EP3 I am a total car noob but the Ep3 has always been my dream car since i was about 10.

So as the title says, I unfortunately know very very little about cars and how they operate and what all the modifications I read on here do etc.
Basically I have spent 2 years driving a 1.4 vw golf, I have always told myself I would stay Jap or German. My friend bought a new car recently and genuinely gave me his old car for free which is a vw golf mk4 V5 2.3L. Naturally as you can all imagine I now know I cant ever take the step back down to a lower CC. Now the Ep3 has ALWAYS been my dream and I am now fully decided that yes I could get a nice Mk5 GTI with good speed and torque but why not just buy my actual dream car?

What I basically want to know is I am U.K based so it would be great if someone could give me a rough idea of a monthly cost on an Ep3 bearing in mind that I am gonna look after it like its my baby. References that I can't find on this forum thus far are things like, Oil prices, how often I am likely to need to put oil in it, a honest figure as to how much it will cost me in fuel bearing in mind I do no motorway driving, I wont rag it except maybe on the weekends so perhaps if anyone drives one 7 days a week to and from work that could give e a ROUGH idea, i see a lot of 30-35mpg on the forums and that seems quite okay to me. Also I would really appreciate maybe 2 or 3 modifications that you deem almost a necessity that you can all recommend being clear Type R fanatics and I would appreciate it even more if you could give me a good explanation as to what each would do. I am 25 so i'm not just some 18 year old boy racer this has been a dream of mine for quite some time and I now feel as though I can make it happen. If anyone can give me any constructive tips I will be so so grateful.

I also read a lot about clutches post 100,000 miles. Can anyone shed any light on a rough cost of a new clutch and what I should look out for when test driving one in how to actually assess the condition of the clutch? The Type R will only be the third car I would've driven so I really do mean it when I say any tips you can provide me with I will be HUGELY grateful. Being half japanese I have felt the Ep3 calling for me my whole life.

Thankyou so much to anyone who takes the time to give me some good tips!
Have a sick day everyone and I really hope I can become part of this epic community.

I also apologise I have just seen that there is a Newbies section but there are posts on there regarding Hondas that aren't EP3's and if im honest they are all that i'm interested in and it seems that this thread is EP3 all day

Unless you're truly babying it, you will not get anywhere near 35mpg. The published figures for combined efficiency were just over 31 if I remember correctly. Many here will get a lot less than that because this is a car that begs to be driven. My last fill-up was better than most and that was 290Mi for 40L.

5w40 oil, preferably of a good brand will probably set you back over £40/5L. The K20 should only really consume reasonable amounts of it when you're in VTEC, but oil is something all cars eat a moderate amount of over time. Oil is a necessary fact of life on the K20 though, DO NOT let it run low, if you're wanting to baby your car this is the first lesson Keep some oil handy in your garage.

In terms of good mods, go for handling first, the JDM rear sway bar is an easy and "cheap" mod to make (about £170 including two new drop-links, plus labour). This will cause the rear of the car to be firmer around corners, cutting down on body-roll, making it slightly more controllable at the limit. The fast road setup (FRSU) suspension mod can also improve feeling and driveability, this will require a few parts too (probably another £160 or so plus labour), but many here are very happy with the outcome. This improves feeling through the steering and also allows you to push the car a little further than the default. Beyond these mods though... the sky's the limit, seriously. New intakes, exhausts, forced induction, new suspension/lowering, new engine management for increased power/response, limited slip differential (like the JDM model had). The mods prices climb ever skyward. I'd say buy the car first, worry about that stuff later

Clutches are just an item that wears over time, you will (if you own the car long enough) need to get one replaced. Standard clutch replacement would be £4-500 (incl. labour) as they need to pull the drive-shafts, drop the gearbox etc. just to get at it. You can tell if the clutch is worn since it'll feel firm and will catch close to the bottom of the pedal stroke. At 100,000Mi you have bigger fish to fry anyway, at that point you're looking at a new timing chain (also a few hundred pounds work) as well. Also, when looking at cars, keep an eye out for rust, in particular around the rear wheel arches and look out for water in the boot where the spare wheel lives.

Dude thankyou so much for your fast response! In regards to an exhaust as you can imagine the V5 golf possesses quite a deep rumble which I can't deny that I love and this is without any modifications. What type of exhausts should I look at to not sound like the ridiculous ones that some boy racers put on cars that clearly aren't powerful and sound far too unauthentic in my opinion. Having watched many dash cam videos of the EP3 they do sound incredible but I don't know if that's because they have exhausts on them already that aren't standard? I appreciate your help and anyone else's so much because I literally know nothing about cars but I've realised i absolutely love driving them haha. With the water warning you mentioned do you mean water actually sat in with the spare tire? And regarding rust would you say if it's present to let the car go and look for another? Thankyou so much though.

Personally, I have a preference for _not_ increasing the noise of the exhaust, but maybe that's because I'm old

For me, I like the sound of things like the Fujitsubo exhausts (RM01A or Legalis R), they're sadly not cheap however.

However, it's not always exhaust noise you might be hearing, it can also be the intake. A CAI (Cold-air intake) can increase induction noise significantly, several airboxes do similarly. Hell, even the simple Hondata airbox mod will increase induction noise and costs you nothing more than a bit of time and effort.

As for the water, I meant in the well where the spare sits. As for rust, unless you know how bad it is and approximately how much it would cost to get rid of, yes, look for another. There's a fair number of EP3's still out there, don't just jump on the first you see.

I'm pretty sure Chris or Loxy wrote up a buyer's guide a while ago, you'd be best to search and see if you can find it.

Interesting first post! I have had mine for 4 years as a daily driver and have measured the economy across a full tank about 5 times. When driving all motorway i got an average of 35mpg one summer with the air con on the entire way. The worst average i got was daily commuting about 24mpg accross a tank, but usually average about 28mpg on a mixture of town and A road commuting. As mentioned oil is something you have to accept and become anal about but i dont think much else goes wrong on the EP3 certainly in my experience so far. Another symptom of a bad clutch is changing gear at high rpm (in vtec zone) the gearchange will crunch a bit, perhaps even refuse to mesh, but it may be fine at low rpm so this can catch you out on a test drive - make sure you gun it.

The NA 2.3 V5 Golf 170hp has always intriuged me. I bet it would be noticably more torquey than the EP3. It all depends what sort of driving you do and how often you will use vtec. Some things the mk4 golf will never compare on is the fun, handling, noise and top end pull of the EP3 but it is an interesting dilema as the car was given to you free. If it was me i'd certainly be tempted to run the golf for a while and probably hunt out a nice DC5, but like you I wanted an EP3 for ages!

Wow I'm really surprised by how quickly I'm getting replies, Mike I get what you're saying sadly I really don't know what noise it is im hearing I believe it to be the exhaust but the V5 truly turns heads even when ticking over at lights the rumble is quite exceptional the more I think about it it is probably just the engine, I suppose it is just a raw 2.3 isn't it? The honest truth is I guess what excites me most is acceleration. (Obviously in safe situations) obviously the Ep3 has a better 0-60 but deep down I want it to be a bit loud aswell but not fake loud if you get me? Ninja in response to you the Ep3 has always been my dream, not even based on its performance but just how beautiful it looks. The golf I've been given is sadly not in great condition she's probably not got another 20k on her she's on 110. My problem now is that I've tasted what power under your feet feels like and I don't think I can ever go back. I'll google what a DC5 is but I will definitely make sure to wait for a good example Ep3 because I genuinely will pay for Honda services and look after it like my a child. 24mpg is slightly worrying though even when I boot it in the V5 I can still average about 25/27 but that's dependant on how reliable the indicator it has actually is. Either way thankyou everyone for the responses I appreciate it huuuugely because I'm 95 percent sure I'm just gonna go for a Honda. A nice golf will be around forever.

Where abouts are you based? Might be someone near willing to show you around.

Pretty much echo what was said above, what is your budget for the ep3? This will determine what likely condition you can expect to achieve. I owned an ep3 a few years back and had some great fun in it, using is as a daily I would get around 230 miles per full tank. I must admit, it seen some hard driving but the car was great fun, besides burning oil it didn't need a penny.

Now I own another ep3, this isn't a daily and I spent more to ensure I got one which was in good aesthetic and mechanical condition ( quite funny because unfortunately I still spent a fair bit on it ) but it's now brilliant. It's horses for courses in terms of noise, I don't like th idea of changing the exhaust, I think the ep3 doesn't need one but I am a massive fan of ththe cross over noise, this is (for me) what is iconic about these cars. A good induction kit really releases the vtec sounds and it's quite special.

Re clutch, I recently replaced mine. Signs were as above, it was very 'firm' when pressing down and changing gears in the vtec range we challenging, it wouldn't drop straight in. Now I've changed th clutch it's like a different car, smooth through every gear change irrelevant of the rev range.

The buying guide is spot on that's also been mentioned above, every well known issues which needs to be looked out for is covered in that. BUT I've also found these cars to be pretty bullet proof aside from the known issues, noticeably wrecked gearboxes, rust and general thrashing by youths who just want to vtec yo.

View plenty of ep3s before buying one, makes sure it has documented service history, but the seller not just the car, there are plenty of cars on the market but a lot of them in my experience are sheds. But again, this comes back to your budget and what you can feasibably get for your buck!

Also monthly running costs will vary with use and condition of the car, a couple of months ago I replaced all four tyres, front discs and pads plus the rear pads so you can imagine that was an expensive month for the car.

The week just gone I did 600 miles in the car which is way more than normal so again, expensive couple of days in fuel.

Wow this forum really is incredible I can't believe the rate at which I'm getting responses! Jo5h I am based in camberley which is about 15 minutes from Guildford, Surrey. Anyone that is from around that area that can help me in anyway I will be eternally grateful and willing to let you take the beastly V5 for a little run! Ep3steve my budget will hopefully be between 3-4K, I have seen examples that seem quite good at around the 2-2.5k mark but I almost think I should avoid those however I will be getting a company van in 6 months so I guess if it died it wouldn't be TOO bad but ideally I'd like to have one forever they are sooo beautiful. Am I right in assuming that as soon as I enter the Vtech ranges that petrol will literally be flying out of the tank? Also can any of you shed any light on what the pull is like from the Ep3 outside of Vtech ranges? Gears 1-2 in the V5 are quite intense regardless of rev count will I still get that kind of pull from the Honda outside of Vtech range? Krzys in response to you do you mind me asking how much all that set you back? I imagine it felt dreamy after such a treat for it. I genuinely think this community is amazing I can't thank you all enough, so excited to hopefully own one. Oh and Ep3steve wht is an induction kit and how much would one set me back? Are there any modifications i should avoid if they were aready installed for example? Thankyou so much everyone.

A lot of these questions comes down to opinions, me personally I wouldn't want to buy a car which had been modified beyond induction and exhaust but others will make a fair argument that the modified cars have probably been looked after more than most, and with no expense spared. This is why I said buy the person not the car. Also it's great now that MOT history is available online, if you punch in the rig plate of the car you are looking at buying it gives you a breakdown down of advisories or failures. Whilst it's not a true indication it's a very good conversation starter, not a good sign when you see advisories for drop links, brakes etc year after year..

Most of these questions or any others can be either found using the search element or looking round google or YouTube. YouTube videos I find very helpful. Google induction kit ep3 on YouTube.

Also living in the vtec would give considerably less fuel economy. If you drive it conservatively it's not much difference to any other 2.0 Ltd engine

My EP3 is my daily driver, though I did spend quite a bit for a set of Bilstein coilover upgrade on it.

It is certainly not outrageous in terms of running cost. Just keep a big bottle of oil handy in the garage if you want to drive it the way that should be driven.

Being in Camberley, also meant that you are very close to TGM for anything service or upgrade related too. I live in Farnborough myself, could certainly give you a ride if you wanted.

Avoid massively loud exhaust, especially if you want to track it at all.

No the pull wont be the same from 1-5000rpm thats what i was touching on earlier. I think the golf weighs 50kg more but it will probably still feel more urgent in this range because of the extra cc and by nature of a V shaped engine, torque lower down the rev range. But when you hit vtec at 5800rpm you will enjoy it and will pull a few car lengths on the golf and even more above 120mph in a drag. Another thing you will notice about the EP3 also is the throttle response very good

No the petrol wont fly out but you will probably get 18mpg if you hold the car in vtec i am guessing, but this is the nature of performance cars. My old M3 was a 3.2 and it showed 14mpg when you gunned it!

Daikiyamane said:

Krzys in response to you do you mind me asking how much all that set you back? I imagine it felt dreamy after such a treat for it.

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About £300 on the brakes but that's because I have gone a bit OTT and around £400 on the tyres. Again you can get cheaper but still okay rubber.

Ep3steve thankyou so much for the time you've taken to answer all my questions I can't thank you enough, me personally I would like to keep the modifications to a limit due to the fact I'm sure the more the car is modded the higher my insurance will be haha. Ninja your point is intwresting though, the pull in the V5 truly is an exceptional feeling, would you say then that you only experience that head back into the seat motion with a Type R when you are in the Vtech zones? Do you think that the 0-40 for example would be better in the V5 purely based on its torque? From my research the Type R is almost a car that you have to learn to get those optimal changes etc. The problem is I won't be doing any track driving I imagine, so the 120mph drag is probably out of the question for me. I wouldn't say I drive dangerously but I do absolutely love this feeling of getting to 30mph in what feels like the blink of an eye. I agree with all of you I wouldn't want a silly loud exhaust that's just roaring when it effectively shouldn't be if you understand me, but I do want the car to still make some noise if you catch my drift? Stardus I really would appreciate that hugely it would give me such a good idea whether or not my dream car really is for me seeing as I'm going to spend so much money, face to face tips will help me hugely. The honest truth is it's my dream car based solely on how it looks I find them sooo beautiful, I almost wish I hadn't driven this V5 because now I'm slightly worried the Ep3 might feel a bit tamer, however everywhere I read people constantly talk of how amazing the response between driver and tyres is, almost like a super go kart if you get me. The golf certainly struggles a bit in corners with quite a lot of body roll. My problem I guess essentially is that to get into the Vtech rev ranges on U.K roads I am probably definitely going to be breaking the speed limits would that be safe to say? The Vtech range is from 5.8-8 from what I've read? So I'm probably gonna be in excess of 30 if I want Vtech in 2nd gear correct?

This community though, epic. So much love for you all!

Wow I can't believe the tyres are that much..... just to give me a rough idea I know it'll change based on my mileage but I do under 10k a year would you say that a 4 tyre change would be annual or more like 6 months? I'm assuming brakes should last somewhat longer than a year? Sorry I literally know nothing about cars I just can't deny now that I am fully turning into a petrol head! (Ugly term I know)

I drive pretty swiftly and my mid range Avon ZZ5 still have some life after 1+ year and 10k+. I am pretty sure that the Michelin PS4 have raving review and reported low wear too.

The ZZ5 cost me £70 odd per corner.

Daikiyamane said:

Are there any modifications i should avoid if they were aready installed for example? Thankyou so much everyone.

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If the car has a decat or 4-2-1 manifold and hasnt been properly remapped with hondata etc I wouldnt touch it personally as they dont run well with decat when not mapped for it.

The power is there, you just have to use the gearbox a bit more than you would with a V5 or a turbo golf GTI. It depends on the conditions and if clutch is used etc but if it was a 2nd gear roll from 10mph to 70mph i reckon the golf hits 70 at same time as the civic, but if it was 0-70 with clutch the civic wins. And then you get to the corners and the civic is gone.