Promoted - 25 years of Honda Type R _ Legends road trip with Civic, Integra and Accord

**The Evolution of Honda Type R in the UK: A Journey Through Time**

Clothes rustle here in the UK, and this is where the Honda Type R story begins. The car you see here is the dc2 Integra, which arrived in the UK in 1998. However, the story of Honda's Type R is much older than this car. It all started with the NSX R of 1992, marking the beginning of the Type R legacy. By 2017, this lineage was already 25 years old. Yet, it’s important to note that the NSX R and subsequent Type R models never made their way to the UK; they were all Japanese domestic market cars only. This means that the dc2 Integra Type R had a significant role in establishing the Type R brand in this new market. Its job was to define what the Type R brand stood for, setting the standard for years to come.

The dc2 Integra Type R is lighter than the base Integra but not by much. However, it boasts a much stiffer body shell, uprated springs and dampers, and a more focused chassis. The car features a lovely Momo steering wheel and Recaro seats that provide exceptional support while looking fantastic. Under the hood, it houses an incredible 1.8-litre VTEC engine, which is normally aspirated and produces 187 brake horsepower. To extract this kind of performance, you have to work the engine hard, with a red line beyond eight and a half thousand rpm—a figure that’s almost unheard of in modern performance cars unless you’re spending six figures.

The VTEC switchover point is just short of 6,000 rpm, giving you around 3,000 rpm to work with before the engine changes onto the higher lift cam. Once it does, the engine comes alive, delivering a fiery performance that feels like a fire igniting. What’s truly amazing about this engine isn’t even the best part of the car—the chassis is where the magic happens. The dc2 Integra Type R is a joy to drive, feeling super nimble and agile. Once you get it moving over 40 or 50 miles per hour, it becomes incredibly pliant and controlled, offering a truly brilliant driving experience.

Its fearsome differential provides excellent traction, allowing you to stand on the throttle at the apex of a corner and let the car drift out gracefully. Weighing in at around 1,100 kilograms, the dc2 Integra Type R is not only nimble but also fast, capable of accelerating from 0-60 mph in just six and a half seconds and reaching a top speed of 145 mph. It’s no wonder that this car has been hailed as one of the best-handling performance cars ever made.

The year after the dc2 Integra Type R arrived in the UK, Honda took the same principles and applied them to a very different kind of car: a four-door saloon—the Accord Type R. This car, released in 1999, was a significant departure from the dainty two-door coupe that was the dc2 Integra. Despite its differences, the Accord Type R retained all the core Type R attributes. It featured a stiffer shell, a focus chassis, and a 5-speed manual gearbox. The engine was now a 2.2-litre VTEC unit, offering more mid-range torque compared to the 1.8-litre engine in the Integra.

However, this larger engine still required being worked hard, as it didn’t lead into the VTEC zone gradually like the dc2. Instead, at around 5,000 rpm, the engine switches camshafts abruptly, delivering a more aggressive performance. The red line extends beyond 8,000 rpm, which is quite remarkable for a four-door saloon car. Despite being heavier than the Integra by about 130 kilograms, the Accord Type R still managed impressive performance figures: 7 seconds to 60 mph and a top speed of 145 mph.

These cars are such good value today, starting at less than £2,000, making them a bargain for the incredible drivetrain, engine, and limited slip differential they offer. While it doesn’t match the dynamic capabilities of the dc2 Integra Type R, the Accord Type R is still an excellent driver’s car, offering lovely steering, plenty of grip, and a well-controlled body despite its increased weight.

By 2001, the Type R brand was firmly established in the UK after the success of the Integra and Accord models. However, Honda had already launched another Type R model in Japan: the dc5 Integra Type R. Unfortunately, this car never officially made it to the UK. Instead, we received what was considered the first Civic Type R for our market—the EP3.

This EP3 Civic Type R wasn’t actually the first Civic Type R, as Honda had already produced the HE9 model four years earlier, which was also Japanese domestic market only. So, the EP3 became the first Type R in the UK to carry the torch of the brand. Like its predecessors, the EP3 featured a stiffer, more focused chassis and a 2-litre normally aspirated VTEC engine producing 197 brake horsepower. The red line was set at 8,000 rpm, with the VTEC switchover point at 6,000 rpm—a distinctive trait of Type R engines.

The EP3 Civic Type R also featured a 6-speed manual gearbox and Recaro seats, maintaining the high standards set by previous models. At launch, it cost just over £16,000, which was considered a bargain for its performance capabilities. Today, these cars can be picked up for around £2,000, making them an excellent choice for enthusiasts looking for an exciting and affordable driver’s car.

The EP3 Civic Type R marked the beginning of what we now recognize as the Civic Type R dynasty in the UK. Six years after its introduction, the FN2 Civic Type R arrived, setting a new standard for performance and driving dynamics. This model felt like it was on a completely different level compared to its predecessors. Despite looking like something that had just landed from another planet, the FN2 Civic Type R retained the same high-revving engine as its predecessor, now producing 198 brake horsepower with a red line at 7,000 rpm.

The switchover point remained at 6,000 rpm, requiring you to work the engine hard for maximum performance. The FN2 Civic Type R was lighter and more nimble than previous models, offering an engaging driving experience that kept your foot pinned to the floor as you chased the redline. Unlike earlier models, which felt more fluid with lots of wheel travel and body movement, the FN2 felt much more modern, planted, and glued to the road.

This car’s ability to handle lap after lap at the Nurburgring proved its mettle, making it a fantastic choice for learning how to drive on a track. The FN2 Civic Type R was truly a perfect blend of high-revving performance and engaging dynamics, staying true to the Type R brand with its stiff chassis, stiffer body, and higher revving engine.

However, as time moved on, things started to change. In 2015, Honda introduced the FK2 Civic Type R, which felt like only a couple of years ago when it was launched. Despite this recent introduction, it already seemed ready to be replaced. Yet, the FK2 still held its own in terms of performance and dynamic ability, maintaining the front-wheel drive production car lap record at the Nurburgring with a seven-minute 50-second lap time.

The big news with the FK2 was the switch to turbocharging—a departure from Honda’s long-standing tradition of high-revving normally aspirated engines. While this move was controversial at the time, Honda had no choice but to adapt as hot hatch performance demands increased. The FK2 Civic Type R delivered 300 horsepower, which was par for the course in the hot hatch segment, and there was simply no way to achieve that kind of power with a naturally aspirated engine without spending a fortune.

Despite the switch to turbocharging, the FK2 retained many Type R attributes, such as a focus chassis, unrated springs and dampers, and a lovely manual gearbox. The car also featured a limited slip differential in the front axle, delivering impressive performance figures with 0-60 mph times and top speeds well beyond 160 miles per hour.

The FK2 Civic Type R felt modern, planted, and capable, offering so much grip that it was hard to run out of front-end traction. Whether you were cornering at high speeds or accelerating out of roundabouts, the car’s grip was exceptional. It offered an engaging driving experience that kept enthusiasts coming back for more.

As we look back on the evolution of Honda Type R in the UK, from the dc2 Integra to the FK2 Civic Type R, it’s clear that each model played a crucial role in establishing and evolving the brand. Each car brought its own unique characteristics, pushing the boundaries of performance while remaining true to the core principles of the Type R lineage.

From the high-revving VTEC engines to the stiff chassis and engaging driving dynamics, Honda has consistently delivered cars that are not only fast but also a joy to drive. As we look forward, the legacy of these iconic cars continues to inspire car enthusiasts worldwide, and the next generation of Type R is eagerly awaited.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enclothes rustle here in the UK this is where the honda fly pass story begins this is of course the dc2 Integra which arrived in the UK in 1998 but in fact the pipe our story is much older than this car the first type r was the NSX R of 1992 which means that in 2017 my part is 25 years old but the NSX R never came to the UK and nor did the following to type r that Honda built they were all Japanese domestic market only that means the dc2 Integra Type R was tasked with setting out the store or the type r brand its job was to tell us all in this new market what type r stood for it's got every single one of the type r characteristics that were talking to find the brand for years and years to come so we've got less weight that you've not that much lighter than the basic Integra but it is likely we've got a much stiffer body shell we've got up rated springs and dampers a much more focused chassis lovely little Momo steering wheel Recaro seats which just give you so much support and they look fantastic as well of course we've got this incredible normally aspirated porcelain and VTEC engine more of that in a moment and then we've also got this amazing gear shift with the titanium gear knob such a sweet this is Type R through and through this is perhaps the most hype our car Honda has ever built so it's a 1.8 litre VTEC of course normally aspirated 187 brake horsepower to get that performance out of it you have to work the engine really hard so we've got a red light beyond eight and a half thousand rpm that's just off the scale these days you don't see that in a modern performance car unless you're spending six figures the VTEC switchover point is just short of 6,000 rpm that gives you the better part of 3,000 rpm in which to work it's not a strong engine below that point but once it changes on to the higher lid cam the edges will light up and it just goes it's like a fire going on what's amazing about that engine isn't even the best point about this car that's the chassis it's just spectacular to drive the car feels like it's super nimble super agile and once you get it moving over 40 or 50 miles an hour it's so pliant so controlled it's a truly truly brilliant thing to drive its fears beautifully I've got lots of feel the differential is really quite and it just gives the car so much traction you can stand on the throttle at the apex and just let the dead drag you out of the corner and with the car being so light it's only around 1,100 kilograms it's properly fast nought to sixty six and a half seconds hundred forty-five flat-out those are still proper performance figures it's been said that the dc2 Integra Type R is the best mont-royal drive performance car of all time that's a big claim but having spent a couple of hours crashing it up and down this road I'm not going to disagree it's truly brilliant now the year after this car arrived in the UK under took that same set of principles and applied it to a very different sort of car from a dainty little two-door coupe a to a four-door saloon car this is the accordant type R which followed a year after the Integra in 1999 now it's a very very different sort of car clearly to that Integra but it's still got all those important core type r attributes got a stiffer shell so the Marshall focus chassis sort of really lovely 5-speed manual gearbox it's got that great VTEC engine and it's got Olympus lead differential engine is now a 2.2 rather than a 1.8 so with another 400 CCS we've got more mid-range more torque but it's still at VTEC engine that still needs to be worked really hard whereas that Integra Type R leads into the VTEC zone does it quite gradually this thing's like a switch let me show you so 5,000 rpm foot down off cam off cam and just like that just like that it comes on cam just shy of 6,000 rpm and the thing just lights up we've got a red line beyond 8,000 rpm which for four-door saloon cars kind of crazy isn't there but brilliant with the bigger engines they've got more power than the Integra 209 great horsepower but it's a couple hundred kilos heavier this car so it's not quite as quick but still seven seconds to 1640 flat out it's a properly quad car these cars are such good value today they start at less than two thousand pounds what this drivetrain for that amazing engine lovely gearbox really good limited slip differential that's just the bargain 2 grand for all of that and you get the rest of the car thrown in as well about sort of money so might as well given that this is a much bigger heavier car than the Integra Type R it doesn't quite reach the same height dynamically but still for a four-door saloon car it's really really good to drive we've got lovely steering we've got plenty of grit we've got a pretty really well controlled body without the springs being super stead at 13-under kilos this is still a really light car it still feels agile it feels really nicely balanced you can lean on it so so hard and it's got tons of breath I've never driven one of these before but it's so cool but I think when I get home I'm probably going to find myself in the classic mode it's 2001 the type-i brand is well established in the UK now after the Integra Type R and the Accord type are in Japan Honda launched is the dc5 Integra Type R but that doesn't officially come to the UK so here in the UK we get this the first Civic Type R the ep-3 in fact this isn't actually the first Civic Type R that was the he came 9 which came four years earlier but was Japanese domestic market only does one of the cars that we in the UK missed out on so as far as our spirits were concerned this EP 3 was the first living type r just like those first two cars this DivX got all the same type r credential it's got now a 2-liter normally aspirated VTEC engine have got unlovely gearbox at this time with six speeds it's got a stiffer more focused chassis stiffer body shell i've also got the momo steering wheel and these really lovely Recaro sports leads the engine hundred and ninety seven brake horsepower redline 8,000 rpm and the VTEC point is at six thousand again like they're called it's really distinctive so I'm I'm at the M foot and then we're going switches over and the car just leaps forward it actually feels really really quick once you get the engine going the gear shift is lovely in the lever is right next to the steering wheel and the Shapley filter comforting but lovely thought stable chatting so of the three cars are driven so far this is the fastest down the road I'm sure of it it's light it's nimble enough to drive into me back when it has launched this car costs just over 16,000 pounds which at the time the 200 horsepower wasn't uttered bargain and today they're also cheap you can pick them up for just over two thousand pounds which given how exotic that engine is how exciting the engine is how fast the car is how fun it is to drive that's no money at all so by this point in 2001 what have we learned about my Park what had we come to expect from the ground well of course amazing engine engines that were truly the heart of the car high revving really exciting really smiley really fun engines we came to expect really good mechanical really directorship and dynamically we come to expect by parking some of the most entertaining affordable performance cars on the planet because the replied part that didn't come to the UK so this as far as we're all concerned is the very start of the Civic type-r dynasty six years after the ep-3 so we type on Magnus fn2 Civic type-r it may only be a few years younger but it looks like it's on a completely different age if I just feel looks like something that's just landed in some Hillbillies backyard it still looks like a spaceship but it still had the same engine as the previous car with more power one more horsepower and the same thing speed manual gearbox so it's still a normally aspirated really high revving 4-cylinder 8,000 rpm redline switchover point at about 6,000 rpm and again you still have to work it really hard to get the most performance out of it which is just so much fun it's so exciting things that keep your foot pinned you don't dare lift off you chase the redline you get down the gears it's really really engaging you can actually split the four cars that I've driven so far down the middle you proved the integrity accord together and they're too civics together and not just because they look so similar because of how the cars feel so the earlier cars have that very distinct is very fluid way of going down a road lots of wheel travel lots of body movement whereas this car and the Civic before it suddenly feel like much more modern cars they're locked down they're planted they're much more glued to the road in fact this one feels so planted but it kind of feels like a proper touring car for the road there's so little body roll in it it just feels flat super directed responsive and on this smooth Road it's pretty really good I remember thinking one of these two a tourist base at the Nurburgring and it was actually fantastic it dealt with lap after lap after lap all day it was fast it had lots of grip it was really really composed I didn't know they know very well back then and this I think was probably just about the perfect card for learning this thigh par wasn't by Park through-and-through is true to the brand with its much more focus chassis stiffer body the higher revving engine the six-speed manual gearbox a lovely mechanical direct throw all those same attributes that I've been talking about all day were present in this car but my father followed that's where things started to change fk2 Civic Type R so here we are this is the model that's being played it feels like only a couple of years ago that I was on the international launch of this car in Slovakia it was only a couple of years ago in 2015 and already this cars being replaced it's amazing it doesn't feel like it needs replacing at all in first performance in terms of dynamic ability it still feels right on the money for the class up until last year this car still has the front-wheel drive production car lap record at the Nurburgring with a seven-minute 50 laughs plenty quick enough this card's still so fast this bill feels modern it's still really pretty good to drive the big news of course with this car was the switch to turbo charging the so long pipe our Honda's had had high revving normally aspirated engines this car was a departure from that and it was a controversial move at the time but really Honda had to do it really didn't have a choice when this was launched the 300 horsepower was par for the course in the hot hatch Park and there's just no way of getting that sort of power from a normally aspirated horse into the engine and that's you're spending a fortune on it which would have made the car prohibitively expensive so this car could be on the pace of the class Honda simply had to use a turbocharger having said that the engine still rests the 7000 rpm effect it's not a 8,000 rpm scream I like some of those other drivers but this certainly raised higher than most turbocharged engine but all those other type r attributes are still present and correct March more focus chassis unrated springs and dampers really lovely manual gearbox limited slip differential in the front axle and tons and tons of cross country pays five point seven to six beyond 160 miles an hour it it's quick for a performance card ever by the hot hatch this is quick run performance now I don't really know what you have to do to run out of front-end grip in this car maybe if you turned into a roundabout at the hundred miles an hour you might get a bit of understeer just got so much grip they just hold on and hold off that massive point of my page just makes it so much fun to drive on the road like this it's so engaging it's really really capable it's just amazing to think that this car is ready to be replaced if Honda is able to significantly improve upon this Civic type-r the next one is going to be something elseclothes rustle here in the UK this is where the honda fly pass story begins this is of course the dc2 Integra which arrived in the UK in 1998 but in fact the pipe our story is much older than this car the first type r was the NSX R of 1992 which means that in 2017 my part is 25 years old but the NSX R never came to the UK and nor did the following to type r that Honda built they were all Japanese domestic market only that means the dc2 Integra Type R was tasked with setting out the store or the type r brand its job was to tell us all in this new market what type r stood for it's got every single one of the type r characteristics that were talking to find the brand for years and years to come so we've got less weight that you've not that much lighter than the basic Integra but it is likely we've got a much stiffer body shell we've got up rated springs and dampers a much more focused chassis lovely little Momo steering wheel Recaro seats which just give you so much support and they look fantastic as well of course we've got this incredible normally aspirated porcelain and VTEC engine more of that in a moment and then we've also got this amazing gear shift with the titanium gear knob such a sweet this is Type R through and through this is perhaps the most hype our car Honda has ever built so it's a 1.8 litre VTEC of course normally aspirated 187 brake horsepower to get that performance out of it you have to work the engine really hard so we've got a red light beyond eight and a half thousand rpm that's just off the scale these days you don't see that in a modern performance car unless you're spending six figures the VTEC switchover point is just short of 6,000 rpm that gives you the better part of 3,000 rpm in which to work it's not a strong engine below that point but once it changes on to the higher lid cam the edges will light up and it just goes it's like a fire going on what's amazing about that engine isn't even the best point about this car that's the chassis it's just spectacular to drive the car feels like it's super nimble super agile and once you get it moving over 40 or 50 miles an hour it's so pliant so controlled it's a truly truly brilliant thing to drive its fears beautifully I've got lots of feel the differential is really quite and it just gives the car so much traction you can stand on the throttle at the apex and just let the dead drag you out of the corner and with the car being so light it's only around 1,100 kilograms it's properly fast nought to sixty six and a half seconds hundred forty-five flat-out those are still proper performance figures it's been said that the dc2 Integra Type R is the best mont-royal drive performance car of all time that's a big claim but having spent a couple of hours crashing it up and down this road I'm not going to disagree it's truly brilliant now the year after this car arrived in the UK under took that same set of principles and applied it to a very different sort of car from a dainty little two-door coupe a to a four-door saloon car this is the accordant type R which followed a year after the Integra in 1999 now it's a very very different sort of car clearly to that Integra but it's still got all those important core type r attributes got a stiffer shell so the Marshall focus chassis sort of really lovely 5-speed manual gearbox it's got that great VTEC engine and it's got Olympus lead differential engine is now a 2.2 rather than a 1.8 so with another 400 CCS we've got more mid-range more torque but it's still at VTEC engine that still needs to be worked really hard whereas that Integra Type R leads into the VTEC zone does it quite gradually this thing's like a switch let me show you so 5,000 rpm foot down off cam off cam and just like that just like that it comes on cam just shy of 6,000 rpm and the thing just lights up we've got a red line beyond 8,000 rpm which for four-door saloon cars kind of crazy isn't there but brilliant with the bigger engines they've got more power than the Integra 209 great horsepower but it's a couple hundred kilos heavier this car so it's not quite as quick but still seven seconds to 1640 flat out it's a properly quad car these cars are such good value today they start at less than two thousand pounds what this drivetrain for that amazing engine lovely gearbox really good limited slip differential that's just the bargain 2 grand for all of that and you get the rest of the car thrown in as well about sort of money so might as well given that this is a much bigger heavier car than the Integra Type R it doesn't quite reach the same height dynamically but still for a four-door saloon car it's really really good to drive we've got lovely steering we've got plenty of grit we've got a pretty really well controlled body without the springs being super stead at 13-under kilos this is still a really light car it still feels agile it feels really nicely balanced you can lean on it so so hard and it's got tons of breath I've never driven one of these before but it's so cool but I think when I get home I'm probably going to find myself in the classic mode it's 2001 the type-i brand is well established in the UK now after the Integra Type R and the Accord type are in Japan Honda launched is the dc5 Integra Type R but that doesn't officially come to the UK so here in the UK we get this the first Civic Type R the ep-3 in fact this isn't actually the first Civic Type R that was the he came 9 which came four years earlier but was Japanese domestic market only does one of the cars that we in the UK missed out on so as far as our spirits were concerned this EP 3 was the first living type r just like those first two cars this DivX got all the same type r credential it's got now a 2-liter normally aspirated VTEC engine have got unlovely gearbox at this time with six speeds it's got a stiffer more focused chassis stiffer body shell i've also got the momo steering wheel and these really lovely Recaro sports leads the engine hundred and ninety seven brake horsepower redline 8,000 rpm and the VTEC point is at six thousand again like they're called it's really distinctive so I'm I'm at the M foot and then we're going switches over and the car just leaps forward it actually feels really really quick once you get the engine going the gear shift is lovely in the lever is right next to the steering wheel and the Shapley filter comforting but lovely thought stable chatting so of the three cars are driven so far this is the fastest down the road I'm sure of it it's light it's nimble enough to drive into me back when it has launched this car costs just over 16,000 pounds which at the time the 200 horsepower wasn't uttered bargain and today they're also cheap you can pick them up for just over two thousand pounds which given how exotic that engine is how exciting the engine is how fast the car is how fun it is to drive that's no money at all so by this point in 2001 what have we learned about my Park what had we come to expect from the ground well of course amazing engine engines that were truly the heart of the car high revving really exciting really smiley really fun engines we came to expect really good mechanical really directorship and dynamically we come to expect by parking some of the most entertaining affordable performance cars on the planet because the replied part that didn't come to the UK so this as far as we're all concerned is the very start of the Civic type-r dynasty six years after the ep-3 so we type on Magnus fn2 Civic type-r it may only be a few years younger but it looks like it's on a completely different age if I just feel looks like something that's just landed in some Hillbillies backyard it still looks like a spaceship but it still had the same engine as the previous car with more power one more horsepower and the same thing speed manual gearbox so it's still a normally aspirated really high revving 4-cylinder 8,000 rpm redline switchover point at about 6,000 rpm and again you still have to work it really hard to get the most performance out of it which is just so much fun it's so exciting things that keep your foot pinned you don't dare lift off you chase the redline you get down the gears it's really really engaging you can actually split the four cars that I've driven so far down the middle you proved the integrity accord together and they're too civics together and not just because they look so similar because of how the cars feel so the earlier cars have that very distinct is very fluid way of going down a road lots of wheel travel lots of body movement whereas this car and the Civic before it suddenly feel like much more modern cars they're locked down they're planted they're much more glued to the road in fact this one feels so planted but it kind of feels like a proper touring car for the road there's so little body roll in it it just feels flat super directed responsive and on this smooth Road it's pretty really good I remember thinking one of these two a tourist base at the Nurburgring and it was actually fantastic it dealt with lap after lap after lap all day it was fast it had lots of grip it was really really composed I didn't know they know very well back then and this I think was probably just about the perfect card for learning this thigh par wasn't by Park through-and-through is true to the brand with its much more focus chassis stiffer body the higher revving engine the six-speed manual gearbox a lovely mechanical direct throw all those same attributes that I've been talking about all day were present in this car but my father followed that's where things started to change fk2 Civic Type R so here we are this is the model that's being played it feels like only a couple of years ago that I was on the international launch of this car in Slovakia it was only a couple of years ago in 2015 and already this cars being replaced it's amazing it doesn't feel like it needs replacing at all in first performance in terms of dynamic ability it still feels right on the money for the class up until last year this car still has the front-wheel drive production car lap record at the Nurburgring with a seven-minute 50 laughs plenty quick enough this card's still so fast this bill feels modern it's still really pretty good to drive the big news of course with this car was the switch to turbo charging the so long pipe our Honda's had had high revving normally aspirated engines this car was a departure from that and it was a controversial move at the time but really Honda had to do it really didn't have a choice when this was launched the 300 horsepower was par for the course in the hot hatch Park and there's just no way of getting that sort of power from a normally aspirated horse into the engine and that's you're spending a fortune on it which would have made the car prohibitively expensive so this car could be on the pace of the class Honda simply had to use a turbocharger having said that the engine still rests the 7000 rpm effect it's not a 8,000 rpm scream I like some of those other drivers but this certainly raised higher than most turbocharged engine but all those other type r attributes are still present and correct March more focus chassis unrated springs and dampers really lovely manual gearbox limited slip differential in the front axle and tons and tons of cross country pays five point seven to six beyond 160 miles an hour it it's quick for a performance card ever by the hot hatch this is quick run performance now I don't really know what you have to do to run out of front-end grip in this car maybe if you turned into a roundabout at the hundred miles an hour you might get a bit of understeer just got so much grip they just hold on and hold off that massive point of my page just makes it so much fun to drive on the road like this it's so engaging it's really really capable it's just amazing to think that this car is ready to be replaced if Honda is able to significantly improve upon this Civic type-r the next one is going to be something elseclothes rustle here in the UK this is where the honda fly pass story begins this is of course the dc2 Integra which arrived in the UK in 1998 but in fact the pipe our story is much older than this car the first type r was the NSX R of 1992 which means that in 2017 my part is 25 years old but the NSX R never came to the UK and nor did the following to type r that Honda built they were all Japanese domestic market only that means the dc2 Integra Type R was tasked with setting out the store or the type r brand its job was to tell us all in this new market what type r stood for it's got every single one of the type r characteristics that were talking to find the brand for years and years to come so we've got less weight that you've not that much lighter than the basic Integra but it is likely we've got a much stiffer body shell we've got up rated springs and dampers a much more focused chassis lovely little Momo steering wheel Recaro seats which just give you so much support and they look fantastic as well of course we've got this incredible normally aspirated porcelain and VTEC engine more of that in a moment and then we've also got this amazing gear shift with the titanium gear knob such a sweet this is Type R through and through this is perhaps the most hype our car Honda has ever built so it's a 1.8 litre VTEC of course normally aspirated 187 brake horsepower to get that performance out of it you have to work the engine really hard so we've got a red light beyond eight and a half thousand rpm that's just off the scale these days you don't see that in a modern performance car unless you're spending six figures the VTEC switchover point is just short of 6,000 rpm that gives you the better part of 3,000 rpm in which to work it's not a strong engine below that point but once it changes on to the higher lid cam the edges will light up and it just goes it's like a fire going on what's amazing about that engine isn't even the best point about this car that's the chassis it's just spectacular to drive the car feels like it's super nimble super agile and once you get it moving over 40 or 50 miles an hour it's so pliant so controlled it's a truly truly brilliant thing to drive its fears beautifully I've got lots of feel the differential is really quite and it just gives the car so much traction you can stand on the throttle at the apex and just let the dead drag you out of the corner and with the car being so light it's only around 1,100 kilograms it's properly fast nought to sixty six and a half seconds hundred forty-five flat-out those are still proper performance figures it's been said that the dc2 Integra Type R is the best mont-royal drive performance car of all time that's a big claim but having spent a couple of hours crashing it up and down this road I'm not going to disagree it's truly brilliant now the year after this car arrived in the UK under took that same set of principles and applied it to a very different sort of car from a dainty little two-door coupe a to a four-door saloon car this is the accordant type R which followed a year after the Integra in 1999 now it's a very very different sort of car clearly to that Integra but it's still got all those important core type r attributes got a stiffer shell so the Marshall focus chassis sort of really lovely 5-speed manual gearbox it's got that great VTEC engine and it's got Olympus lead differential engine is now a 2.2 rather than a 1.8 so with another 400 CCS we've got more mid-range more torque but it's still at VTEC engine that still needs to be worked really hard whereas that Integra Type R leads into the VTEC zone does it quite gradually this thing's like a switch let me show you so 5,000 rpm foot down off cam off cam and just like that just like that it comes on cam just shy of 6,000 rpm and the thing just lights up we've got a red line beyond 8,000 rpm which for four-door saloon cars kind of crazy isn't there but brilliant with the bigger engines they've got more power than the Integra 209 great horsepower but it's a couple hundred kilos heavier this car so it's not quite as quick but still seven seconds to 1640 flat out it's a properly quad car these cars are such good value today they start at less than two thousand pounds what this drivetrain for that amazing engine lovely gearbox really good limited slip differential that's just the bargain 2 grand for all of that and you get the rest of the car thrown in as well about sort of money so might as well given that this is a much bigger heavier car than the Integra Type R it doesn't quite reach the same height dynamically but still for a four-door saloon car it's really really good to drive we've got lovely steering we've got plenty of grit we've got a pretty really well controlled body without the springs being super stead at 13-under kilos this is still a really light car it still feels agile it feels really nicely balanced you can lean on it so so hard and it's got tons of breath I've never driven one of these before but it's so cool but I think when I get home I'm probably going to find myself in the classic mode it's 2001 the type-i brand is well established in the UK now after the Integra Type R and the Accord type are in Japan Honda launched is the dc5 Integra Type R but that doesn't officially come to the UK so here in the UK we get this the first Civic Type R the ep-3 in fact this isn't actually the first Civic Type R that was the he came 9 which came four years earlier but was Japanese domestic market only does one of the cars that we in the UK missed out on so as far as our spirits were concerned this EP 3 was the first living type r just like those first two cars this DivX got all the same type r credential it's got now a 2-liter normally aspirated VTEC engine have got unlovely gearbox at this time with six speeds it's got a stiffer more focused chassis stiffer body shell i've also got the momo steering wheel and these really lovely Recaro sports leads the engine hundred and ninety seven brake horsepower redline 8,000 rpm and the VTEC point is at six thousand again like they're called it's really distinctive so I'm I'm at the M foot and then we're going switches over and the car just leaps forward it actually feels really really quick once you get the engine going the gear shift is lovely in the lever is right next to the steering wheel and the Shapley filter comforting but lovely thought stable chatting so of the three cars are driven so far this is the fastest down the road I'm sure of it it's light it's nimble enough to drive into me back when it has launched this car costs just over 16,000 pounds which at the time the 200 horsepower wasn't uttered bargain and today they're also cheap you can pick them up for just over two thousand pounds which given how exotic that engine is how exciting the engine is how fast the car is how fun it is to drive that's no money at all so by this point in 2001 what have we learned about my Park what had we come to expect from the ground well of course amazing engine engines that were truly the heart of the car high revving really exciting really smiley really fun engines we came to expect really good mechanical really directorship and dynamically we come to expect by parking some of the most entertaining affordable performance cars on the planet because the replied part that didn't come to the UK so this as far as we're all concerned is the very start of the Civic type-r dynasty six years after the ep-3 so we type on Magnus fn2 Civic type-r it may only be a few years younger but it looks like it's on a completely different age if I just feel looks like something that's just landed in some Hillbillies backyard it still looks like a spaceship but it still had the same engine as the previous car with more power one more horsepower and the same thing speed manual gearbox so it's still a normally aspirated really high revving 4-cylinder 8,000 rpm redline switchover point at about 6,000 rpm and again you still have to work it really hard to get the most performance out of it which is just so much fun it's so exciting things that keep your foot pinned you don't dare lift off you chase the redline you get down the gears it's really really engaging you can actually split the four cars that I've driven so far down the middle you proved the integrity accord together and they're too civics together and not just because they look so similar because of how the cars feel so the earlier cars have that very distinct is very fluid way of going down a road lots of wheel travel lots of body movement whereas this car and the Civic before it suddenly feel like much more modern cars they're locked down they're planted they're much more glued to the road in fact this one feels so planted but it kind of feels like a proper touring car for the road there's so little body roll in it it just feels flat super directed responsive and on this smooth Road it's pretty really good I remember thinking one of these two a tourist base at the Nurburgring and it was actually fantastic it dealt with lap after lap after lap all day it was fast it had lots of grip it was really really composed I didn't know they know very well back then and this I think was probably just about the perfect card for learning this thigh par wasn't by Park through-and-through is true to the brand with its much more focus chassis stiffer body the higher revving engine the six-speed manual gearbox a lovely mechanical direct throw all those same attributes that I've been talking about all day were present in this car but my father followed that's where things started to change fk2 Civic Type R so here we are this is the model that's being played it feels like only a couple of years ago that I was on the international launch of this car in Slovakia it was only a couple of years ago in 2015 and already this cars being replaced it's amazing it doesn't feel like it needs replacing at all in first performance in terms of dynamic ability it still feels right on the money for the class up until last year this car still has the front-wheel drive production car lap record at the Nurburgring with a seven-minute 50 laughs plenty quick enough this card's still so fast this bill feels modern it's still really pretty good to drive the big news of course with this car was the switch to turbo charging the so long pipe our Honda's had had high revving normally aspirated engines this car was a departure from that and it was a controversial move at the time but really Honda had to do it really didn't have a choice when this was launched the 300 horsepower was par for the course in the hot hatch Park and there's just no way of getting that sort of power from a normally aspirated horse into the engine and that's you're spending a fortune on it which would have made the car prohibitively expensive so this car could be on the pace of the class Honda simply had to use a turbocharger having said that the engine still rests the 7000 rpm effect it's not a 8,000 rpm scream I like some of those other drivers but this certainly raised higher than most turbocharged engine but all those other type r attributes are still present and correct March more focus chassis unrated springs and dampers really lovely manual gearbox limited slip differential in the front axle and tons and tons of cross country pays five point seven to six beyond 160 miles an hour it it's quick for a performance card ever by the hot hatch this is quick run performance now I don't really know what you have to do to run out of front-end grip in this car maybe if you turned into a roundabout at the hundred miles an hour you might get a bit of understeer just got so much grip they just hold on and hold off that massive point of my page just makes it so much fun to drive on the road like this it's so engaging it's really really capable it's just amazing to think that this car is ready to be replaced if Honda is able to significantly improve upon this Civic type-r the next one is going to be something else\n"