2002 Supercharged EP3 Civic Type R (a 10 year love affair)

[Butter Face]

After having a lot of Hondas in the past 12 years, I decided the time was right to ditch my company car and buy myself a stupid fun car again.

I've always loved the preface lift EP3 CTR and have always said I would have one in Milano Red, so when this one owner, full Honda history car with foglights, AC and alarm came up for a very good price, I had to have it..

I got on a train to Hertford East and picked up this cracking example. The plan is/was to keep it relatively standard……





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I've tinted the rear windows, fitted an AEM CAI, have a replacement DAB stereo to fit and of course, have fitted some Jazz washer jets!

Some pics below of the car after the full machine polish and HD wax it's had today along with a full interior valet.







Car now has the following additions:

ABP (Eibach) 30mm Springs
Michelin Winter tyres
Repainted OEM Wheels
Pipercross Viper intake
Retrimmed OEM wheel in Black Alcantara with red stitching
Rear 3/4 Tints
Phillips DAB/Bluetooth HU
Upgraded Alpine speakers all round


I love the car and plan to just do little bits as I go along. Next is new discs and pads and sort the top mounts as they are squeaking a bit!

[Riknos]

What do the Jazz washer jets do?

Car looks ace - good to see a well looked after one, far too many have fallen into the wrong hands...

[Butter Face]

Jazz washer jets spray a mist instead of the normal jet, clears the scene much better!

I'm glad to have found a nice looked after car, I like to keep ars subtle and clean!

[Martin_M]

Outstanding - stick a private plate on that and You'd never know it was 12 years old!

[Mastodon2]

Looking good. The Jazz jets are a massive improvement, my facelift EP3 had the standard jets on and they were pathetic.

[Patch888]

Looks lovely, sounds like the same plan I have. The paint works come out really well.

[Butter Face]

Cheers!

The paintwork has come up so well, just a few scuffs on the front bumper to repair and a wheel refurb and it should look mint!

[hondafreek]

Looks in superb condition. Love a red EP3

[kayzee]

Looks nice that mate, I'm thinking of either one of these or a Fiesta ST next for me... mine would be the same colour but post-facelift! It's the seats that really do it for me

[Butter Face]

I prefer the pre-facelift, it's almost like Honda went a bit 'try-hard' with the facelift

The one change I may make inside is to add some JDM recaros as they look ace.

Edited by Butter Face on Sunday 30th November 12:55

[seany87]

Car is looking really nice mate, certainly looks a lot cleaner and better cosmetically than my EP3. Never really liked Milano Red simply because of the issues of fading paint, but I love the side profile picture you have taken. Mine is Nighthawk black and therefore needs a detailing wizard to polish all the obvious swirls and scratches out. The fact yours has had one owner and full Honda history no doubt helps. My intention is to slowly improve the cosmetics on my car as I go, and the standard I am aiming for is similar to what yours is like now.

I agree about the pre-facelift being nicer - the Lexus style rear lights on the facelift are atrocious, and I now feel the front end is a bit fussy. I would love to have a low milage, prefacelift JDM import in Championship white, for a start the seats as you say, are fantastic.

Keep this thread updated, I'll be looking with interest.

[Butter Face]

Thanks for the kind words Seany. I keep looking out of the window at the car and it makes me happy to have it. Haha

I can't even drive it for another 2 weeks but I know I'll be up nice and early on the first day to go the long way round

The worst thing is I can't keep off eBay looking at parts!!

[rallycross]

Looks very nice (apart from the chav' window tints).
Best upgrade for one of these is an LSD before spending money on anything else. Prices firming up on the good ones this should be a good long term keeper!

[ThrottleBod]

My sister has a 2001 in Milano red. Has a buddy club cat back exhaust system fitted. I absoloutely love driving it! Looks really good when it's clean and waxed but unfortunately it is starting to fade.

Just looked at the price of those recaro's on eBay, blimey!

[Butter Face]

rallycross said:

Looks very nice (apart from the chav' window tints).
Best upgrade for one of these is an LSD before spending money on anything else. Prices firming up on the good ones this should be a good long term keeper!

I've just had the chav tints done myself, nice 20% tint to cut down on the heat when the dogs are in the back. I quite like tints too tbh.

I do plan in keeping it long term, but if a DC5 came up at the right price I'd be tempted!

[Butter Face]

ThrottleBod said:

My sister has a 2001 in Milano red. Has a buddy club cat back exhaust system fitted. I absoloutely love driving it! Looks really good when it's clean and waxed but unfortunately it is starting to fade.

Just looked at the price of those recaro's on eBay, blimey!

Unfortunately Milano always fades, I always thought it was easy to restore them, but I didn't realise they have a clearcoat and the red fades underneath meaning it's almost impossible to get the red back.

I'm lucky that the car has obviosuly been looked after, with a good mop and wax it's come up very well. Keeping on top of it is now the important bit!

Those Recaros are a lot of money, but you can guarantee you'll get it back down the line and they are superb seats!

[Martin_Hx]

The Recaros are very comfy and hold you brilliantly, I have a cosmic (fastest colour) and the seats are lovely!

[Butter Face]

I believe Milano is the fastest colour due to having the thinnest (lightest) paint

Your car looks ace, I do like Cosmic, but I prefer pre-facelift cars. Black is a complete no-no for me and Satin just looks, you know, boring.

Looking forward to a day off tomorrow fitting my new stereo!

[kayzee]

I have those Recaro's in leather/alcantera in my Clio 182 love them! Very cool in red...

[Crowds]

bought one of these to turn into a track car about a month ago...75k for 2.5k bargains right now! Having owned one many years ago I know theyre not bad with a couple of tweaks. near on identical to yours pictured.

I like to call it Milano Pink fade like hell!

next up for it is... tyres, springs, decat, airfilter, some good pads and some buckets are on the cards when I get back from working away!

Crowds