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Hi all,
Yesterday I test drove the new civic type R at my local Honda dealership and I have to say I was very impressed! The car is a 65 plate in Polished Metal (Grey) and a GT model - with only 28 miles on the clock!
So boring paperwork bit out of the way, we finally get to the car... opened the door and you get that new car smell, everything looks unblemished and a very nice place to be! The salesmen drove initially, so into the passenger seat I get, I'm not a small person, 6ft 3 and 19+ stone (I do train 6 days a week so no fat b4stard comments please lol), the seats are very nice, slightly wider than the recaro's in the DC5 and the side bolsters aren't as high, but still very supportive/comfortable.
First off the salesmen talks through all the different toys/gadgets in the car, I loved the keyless entry/start/stop and the different display options and the touch screen multimedia interface was also pretty cool! A couple of minutes later we head out of the dealership and towards the nearest dual carriageway, the salesmen gives it the beans and the boost felt decent, hit the 7k mark in no time at all and I'm already grinning like a cheshire cat
I've not been in/driven a boosted car for a little while now, so was loving the wastegate chatter, spooling noise and surge of torque! It was kind of weird not hearing a boom of noise from the traditional vtec, but I thought the engine/exhaust sounded nice, only a little bit louder than my 5 with a Kakimoto catback! The engine doesn't sound the best just before you change up though, almost moaning at you to change up rather than lapping up the revs!
So after a few miles we pullover and it's my turn to drive, the seating position is completely different to the 5, the dash feels high and long and I had to put the seat all the way back and adjusted the steering position to suit. I also noticed how minimal the rear visibility is out of the rear windscreen (it looks tiny compared to the big windscreen of the 5). Honda have thought of that though, so when you put it in reverse a camera comes up on the 7" screen so you can see what's going on behind you (nice one Honda)!
Pulling out of the layby a BMW Z4 comes hooning up behind me, let him past as I didn't want to pay a 5k excess for damages on the test drive! Then we're on our way... getting used to the gear lever being up high was a bit weird and I almost think that the seat could do with lowering a bit, my knees were almost hitting the bottom of the steering wheel!
Driving up the A road I'm just cruising initially... the car feels big and wide and I'm kinda cautious about the 5k excess... but then I get a chance to boot it... dropped it down to 3rd (would be 2nd in the teg) and foot flat to the floor - there is a tiny bit of lag and then it pulls like a train! Lights flashing at me to change up and the speedo showing that I was already doing more than the speed limit so I backed off... salesmen didn't even blink an eye lid (he had just been doing silly speeds himself).
Then it's back to normal driving through the next town, gave it the odd boot just to hear the spool and chatter of the turbo (I know, such a child
) and he can tell that I'm loving it so lets me go the long way back to the dealership! I also tried R+ mode on the way back and I have to say although it's stiff I don't think it's any harsher than my 5 (on Bilstein coilovers)... the turbo noise is louder, the dials light up red and you can feel the throttle response sharpen up - I told the guy it wasn't going back to "normal" mode and as he was shaking away he didn't seem impressed lol
Back to the dealership and I was sad to get out (my mind is already made up), the teggy looks decent in the carpark even for its age and I know I'll be sad to see it go...
Comparing the teggy to the fk2 I can say that the steering and handling is better in the teg (although I didn't thrash it around the corners in the fk2)... I deffo prefer the hydraulic steering over electic, hands down! But that said straight line speed the fk2 is faster even though my 5 is 230bhp and a lot lighter you can tell the fk2 has potential and I'll certainly be looking at tuning it once I get it (well after a year or so... maybe
).
I told the dealership I want a grey fk2 in GT spec and if he'd offer me any deals on the demo car, it only has 44 miles on it and it also comes with the 5 year service plan... they said I could have it for just shy of 30k and I put a holding deposit down (£500) - expect to see a for sale thread from me soon!
Thanks for reading and sorry for the essay
Ash
Yesterday I test drove the new civic type R at my local Honda dealership and I have to say I was very impressed! The car is a 65 plate in Polished Metal (Grey) and a GT model - with only 28 miles on the clock!
So boring paperwork bit out of the way, we finally get to the car... opened the door and you get that new car smell, everything looks unblemished and a very nice place to be! The salesmen drove initially, so into the passenger seat I get, I'm not a small person, 6ft 3 and 19+ stone (I do train 6 days a week so no fat b4stard comments please lol), the seats are very nice, slightly wider than the recaro's in the DC5 and the side bolsters aren't as high, but still very supportive/comfortable.
First off the salesmen talks through all the different toys/gadgets in the car, I loved the keyless entry/start/stop and the different display options and the touch screen multimedia interface was also pretty cool! A couple of minutes later we head out of the dealership and towards the nearest dual carriageway, the salesmen gives it the beans and the boost felt decent, hit the 7k mark in no time at all and I'm already grinning like a cheshire cat
I've not been in/driven a boosted car for a little while now, so was loving the wastegate chatter, spooling noise and surge of torque! It was kind of weird not hearing a boom of noise from the traditional vtec, but I thought the engine/exhaust sounded nice, only a little bit louder than my 5 with a Kakimoto catback! The engine doesn't sound the best just before you change up though, almost moaning at you to change up rather than lapping up the revs!
So after a few miles we pullover and it's my turn to drive, the seating position is completely different to the 5, the dash feels high and long and I had to put the seat all the way back and adjusted the steering position to suit. I also noticed how minimal the rear visibility is out of the rear windscreen (it looks tiny compared to the big windscreen of the 5). Honda have thought of that though, so when you put it in reverse a camera comes up on the 7" screen so you can see what's going on behind you (nice one Honda)!
Pulling out of the layby a BMW Z4 comes hooning up behind me, let him past as I didn't want to pay a 5k excess for damages on the test drive! Then we're on our way... getting used to the gear lever being up high was a bit weird and I almost think that the seat could do with lowering a bit, my knees were almost hitting the bottom of the steering wheel!
Driving up the A road I'm just cruising initially... the car feels big and wide and I'm kinda cautious about the 5k excess... but then I get a chance to boot it... dropped it down to 3rd (would be 2nd in the teg) and foot flat to the floor - there is a tiny bit of lag and then it pulls like a train! Lights flashing at me to change up and the speedo showing that I was already doing more than the speed limit so I backed off... salesmen didn't even blink an eye lid (he had just been doing silly speeds himself).
Then it's back to normal driving through the next town, gave it the odd boot just to hear the spool and chatter of the turbo (I know, such a child
Back to the dealership and I was sad to get out (my mind is already made up), the teggy looks decent in the carpark even for its age and I know I'll be sad to see it go...
Comparing the teggy to the fk2 I can say that the steering and handling is better in the teg (although I didn't thrash it around the corners in the fk2)... I deffo prefer the hydraulic steering over electic, hands down! But that said straight line speed the fk2 is faster even though my 5 is 230bhp and a lot lighter you can tell the fk2 has potential and I'll certainly be looking at tuning it once I get it (well after a year or so... maybe
I told the dealership I want a grey fk2 in GT spec and if he'd offer me any deals on the demo car, it only has 44 miles on it and it also comes with the 5 year service plan... they said I could have it for just shy of 30k and I put a holding deposit down (£500) - expect to see a for sale thread from me soon!
Thanks for reading and sorry for the essay
Ash
