20th April 2021
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I'd be interested to some VBox performance stats for this.

Great car.

Bright Halo

2,950 posts

234 months

Tuesday 20th April 2021
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L20FK8 said:
Bright Halo said:
Great improvement in power there and I’m sure it will handle it easily. Should make a great track weapon.
How does it go down with your warranty and insurance?
Warranty wise my local Honda seem to not have any issues, obviously if something serious goes wrong powertrain wise they won’t cover it but for example I had the camera which controls the lane keep assist, emergency braking and cruise control etc fail late last year and they had no issues replacing it under warranty.

Insurance wise the actual modifications themselves cost virtually nothing to add on, the remap was around £80 if I remember rightly so not too bad!
That is good to know. It sounds like your local Honda are being very reasonable. It is something that always made me nervous with modifying a new car.
Your insurance increase is very reasonable.