My first Type R!
Discussion
So I'd been thinking for a while about getting into something Jap 
Me, my family and all my mates growing up have always had Euro stuff (barring a few classic Minis 
) but I've always had a bit of a thing for Japanese performance cars and after having a go in a couple of mates' Hondas I decided I needed a bit of VTEC in my life, so after a few weeks looking through the classifieds (something I do nearly everyday whether I'm in the market for a new car or not!) I decided to go and check a few out!
The first one we saw was rough... cheap, but still very rough. A Nighthawk black 2003 pre-facelift with a sweet sounding engine but very patchy service history, lots of dents and scrapes and all the garage could tell me was that it failed the MFK (Swiss equivillant of MOT) on something structural but they were unsure of what. I don't mind a 'fixer-upper' and I'm more than happy to freshen it up a bit but something that requires structural work is a bit too much right now, so we gave it a miss...
The second one, though a bit more expensive, was a lot better! A 2005 Milano red facelift model, also around the 120k mile mark but in much, much better condition! So after lots of questions, a good look around and a good test drive I bought it!!
I have to say at this point that it isn't perfect... the aftermarket head unit doesn't work properly so I'll have to look into that and cosmetically it could do with a bit of work to make it look great again. A few of the panels have faded a bit, the worst one being the nearside front wing, and being a red car, it's quite noticeable! But the bits that need doing are all cosmetic... mechanically, it's superb which is the important thing!
The mods that came with it are a set of 18" Oxigin 1 wheels (never heard of them but apparently they're a German brand!) with a fairly fresh set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 tyres, Apex yellow lowering springs (20mm drop) and an Invidia catback exhaust with removable silencer. I do plan on changing a few bits on it eventually like the wheels as I'm thinking about going back to 17s, but we'll see next year. I still have the OEM 17s with the winter tyres on them so I'll see how I feel when they go on in a few months... I love the look of the car on 18s but I have a feeling it'll go a lot better on 17s!
But it's such a great car as it is I'm not in a massive rush to change a lot at this stage! After a few months of hooning it about on mountain roads
I'll see what can be improved but for now... I'm besotted with it 
Me, my family and all my mates growing up have always had Euro stuff (barring a few classic Minis ) but I've always had a bit of a thing for Japanese performance cars and after having a go in a couple of mates' Hondas I decided I needed a bit of VTEC in my life, so after a few weeks looking through the classifieds (something I do nearly everyday whether I'm in the market for a new car or not!) I decided to go and check a few out! The first one we saw was rough... cheap, but still very rough. A Nighthawk black 2003 pre-facelift with a sweet sounding engine but very patchy service history, lots of dents and scrapes and all the garage could tell me was that it failed the MFK (Swiss equivillant of MOT) on something structural but they were unsure of what. I don't mind a 'fixer-upper' and I'm more than happy to freshen it up a bit but something that requires structural work is a bit too much right now, so we gave it a miss...
The second one, though a bit more expensive, was a lot better! A 2005 Milano red facelift model, also around the 120k mile mark but in much, much better condition! So after lots of questions, a good look around and a good test drive I bought it!!
I have to say at this point that it isn't perfect... the aftermarket head unit doesn't work properly so I'll have to look into that and cosmetically it could do with a bit of work to make it look great again. A few of the panels have faded a bit, the worst one being the nearside front wing, and being a red car, it's quite noticeable! But the bits that need doing are all cosmetic... mechanically, it's superb which is the important thing!
The mods that came with it are a set of 18" Oxigin 1 wheels (never heard of them but apparently they're a German brand!) with a fairly fresh set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 tyres, Apex yellow lowering springs (20mm drop) and an Invidia catback exhaust with removable silencer. I do plan on changing a few bits on it eventually like the wheels as I'm thinking about going back to 17s, but we'll see next year. I still have the OEM 17s with the winter tyres on them so I'll see how I feel when they go on in a few months... I love the look of the car on 18s but I have a feeling it'll go a lot better on 17s!
But it's such a great car as it is I'm not in a massive rush to change a lot at this stage! After a few months of hooning it about on mountain roads
I'll see what can be improved but for now... I'm besotted with it Thanks mate!
Running a car in Switzerland is quite pricey, yeah, but so is pretty much everything over here! Wages are a bit higher though so it's all kinda relative I guess... And they do have a system where you can run 2 cars on one set of number plates and you only pay the full tax and insurance on the more expensive of the 2, which is pretty useful if you have a daily and a weekend/track car!
Some seriously awesome driving roads though, especially in the South where all the big mountain passes are! Just don't get caught speeding too much or you'll pay!
Oh, and modifying cars requires a fair bit of paperwork..
Running a car in Switzerland is quite pricey, yeah, but so is pretty much everything over here! Wages are a bit higher though so it's all kinda relative I guess... And they do have a system where you can run 2 cars on one set of number plates and you only pay the full tax and insurance on the more expensive of the 2, which is pretty useful if you have a daily and a weekend/track car!
Some seriously awesome driving roads though, especially in the South where all the big mountain passes are! Just don't get caught speeding too much or you'll pay!
Oh, and modifying cars requires a fair bit of paperwork..
lucferrari90 said:
they do have a system where you can run 2 cars on one set of number plates and you only pay the full tax and insurance on the more expensive of the 2, which is pretty useful if you have a daily and a weekend/track car .
That is a system we definitely need to have over in the U.K.!! Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff