EP3 Honda Civic Type R 2002
As you can see, this is one staunch-ass rice rocket. Gone are the days of a modest yet purposeful exterior. This little demon makes no bones about its intentions. Presence is one word I would use to describe my initial impression of the car.
It straightaway looks bigger in every respect than its predecessor, but meaner and far stauncher. What the car says is, “If you are going to drive me the way I am designed to be driven, you are going to require a very big set of… speeding ticket excuses.”
Those who are lucky enough to get their hands on one (somehow), are going to be thoroughly disappointed if they think they can trundle around Parnell and realise the full potential of the Type R.
Out of the Closet
It’s effectively been designed around a race track environment and modified (slightly) to be drivable on the road. Think of it as a closet racing car. After all, who else but Honda could produce a 2.0 litre naturally aspirated engine with 149kW (200hp) that’s also refined?
Of course, in typical Honda style the power isn’t actually realised until highish rpm, well actually 7400rpm if the truth be known, but the 2.0-litre i-VTEC mill is an absolute work of engineering art. Mechanically the Civic is near perfect, if there is such a thing. There’ll always be the unimaginative bugger who complains about a lack of power down low, but who cares? It’s deigned to be thrashed, and thrashed HARD.
Treat it mean
True, the nature of the engine means that there will be less power down in the lower rev range than a V8, but everyone knows that anyway, and when that V8 is wheezing as it struggles to rise above 5000rpm, the Honda is just coming into its power band. The other plus side of this engine is its frugal fuel consumption when not in high rpm territory.
Torque is a respectable 198Nm at 5800 rpm anyway, which is not bad for a naturally aspirated 2.0 litre at all. Weighing in at only 1270kg helps the Type R on its way to eye-watering cornering speeds and rapid changes of direction on the tight and twisty.
The heart of this Kamikaze has been filled with a bank of rev-happy, low friction, high compression pistons, hand-finished exhaust ports and a fully balanced crank for extremely smooth running at high rpm. That slick crank in turn spins its power to the helical LSD through a chromoly steel flywheel and a short-shifting close ratio six-speeder. Yes, thafs right. Honda has endowed this baby very well indeed, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the house of ‘R’, and it has certainly lived up to our expectations.
Civic-minded
Move onto the suspension and you can really begin to understand what Honda had in mind for this Civic. Tautness is the key here, and Honda has most definitely achieved this. Near on flat cornering is the result of hard spring rates and pumped up valving on the dampers. The front set-up is based around a toe-control link, while a re-active link double wishbone holds the rear tyres to the tarmac.
The Type R has trick steering, which includes a variable gear ratio (VGR) and electronic power steering (EPS). The beefed-up chassis benefits from strut braces both front and rear, while the body shell itself has also been strengthened over the previous model.
The Civic gains some more cred with the addition of 17-inch rolling stock in a particularly aggro design which suits the car well. Through the spokes you can see the two-pot front callipers, which have been embossed with the Type R logo. The body shell’s a tasty item, too. The overall appearance of the car is quite different from any other Civic you’d see on the road.
The new shape is much cleaner and more muscular than others, and also gets the cool high intensity discharge (HID) lights, that make caning the living hell out of the car so much easier at night. The Type R also gets the deeper aeroform front dam, side skirts and a heck spoiler a fa GtiR. Those deep Recaros are carried over from the last model, and are absolutely essential given the type of driving you should be doing in this car.
Plain Jane
Other interior goodies you’ll find yourself grabbing for include the obligatory Momo three-spoke steering wheel with red stitching, and the perfectly-sized dash-mounted aluminium gear knob. I was a bit unsure about how comfy it would be, but it worked damn well. There are also white dials to gaze at as the tacho needle whips its way around to the 8500rpm red-line, the limit of the engine’s capabilities.
Safety-wise there are twin airbags to keep the LTSA happy (who cares?). Overall the interior is well finished in a material called Alcantara, which is of higher quality than used in the past.
I was impressed with the car in more ways than one. The new shape is almost definitely Euro in its design, and it certainly doesn’t need an overdose of spoilers to make it look the business, but I still thought the front of the car was a little uninspiring. Maybe that’s just the way Honda wanted it, though.
Just don’t go expecting a gaping front spoiler with huge brake ducts. The interior is super-clean and gives you a good driving position, although the bottom of the windscreen feels like it’s about two metres away from you. Put it this way, you can’t see any of the bonnet – not that there’s much of it to see. It’s more reminiscent of a Honda City number.
Don’t hold your breath
As expected, there wasn’t much to rave about under 4000rpm, but you could feel the urgency start to make itself known above that. The steering is ultra quick through the thick-rimmed Momo, and you need to adjust your normal driving style to suit, otherwise you’ll end up T-boning the guy next to you on the motorway while attempting your first lane change. With its combination of tight suspension, direct steering and an extremely willing engine it’s the sort of car that would give you plenty of confidence on any unfamiliar road.
For those who are going to time themselves, expect 100 kays to arrive in around 6.8 seconds, and if you have the inclination, you can carry on to around 235kph.The down side, you might ask? Well it’s actually rather large. You can’t have one. They’re assembled in the UK, won’t be here for a while and the ones that do eventually arrive will be used imports. So there you have it. You’ll just have to wait.
Source: Performance Car
Type R EP3.. truly a good car. Better than FN2