Paul, my daughter's boyfriend, took delivery of his brand new, red Civic Type R yesterday and we went for a run.
Now, last year I had the good fortune to drive one of these for a good while in the lanes of County Durham, courtesy of Honda, and found it to be one of the best hot hatches ever, though the suspension was very stiff (I mean, call an osteopath stiff).
Anyhow, last night, I sat in the back of this go-kart and felt really comfortable.
I was also impressed by how, after zilch miles, my daughter and her boyfriend drove the car like they had owned it for years. Especially impressed as it has a 6 speed box.
Maybe I'm getting old but I can see how this car sells so well in the UK, well, anywhere but Lytham St. Annes.
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Sadly I feel Honda have lost their way with these mainstream Type Rs both the current and previous Civic Type Rs are just glorified shopping trollies aimed at their competitor's hot hatches. The proper Type Rs feature hand-built engines, no sound proofing, thinner glass etc and were aimed purely at driving enthusiasts. If you want to drive a good hot hatch try a '99 EK9 Civic Type R (185BHP n/a 1.6) or a similar vintage DC2 Integra type R - These are some of the best hot hatches ever. Either will run rings around a current Civic 'Type R'
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Better yet - try a 1992 CR-X with V-Tec. That had handling to die for. I should never have sold mine.
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>Better yet - try a 1992 CR-X with V-Tec. That had handling to die for. I should never have sold mine.
Guess what's sat in my garage!
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Please don't tell me its silver and has reg J7** PFA.
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> Please don't tell me its silver and has reg J7** PFA.
No, its a burgandy SiR import. However if you pop over to www.hondacrx.co.uk/forum you might find someone on there's familiar with it.
You're right, you shouldn't have sold it!
Edited by 832ark on 21/05/2009 at 19:59
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I've had the pleasure of a goodly amount of time behind the wheel of NSX back in '96 and later Integra type R. Both wonderful.
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The Integra Type R is widely regarded as one of the best front wheel drive performance cars ever built. If you're going to have a relatively torque deficient, high revving engine, you need a low kerbweight, and this had it. They even shaved weight from the windscreen glass! Amazing bit of kit.
Never driven an NSX, but I would like to. :-)
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