Shed of the Week: Honda Accord Type R
2018 marks 20 years since the hot Accord's introduction, so how better to celebrate than with this marvellous Shed?
And they said Man would never fly.
Actually, what they did say in the forum for last week's SOTW column was that you would never find a Type R Accord in the cheap seats, not any more. And yet, as if by magic, just one week later here it is. Nobody's saying this one is perfect - the bodywork isn't dent-free, and the mileage isn't low - but can you see any major problems?
Prodrive ran the 'works' Honda Accord effort with James Thompson, who scored a few wins in it in the '98, '99 and 2000 seasons, and his sometime teammate Peter Kox went on to do pretty well with it in the 2000 European Super Touring championships. But the road car that came out of it was arguably the high point of the whole 'hot Accord' story. Honda managed to turn an excellent but essentially worthy family car into a fizzing, sparkling and generally brilliant fast saloon that was also still an excellent family car, on demand and as required.
A great engine wasn't all you got. The chassis was stiffer, the suspension lower, the wheels bigger. There was a snickety gearbox topped by a metal knob, quite the thing at the time, a proper limited-slip diff, proper hydraulic power steering, Xenon lights, superb Alcantara Recaro seats and a leather Momo wheel. The boot spoiler was an option box that most buyers ticked.
Our Shed seems to have lost its original gearknob, which might be tricky to replace if you're looking to restore this car to originality, but the rest of it looks pukka and the MOT history gives no cause for concern. We won't bother to go through what might go wrong as there is a much more detailed look at that already in place on PH in the form of Al Suttie's excellent and comprehensive Buying Guide. In short though it's a strong machine with relatively cheap suspension consumables and 30mpg in most kinds of use. The cambelt runs on a 72k/eight-year change schedule, and it's really worth using (and regularly refreshing) decent oil. Fifth gear synchro has been known to wear prematurely. Otherwise it's all good.
Here's my 2001Honda accord type R, have had this car a year and the plan was to keep it as I've always wanted to scratch the vtec honda itch but a company car has forced me to sell to free up space on the driveway.
MOT till September 2018
Full mongoose exhaust system with catalytic converter still, not too loud but makes a great sound.
K&N typhoon induction system with filter placed low in engine bay makes a great sound!
Interior is extremely clean considering mileage with only the drivers seat bolster wearing slightly
Exterior as a whole is clean but a dent in boot near the lock and few scratches, nothing horrendous.
Part service history with last service been completed in October 2017.
Rust has been repaired on bulkhead, common place for accords.
Have priced which i think is sensible, the mileage is high but has been cared for with no smoke on vtec and no rattles and knocks in engine. Really is a good car and in truth im sad to see it go!
These cars are getting rare and finding a nice clean one is getting harder to find now.
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To get the best out of it you had to rev it (vtec -no surprise there) but change up gear at 8450 rpm instead of 8500rpm at it would momentarily drop out of the power band which could be quite scary when overtaking a lorry on an A road. Found myself watching the rev counter too much as I wasn't able to do it by listening to the engine note, being unfamiliar with the car.
I'm sure once you 'tuned in' to the characteristics of it's engine and gearbox, you would overcome that and be able to change at the sweet spot (without trying to watch the rev counter) to get the best out of it.
At the time I remember thinking great track car, hard work and fuel greedy to extract the best from it as a daily user although it was very plesant when just driving normally, if not a bit slugglish.
Still something about it though!
Interesting cars in their day, but unless someone is okay with the current MOT very possibly being the last it ever sees, or being extremely nifty with a MIG welder, then it'd not be on my shed list.
I drove one at one of the CCIA days at Donington last millenium. A few weeks prior I'd driven the Primera P11 GT and they felt remarkably similar to drive re handling etc, just the the Accord had that extra kick at the top end
But other than that I adored it, the engine whilst not massively torquey still pulled well and when you engaged VTEC you felt as if you were in a Super Tourer racing against John Cleland and the like.
The chassis was superb, just point it at a corner then use the diff to drag you out the other side, amazing how quickly it could take a few of the roundabouts around here.
I'm sure it's a fun car to drive and the usual Honda mechanical excellence, but a lot of rust has gone under the bridge since it was new.
These look fantastic and it's a bit sad to call it a shed. This is the cheapest one i've seen for a while in not bad nick. Quire a rare find too. Last one i saw on AT was a red one which looked an absolute state and the seller was asking for over 2 grand for the pleasure. It makes this one look pristine.
Someone get it bought!
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