Civic Type-R

Author
Discussion

simon-c

Original Poster:

113 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th February 2003
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I'm thinking about getting a new Civic Type-r and just wondered if there was anything anybody knows that I should know about them before I commit.
Are there any good deals anyone knows about, I'm in the north west.

Thanks

Simon

AllTorque

2,646 posts

276 months

Wednesday 26th February 2003
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Please god don't start this one off again! It was a bit of a monster last time!!

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=9940&f=71&h=0&hw=civic+type

Nippy cars tho!

simon-c

Original Poster:

113 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th February 2003
quotequote all

AllTorque said:
Please god don't start this one off again! It was a bit of a monster last time!!

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=9940&f=71&h=0&hw=civic+type

Nippy cars tho!


Sorry about that, I normally lurk on Tuscan Speed 6 so I didn't know it was getting to be a bit of a drag.

Simon

NikB

1,834 posts

272 months

Wednesday 26th February 2003
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We have had one since last August. I strongly recommend you take it for a good long test drive if you are not used to VTEC engines as people either love them or hate them. The driving position is very high up compared to most sporty cars, but the gear change despite looking a bit weird is excellent. The turning circle is crap because of the big wheels, this also causes them to tramline a bit and tyre wear really does have a noticable effect on the handling.

I have heard of a few quality issues - they are built in the UK. We are having to get a shock replaced due to it causing a knocking sound. Having said all that, I love it - it's a great car.

If you try it and find you like it, I would recommend you try an Integra as well. I had one before and I liked that even more than the Civic.

Hope this helps

Nik

Muff Mewell

362 posts

261 months

Thursday 27th February 2003
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I bought one just before christmas. Done about 2000 miles now so not that much experience but here's my thoughts

Fantastic engine and gear change although you can get drawn into the trap of thinking you have to drive over 6000rpm just because that's where most of the ooomph is. You can have 90% of the fun between 3k and 5k and use 6 to 8 for that special moment (slip road or overtake).

Bizaar steering at first but you get used to it (not much torque steer though...not much torque come to think of it). Turns quickly. Push it hard round the track and you feel the front slide out, lift off too quickly and it can catch you out (maybe a bit of a rear grip issue...or it could be that I don't react quick enough).

Bumpy ride but I bought it so it wouldn't roll around corners and it definately feels rock solid. Incidently, has anyone else noticed this? When you land on the other side of a speed bump with your foot resting on the throttle, the damping isn't quite right so first the car starts pogo-ing then your foot follows suit on the throttle and you look like a learner doing some wierd manoevre down the road!

Basically my choice was this or a Clio Cup. I bought this because I didn't want my door handles to fall off every time I accelerated or my steering wheel to come off in my hand)

I also got a good deal from www.micronetshowroom.com - £14297 on the road in Black

Definately the best hatch out there at the moment in my opinion, but then I'm biased






PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Thursday 27th February 2003
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If any owners would like to contribute to the readers reviews section for the Type R, it would be greatly appreciated:

www.pistonheads.com/reviews/reviews.asp?c=41&id=169

zax

1,033 posts

270 months

Friday 28th February 2003
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Muff Mewell said: Bizaar steering at first but you get used to it


I'd have to agree on this. Due to the fact that it's electric instead of hydraulic? All I can say is that it feels odd, or rather doesn't feel. Probably complicated by the fact that I'm in Finland and bought the car in winter, so I've always run on spiked tyres and they do affect steering feel also. Hoping that when the snow melts and the summer wheels go on it'll feel a bit better. It's the only thing I can fault with the car so far...

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

262 months

Friday 28th February 2003
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The CTR's are very quick little MPV's

simon-c

Original Poster:

113 posts

264 months

Friday 28th February 2003
quotequote all

Muff Mewell said: I bought one just before christmas. Done about 2000 miles now so not that much experience but here's my thoughts





Basically my choice was this or a Clio Cup. I bought this because I didn't want my door handles to fall off every time I accelerated or my steering wheel to come off in my hand)

I also got a good deal from www.micronetshowroom.com - £14297 on the road in Black

Definately the best hatch out there at the moment in my opinion, but then I'm biased









How long did it take to be delivered, and was it worth the agro to save 2 grand or so.

Simon

dern

14,055 posts

286 months

Friday 28th February 2003
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I have heard of a few quality issues - they are built in the UK.
Is that supposed to suggest that everything built in the uk is of poor quality? That seems a bit harsh frankly. You wouldn't believe the attention to quality that goes on in the factory in Swindon. I suspect it's streets better than many other factories.

We are having to get a shock replaced due to it causing a knocking sound.
The shocks, afaiaa, are bought by honda as complete units so the fact that the car is assembled in the uk has no bearing on the failure of your shock.

Although they are assembled on the same line as all the other civics, the engines are not made in swindon but built, crated and shipped over to the uk from japan. I've no idea why although I expect the tolerances are higher than the standard engines or they possibly have an extra blueprinting stage of production that the standard engines don't have.

The other interesting thing about honda (in the uk at any rate) is that they build cars to order which means you can be rest assured that your car hasn't been sat in a field for months or years.

Regards,

Mark

Lensey

2,526 posts

290 months

Monday 3rd March 2003
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I have had my 30 Anniversary Edition CTR for just over a week now, I have done 950 miles and I took it to France at the weekend for a thrash. So far I am of the opinion that the car is a great hot hatch for the money. I have only managed to get about 230 miles out of a tank of petrol, which will pose a problem when I take it to Spain later in the year but all in all I think the handling is good, power even better and it looks pretty nice. On the minus side I think the plastic used on the inside is a bit cheap, the turning circle isn't as good as the Griff and it drinks oil. If you have questions I would have a look on
www.civictype-r.co.uk/

A couple of pics of mine

www.fotango.com/p/eba00301330f00000001.jpg
www.fotango.com/p/eba00301330f00000005.jpg


NikB

1,834 posts

272 months

Tuesday 4th March 2003
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dern said:Is that supposed to suggest that everything built in the uk is of poor quality?


Not at all, it was meant to be two separate statements as not many people are aware that they are built in Swindon. There have been a lot of quality issues, I don't know the root cause of all of them. You just have to look at the quality of the interior plastics to see one example.


The shocks, afaiaa, are bought by honda as complete units so the fact that the car is assembled in the uk has no bearing on the failure of your shock.


Obviously the supplier is to blame for this, there is no way that the car manufacture location can have an effect on this, it's just another example of the quality issues.


Although they are assembled on the same line as all the other civics, the engines are not made in swindon but built, crated and shipped over to the uk from japan. I've no idea why although I expect the tolerances are higher than the standard engines or they possibly have an extra blueprinting stage of production that the standard engines don't have.


If they are built in the same way as the Integra Type R engine was then there will be an extra stage as you say. This involves hand finishing the inlet and exhaust ports.

I do like Honda as a company, they do build some really high quality products, and the service from the local dealer has been faultless, otherwise I would not have gone from the Integra to the Civic. But they seem to have slipped a little with the quality of the Civic Type R.

Regards

Nik

dern

14,055 posts

286 months

Tuesday 4th March 2003
quotequote all

Not at all, it was meant to be two separate statements as not many people are aware that they are built in Swindon. There have been a lot of quality issues, I don't know the root cause of all of them. You just have to look at the quality of the interior plastics to see one example.
Well, the base civic is a pretty cheap car competing with lots of other cheap hatches so unless they are going to build better quality version of parts such as the dash for the go faster version (which I don't think they would) you'll always get that problem with a quick version of a fairly mundane and cheap car without making them prohibitively expensive imo. The prelude certainly was built to a very high standard and people have told me the integra was the same and you do get a very advanced engine for the money.

I do like Honda as a company, they do build some really high quality products, and the service from the local dealer has been faultless, otherwise I would not have gone from the Integra to the Civic. But they seem to have slipped a little with the quality of the Civic Type R.
We've had a couple of honda cars, a prelude vtec and an old civic and they were both excellent. The dealers were also superb, even when it came to servicing the prelude which was an import. I don't think I'd buy another honda car as I much prefer rwd these days (can't quite afford the nsx ) but the fireblade I've got is an exceptional motorbike and I wouldn't hesitate in buying another honda bike.

Regards,

Mark

Muff Mewell

362 posts

261 months

Friday 7th March 2003
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MESSAGE FOR SIMON

Tried to e-mail you several times with a reply to your question but our server is playing up!

The message read as follows:

Only too glad to help, especially if it knocks that particular dealers nose out of joint. How the hell do they expect to sell cars without letting you have a go first?

The total cost of the car was £14297, imported from Belgium. I spent a lot of time doing my homework before commiting myself as like any normal person I was suspicious from the out set. Dealers will try to tell you that an improted car won't be covered under warranty...not true, all Hondas come with a Pan-European warranty that works anywhere in the european union. So for example, it wouldn't matter if you bought yours in Essex or Paris, if it developed a fault that was covered under warranty at the top of Scotland you could take it to the nearest dealer and they're obliged to honour the warranty. The only difference that might affect you is that cars imported from Europe come with a 60,000 mile warranty rather than the 90,000 mile warranty that comes with a car bought in the UK. Cars in the UK also come with free breakdown cover. Neither of these points bothered me because I won't cover 30,000 miles per year and I'm already covered by the RAC (not that I'm expecting anything to go wrong with the car).

My car was a cancelled order so I only had to pay £500 up front (the company I went with have a lot of cancelled orders so if you went with them you might get the same benefit). Normally they ask for a 20% deposit.

Hope all thi shelps

Andy

foggy

1,171 posts

289 months

Thursday 13th March 2003
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Do CTRs have an LSD like the ITR?

Ooh, get me, all those techy initials.

PetrolTed

34,443 posts

310 months

Thursday 13th March 2003
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None of you want to share your views of the Type R with potential purchasers?

www.pistonheads.com/reviews/reviews.asp?c=41&id=169

Lensey

2,526 posts

290 months

Thursday 13th March 2003
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Yes I will Ted but I just want to get a few more miles under my belt first. When I've done about 2K I will do a report for anybody.

RedTeg

2,006 posts

288 months

Thursday 13th March 2003
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foggy said: Do CTRs have an LSD like the ITR?

Ooh, get me, all those techy initials.


No

markda

815 posts

265 months

Wednesday 30th April 2003
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Simon-c

I am a little late to this one, would seriously suggest you take NikB's advice and try and Integra too.

I loved my integra, the vtec is very addictive and although it takes some time to get used to. Once you learn to drive it, you can't beat it for fun! I couldnt get on with the civic. Although I did like that funky gear change

G Man

4,053 posts

267 months

Saturday 24th May 2003
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My thoughts on the engine:
Easily the most tuneable I have seen. I have just come back from a dyno session and a change of cams and a reflash of the ecu 255bhp.
If you change the pistons it is a monster, one producing 274bhp and 170ftlbs torque AT THE WHEELS
Perfect engine for racing