First experience of a Civic Type R

[Alexander 0]

Well, a mate of mine in my Kung Fu academy owns a silver pre-facelift 03 CTR, and I asked him tonight if he'd take me for a spin in it, which he duly did.

 

I've read all the threads on here about CTRs and people complaining of no torque - well it felt pretty bloody torquey to me! Obviously you have to rev the tits off it, but it felt urgent and smooth and kept me pinned to the back of my seat as he bounced it off the limiter at 100mph :)

 

Was also actually pretty impressed with the interior - massive and airy with loads of visibility - I love my C but getting into it afterwards it felt dark and claustrophobic. Still rocked like.

 

I like to have my moves planned well in advance - for example, if the G60 snuffed it or (god forbid) was written off/stolen I need to know what I'd look for next. At the moment the only two contenders would be a CTR or Seat Leon Cupra R, which I've not been in yet. Would actually like a VR but everyone I've spoken to (my mechanic included) swears me off them because of the running/repair costs. Bearing in mind the amount of wedge I've spent to keep the G on the road for the past 6 months, that's a concern.

 

I know we're all biased, but has anyone else had experience of the CTR or LCR and how do you compare them to your C? I can't get past the fact that driving the G60 I turn heads, driving a CTR or LCR I would be practically anonymous.

[H8RRA 0]

i lik ethe torque of a vr over a revvy 4 - as you say you have to rev the tits off them. i've been in one and found it hard work and like a buzzing sewing machine......vr for a couple of grand at the mo or ctr - a few more grand no doubt?

[StormchargedVR6 0]

VR any day.

 

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[rado-steve 0]

Raced one of the way home from Belgium at the weekend......It Lost Lol!

[dirtytorque 0]

yeah they are built to be revved.

Amazing engines.

I dislike the cars styling as I do the Seat.

[coullstar 0]

Well this year I started with a remapped Leon Cupra R and then swapped it for a sorted S3. Sold the S3 and bought my VR plus a Tdi Golf.

 

Overall the Leon was the fastest in a straight line and reasonably well made but it did feel a tad cheap. The S3 had every option going and was 8yrs old but it felt like an very solid car plus mine has fully set up suspension so it handled amazingly. It was a very very quick A to B car. The VR is no where near as fast as either but as you all know they do have that something special. If either the Seat or S3 had been stolen/crashed I wouldnt have been majorly pissed off however if anything happens to the VR i will be fuming.

[skinnyman9000 0]

I like the styling, and i appreciate the technology that is in the engines as my dad has a honda too.

 

BUT, i think the major factor with most people is the lack of low torque (i have a valver so i'd be used to it). But i know that a fairly cheap and very good solution is to turbo them, using a small turbo that kicks in nice and early. With a turbo kicking in at 3.5k, and then the vtec higher up, they're an immense machine

[Toad 0]

Would actually like a VR but everyone I've spoken to (my mechanic included) swears me off them because of the running/repair costs. Bearing in mind the amount of wedge I've spent to keep the G on the road for the past 6 months, that's a concern.

 

I don't think a vr is any more expensive to run than a G60 :scratch:

[Alexander 0]

On balance probably not - but it depends if the chains have already been done when you bought it. Plus the engines are (apparently) harder to work on because there's so little space in the engine bay. I'm not a mechanic by any means but I've heard this from a few independent sources.

[dirtytorque 0]

Would actually like a VR but everyone I've spoken to (my mechanic included) swears me off them because of the running/repair costs. Bearing in mind the amount of wedge I've spent to keep the G on the road for the past 6 months, that's a concern.

 

I don't think a vr is any more expensive to run than a G60 :scratch:

 

 

For me its more of a case of I don't have the mental energy to nurse a VR through its old age as I have already done that with my g60 and I'm spent.

:)

[Joe M 0]

On balance probably not - but it depends if the chains have already been done when you bought it. Plus the engines are (apparently) harder to work on because there's so little space in the engine bay. I'm not a mechanic by any means but I've heard this from a few independent sources.

 

That just seems like an excuse garages use to get more money out of you. Ive known garages to try to charge more for doing things like an oil change, front brake pads, brake fluid change etc as soon as they hear vr6. Theres nothing different in doing them jobs compared to doing it on a g60 apart from maybe removing an extra wheel bolt each side...

[Alexander 0]

Fair enough, but this was two friends of mine who happen to be mechanics, warning me before I actually bought a VR, so it's not like they had an ulterior motive.

 

For me its more of a case of I don't have the mental energy to nurse a VR through its old age as I have already done that with my g60 and I'm spent.

 

This is a very good point - I love my G60 to bits (literally sometimes) but I hate to think of the amount of mental energy, stress and time (as well as money) I've spent keeping it looking and running great. Obviously this is all part of the joys of owning a modern classic, but I do think my next car will be something new(ish) - no idea what, but it's fun to speculate!

[Joe M 0]

Have to say, I quite like the new Leon Cupra. Not the best looking car but big brakes, sorted suspension and near 250bhp standard, £500 remap to 305bhp. Can be had for about 16 grand with under 10'000 on the clock.

[Jim Bowen 1]

i had one for a weekend, and they are good cars, but feel tinny and to drive fast you have to drive aggressively, which is what i didn't like.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Have to say, I quite like the new Leon Cupra. £500 remap to 305bhp. .

 

With a turbo life span of 5 minutes. You need almost 2 bar to achieve that.... which from a K03 is too much. It'll have a tiny little torque band aswell as a K03 can't push 2 bar to 7000rpm.

 

On the CTR, I drove a MK1 some time ago and wasn't that bowled over by it. It isn't torquey, it's just very low geared and light weight, plus a sharp throttle response gives the impression of torque.

 

Aside from it's excellent gear shift and super stiff shell, it had nothing special about it imo. The VTEC motor people get so excited over couldn't have been any more boring for me personally. It's just a rough, noisy box and any engine manufacturer can make lots of power from lots of revs. It's not new or special.

 

Stick a turbo on the VTEC and now you're talking. Put that excellent flowing head to good use.

 

And yep, VR6s are p1ss easy to work on. No more difficult than any other Corrado.

It's just lazy mechanics with little to no knowledge of the engine that come out with blanket statements like that. Of course it's more expensive to maintain, it's a 6 pot after all.

In terms of cramped space, they obviously don't realise that once you've taken the intake off, it's barely any bigger than a 4 pot.

[mic_VR 3]

Having driven both a new and old CTR and a LCR I have to say that I was most impressed with the LCR, thats the one i'd have. But I wouldn't change the VR for either of them and I think the key for me is that the Corrado actually has a soul.

 

It's different to everything else you see on the road, it's got that great growl from the 6-pot and, as people like Kev have proved, you can use the money from a LCR/CTR to buy a good VR6, do the chains/suspension/brakes and whack a turbo on it running fairly low/safe boost and you're got a 350bhp daily that's one of the best handling front wheel drive cars ever made. Plus you'll still have some change to buy your missus something nice to keep her sweet! :wink:

[Alexander 0]

I agree with you about the soul thing - Corrados definitely have something special. But how much of this is due to their age do you think?

 

I've driven my mum's brand new Golf GTI, which is an awesome car, but it still felt cold, plasticky and stiff - which I just put down to the fact it's brand new and hasn't had chance to loosen up/get some character. No doubt in 15 years time, the current new GTI may well hold our affections for the same reason.

[Joe M 0]

Have to say, I quite like the new Leon Cupra. £500 remap to 305bhp. .

 

With a turbo life span of 5 minutes. You need almost 2 bar to achieve that.... which from a K03 is too much. It'll have a tiny little torque band aswell as a K03 can't push 2 bar to 7000rpm.

 

 

New Leon Cupra has a K04...

[Chris VR6nos 0]

I love it when people say things like that first comment on the Corrado forum, always makes me smile.

I have to say though, Kev is right about the 6 pot being more to care for as you need to buy 2 more spark plugs and a bit more oil but i use mune for a daily drive and i'm a sales rep so do loads of miles and it's charged but nothing really goes wrong unless you have a total failure so on balance i think they are super cheap to keep on the road as things don't break like the seemingly fickle G60 plus mine gets driven like it's stolen a lot of the time.

 

 

 

Chris

[CazzaVR 0]

Stick a turbo on the VTEC and now you're talking. Put that excellent flowing head to good use.

 

Now there's an idea... :norty:

[skinnyman9000 0]

With the build quality and reliability, and dropping prices, a CTR with the view of a turbo installation is a very interesting prospect

[Guest]

Dont know about Jap stuff :wink: but i do know a VR wont necessarily cost you any more than most to run, sure fuel is used up a bit quicker around town but on a decent run theres not that much in it

 

as for servicing/reliability of a VR6 its a very easy engine to work on, and no different to any of the 4 cylinder ones, just more of it! if your talking major overhaul for chains etc then its gearbox out etc but its not difficult to work on them, water pump change is tricky :wink:

 

But the beauty of the VR6 is you hardly ever have to do anything to it! they can suffer a few niggles with the coil pack, maf, or cam sensor but thats just either a service part or cleaning, i had mine 4 years and drove it hard on occasions and it never let me down or needed anything doing to it! other than standard servicing and a lamda sensor (thanks to tesco)

 

My next car is likely to be a MK5 R32, im not gonna bother with the mk4 as i simply dont like them!! and besides the way fuel is going the mk5 R32 will depreciate quicker than the 4 as no one will buy them :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Have to say, I quite like the new Leon Cupra. £500 remap to 305bhp. .

 

With a turbo life span of 5 minutes. You need almost 2 bar to achieve that.... which from a K03 is too much. It'll have a tiny little torque band aswell as a K03 can't push 2 bar to 7000rpm.

 

 

New Leon Cupra has a K04...[/quote:1y2r1tii]

 

2 bar is still too much for one of those aswell.

[Phil K 0]

HAve been really chuffed with my LCR, OK not as individual as my old C and deffo doesn't turn as many heads but for out of the box speed and thrills I rate it highly! 8)

 

If you're ever down south I'd be more than happy to let you have a spin in mine!

[Alexander 0]

Very kind! I like the silver with anthracite alloys combo, plus the LCR is more practical, what with it having 5 doors and a good-sized boot.

 

That's got me in the mind to go and annoy some Seat dealerships over the weekend, purely speculatively of course :)