Civic Type R's (Not the new model)
 

It's going to be swap time in a few months - and at the moment I'm looking into the CTR - but I understand that when the current "old" shape Type R had its facelift, Honda incorporated something 500 improvements - can anyone point me in the direction of what all these were?

And anything in particular I should look out for?

Cheers.

The exterior of the car came with..

Revised front bumper and larger grille
Indicators in the wing mirrors
Different colour alloys(brighter than the darker grey on the pre facelift)
Clear rear lights
Front headamps were changed for better looking items

interior had the red door cards and seat fabric on the centre of the seats were also red.

the car also had a lightened flywheel and 60 supposedly comes up in 6.6 rather than 6.8 owing to this change.

they are the ones that i know about.

regarding what to look for. steering racks can be an issue. and oil consumption. the cars depend on oil to make the vtec work and you hear of people getting crap performance because of letting oil get to the low point on the dipstick.

check the car pulls well from its changeover at around 5800 rpm. there wont be no''kick'' in the back like some honda owners would have you believe but the change in power is very noticable as is the engine note.

check the gears in 1st and 2nd select without crunching. thats an issue lots have and im sure were recalled by honda over this problem.

oh and they came with no air con and front foglamps this is an option on the type r so if you do find one with them fitted thats a bonus as honda charged a grand alone for the a/c.

so endeth my essay lol. good luck i miss mine and im thinking of getting another.

I almost forgot. the type r had a limited edition called the 30th anniversary. it came with propper recaro red seats,red carpet over the standard black, a momo embossed wheel(looks like the standard one but the leather is better and marked with the logo) and tinted rear and side rear black privacy glass.

the really late model type r's sometimes known as ''premiers'' also came with red carpets,the momo wheel and the same recaros but in red and black and the tinted windows.

the daddy though is the jdm white only import with 212 bhp over the 197 uk spec. this version also has a limited slip diff.

dont forget, the facelift models have a lighter flywheel, allowing you to hit 60 0.2secs faster......aparantly

*EDIT* - just noticed......you didnt forget. oops!

Changes were largely cosmetic although they did manage to soften the ride a little as well. As an ownership proposition they are an absolute dream - bullet proof yet really special when you're on a mission. Best manual gearbox in the world and the best 4-cylinder engine. Still regret swapping mine for the STI.

swap back then???????????

Love mine.. Drive it Hard!

Look for poor air con, my air con rad failed and dealer tried it on asking £550 for new one. Managed to get a mate at another dealer to sort it under good will terms with Honda for free. Warranty had expired by about 6 months!

Go for it, bang for buck you cant go wrong, depending on your budget try and pick a facelifted version.. every man and his dog has a nighthawk black so see what colours are available choice of milano red, cosmic silver, satin silver and nighthawk black or if its special championship white jdm only.

Not gonna repeat whats above its all very good advice.

I chose to modify mine lightly, race manifold/decat, aem induction, cat back exhaust, kpro ecu and a healthy 232bhp on a recent dyno tune.

Civic Type R Owners Website you'll need to register to gain access to the forum, every question you could ever imagine answered.

If you have any questions drop me a PM.

i had face lift one(nighthawk black)watch out for window screens rubber not fitted properly(makes aloud noise over 100mph so i'm told:Suspiciou) easy to fix:thumb:
standard rubber is **** in wet weather:nono:

Cheers for the info - definately think I'm leaning towards the facelift model, had a wander around the local dealer today and it certainly looks a lot better on the uprated headlamps.

I'm hoping with the new model due in March that there'll be a glut of them before long and the price will drop a bit - but what sort of money are we talkign about? Apologies but I cant remember when the facelift version came out...

04 i think:wonder: i've seen face lift ones go for £11000.i wont'nt go for leather seats. mate had one with leather seats when he went fast in to a corner driver/passanger slide side ways in the seats.but each to there own:thumb:

I want my old car, not another CTR. More than happy with the 550 miles for £40 I am currently getting in my new Civic Diesel as well :)

mate of mine is a honda tech and has an evo5 and uk turbo impreza..he doesnt rate the honda at all and they have no lsd...so traction is an issue !!

There were some early facelifts on a '53 but most started on a '04, although I have seen a '53 facelift and '04 pre-facelift.. probably a dealer stock issue.

Baffled by that statement, how can you compare CTR with Evo/Scooby and relate to traction, state the obvious.. FWD v's 4WD? :)

If your going to compare the cars do it once rolling.

Yeh in the wet, traction is an issue, but so are most FWD cars with 200bhp.lol

In the dry they are weapons, i have had two. The Chassis is top notch, one fault i did find with the two i had(facelift not as bad) was understeer, on track and B roads.

I would still buy another, VTEC change over is more prounounced in the pre-facelift, especially with an induction kit.

Steering is Vauge as everyone knows, but gearbox, and engine note makes up for it.


Buy one, pre or facelift it does not matter, most of the probs on the early models should be sorted. I thought my pre facelift was a bit rawer.

Paul