Name five things you like about the Type R and five things you would change...

[VLJ]

Five things I like...

— The overall looks, especially the wheels and that front grill.

— Boost Blue Pearl, and the contrast with the red pieces. Gorgeous.

— Those seats.

— That transmission and shifter.

— The hatchback.

Five things I would change...

— Heated seats and steering wheel.

— Far less buzzing, creaking, and cracking in the dash.

— Ditch the fake engine noise.

— Maybe a bit deeper engine rumble, but naturally, not artificially.

— Add some version of Toyota's D-4S port/direct injection fuel system.

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[FoxtrotLima5]

Like :
- frontend/back end styling
- power delivery
- manual transmission feel
- Seat!
- handling

Change :
- size (shorter/two doors)
- armrest on rear seat
- fog lights
- exhaust sound (non issue now since I installed AWE)
- road noise

 

[Ohlins8990]

5 likes:

Practical - I wanted something I could shove my road bike in easily. Roomy enough to take rear seat passengers. Ground clearance hasnt been an issue. Visibility is pretty good. Seats are very comfortable despite being a bit difficult to extract myself from on account of the thigh bolsters.

Grip almost defies physics - Even on the smaller 235/40/18 A/S I’m running, the car consistently impresses me with the way it puts down power and handles.

Looks Great - Subjective of course, but the design inside and out is cohesive. I get a bit of R34 in the headlights, Evo with the hood vent, Kia Stinger in the taillights, but it all ties together nicely. This goes for the 11th hatch in general, but the CTR manages take it up a notch…reminiscent of the E30/E30 M3. The interior design is clean and easy to use and materials seem nice. The lack of piano black or silver/chrome paint is a huge plus to me.

Third generation of the drivetrain - Inspires a bit of confidence that I should have lots of happy reliable miles ahead of me. Making a return to boosted engines (my last was a Saab 9000 Aero running 21psi), I have a few apprehensions of DI systems, but feel a lot better that this drivetrain has been chugging around for 10 years already. I will miss the induction noise of the K20a and F20c.

No idle start/stop - Particularly in a turbocharged engine, I feel like this feature is a huge demerit. Toyota hybrids manage it well, but I haven’t been in an ICE vehicle where I didn’t want to shut it off.

5 changes I’d love to make:

Road noise - It’s pretty pronounced on the highway doing 70-80. Mostly sounds like tire noise, wind noise seems managed well enough. Likely because of the stiff chassis. One surprise was now much noise water makes going through the fender vent behind the front wheels in the rain.

Handbrake - I wish Honda would have put a fun lever in for the snow. I don’t care if the actuation is electric (truthfully probably better than a cable rusting out).

Ride Frequency - I’m occasionally caught of guard by how much I’m shaken around on washboard road. I expected the stiffness on potholed roads and am honestly pretty impressed by how it handles those. But on the washboards it sometimes feels like the back end isn't sprung at all.

Technology - I was very nervous about making the jump to a vehicle with modern tech. For the most part the Honda is unobtrusive and does a fantastic job. But there are some little niggles here and there. I already have a thread out about wanting to turn off the engine, but leaving the radio on. I get a warning quite often to clean the windshield camera that I wish would stay off after I’ve cleared it once. Wish it was more straightforward to start up Pandora without digging through the touchscreen (maybe I’m dense and havent figured this out on the steering wheel controls). Either way, pretty minor stuff.

The dealership experience - I contacted 45 different dealers while trying to purchase this car. Of those, I have 3 that told me they would sell at MSRP. I put my deposit down at one of those 3 in September of 2022 and waited 504 days to get the keys. The dealer I went through was fantastic but it makes me sick to see everyone missing out on a fantastic car because of dealer greed and poor handling of allocations. This isn't just a Honda problem obviously, but it was painful and will definitely factor into my decision to purchase another Honda down the road. I’m now looking at an hour drive to the dealer I purchased from for service too because my local dealer was so scummy.

 

[Greas]

• Honda Sensing makes the car feel "nervous" under certain situations

+1 to this. Had to turn a lot of those features off when the car kept trying to "save" me by abruptly nudging the car off the road.

 

[Greas]

Like:

• Looks good inside and out
• Seats are amazing
• Confidence inspiring handling
• Road noise is present but a big upgrade from my previous cars
• Custom drive modes

Dislike:

• No cap-less gas tank
• Aluminum shift knob is impossible to live with in the summer. Had to switch to the OE leather one
• Infotainment system lags on start
• Cup holders in door are nearly unusable
• My coolant reservoir broke lol

 

[Noize]

+
-Handling
-Super visceral and engaging to drive
-Shifter and clutch relationship a dream
-Size, room, and the fact it’s still pretty lightweight.
-Great resale value

-
-Suspension is way too bouncy only during high speed corners, making +R and sport damping unusable on any roads that aren’t glass.
-Sort out the dang rattles and road noise, Honda
-Greedy dealerships with ADM or forced marked up add ons.
-Wish there was a black interior option.
-Would like if the audio system was a little higher end.

 

[mbaapk]

Of course, one can always do a wrap to get more color options. I understand some wraps now offer thicker film than their usual 4 mm, that actually help protect against chips, like your 8mm PPF does.

Oh I know i was pumping flexishield a year ago but landed on clear ppf. Is it so hard for honda to come out with a color outside of something a 5 year old would choose from a crayon box?

 

[CTRifecta]

5 likes

Seats
Shifter
Handling /brakes
Consistency of power delivery (better then my old WRX and focus RS)
Car remembers to stay in individual mode if that's the last mode you had it set to ( also love how customizable ind mode is)
I could go on and on, but these are my top 5

5 dislikes (notice how immaterial these are)
Small gas tank
Insurance cost (things more expensive to insure than my $60k 455hp rwd Camaro SS 1LE)
OEM 19s (wish it came with 18s stock, but 19s are better then the fk8 20s; the wheel itself is super nice though)
Old navigation system
Lack of heated seats /wheel

Overall it's been the best sporty DD I've owned

 

[TiNuts]

Likes

Looks for sure, except for the side - it's pretty much a modern ford escort wagon.
It's way nicer than a Civic should be.
Pretty quick
LogR is cool

Dislikes:

I'd rather 18" wheels
It's way nicer than a racecar should be.
I'd rather spend less $ & not have all the electronic crap.
The hatch area holds more water than the Titanic after a wash.

 

[Pekingduck]

Like
Type r legacy
Look of the car due to being wider body
Handling
Ease to drive at limits
How light the car is for being modern

dislike
Fuel tank size
Apple CarPlay
I don’t like stability control using rear brakes to give it character
I like the 10th gen cup holder being deeper
I don’t like the random people trying to race me

 

[qingcong]

Like
1) Integrated fender flares look wide and aggressive without being all tacky
2) Fun to drive - excellent seats and powertrain
3) Big fat tires look awesome and those Brembo brakes make me feel like I've got a supercar
4) Utility
5) Interior - audio system sounds great and temp monitors are super useful

Don't like
1) Direct injected turbo engine, less reliability, but also can't reasonably get 315hp out of a 4 cylinder without a turbo, so it's trade-offs
2) Always getting beat off the line by cool bros in non-FWD cars
3) Electronic parking brake
4) +60 offset
5) That the FL5 and DE5 should have swapped spaces, I really wanted to get an Acura after owning an Si for 10 years but I don't like the DE5 nearly as much

 

[hhkb]

Like
Type r legacy
Look of the car due to being wider body
Handling
Ease to drive at limits
How light the car is for being modern

dislike
Fuel tank size
Apple CarPlay
I don’t like stability control using rear brakes to give it character
I like the 10th gen cup holder being deeper
I don’t like the random people trying to race me

TheTopher has a recent video where he disabled the built in navigation and it made CarPlay nearly perfect

 

[Pekingduck]

TheTopher has a recent video where he disabled the built in navigation and it made CarPlay nearly perfect

I tried it but it still glitchy. It made it more stable but far from no issues.

 

[Samurai1225]

The tank and valve cover are the same issues from the FK8. I’ve seen approximately 10 different people with the coolant reservoir leaks on the Facebook groups, and about five people with the valve cover leaks, too.

coolant reservoir leak is obvious if you check out the back mounting bolt area. It usually leaks at the seam and puddles there. Valve cover happens on the rear, and oil pools on the inside of the splash guard. If you didn’t remove splash guard yet, you won’t likely see any of the oil leaking.

My coolant tank failed at just 9 months of ownership. Now my car is parked until the dealership can source a new one. ( I will be installing aftermarket tank) Then the service writer tries to tell me they have redesigned coolant tank. BS... same part number since 2017.

 

[Samurai1225]

Go for the Mishimoto. It seems a lot less the Radium tanks leak at center gasket, and people are using RTV sealant to stop the leaks. I haven’t seen any posts about leaks on the Mishi yet.
And correct- same designed part. That and the valve cover gasket are prone to leaks and have been for years but Honda saves a buck by not redesigning the parts.

Actually my Mishimoto tank arrives tomorrow. The installation looks pretty straight forward.

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