I grew up in the “Best Motoring” and “Hot Version” era; two Top Gear-like Japanese car shows where Japanese racing drivers test out all sorts of JDM legends relentlessly in different Japanese circuits. One can never forget watching GTR’s, Supra’s and RX-7’s, original and modified alike, battling to the death around the Tsukuba circuit. So naturally, like a lot of people who grew up during the 90’s and early noughties, I had the Japanese car bug too (or ‘JDM’ for Japanese Domestic Market). Back in university, I had a Honda Civic with a simple single overhead cam 1.6 VTEC engine with 110HP and took it to track days every weekend. After University, I started owning proper JDM cars, including a Nissan 350Z, a WRX Sti Version 5, and a Honda Civic Type R FD2. However, as I advanced further in my career and had more disposable income, I started focusing on my European dream cars, with manual Ferrari’s on top of the list. As resources and parking spaces are both finite matters, especially in a small expensive place like Hong Kong, I had no choice but to put aside my JDM interests.
I may be a “Ferrari guy” now but I always had a soft spot for Honda. Of course, the two brands are very different both in terms of performance and price (especially when I had Civic’s and not NSX’s). However, Ferrari’s iconic high revving V8 engines are not entirely dissimilar from Honda’s own high revving VTEC engines. Both rev up to 8,500rpm or more. And that’s why I don’t think it is a coincidence that I am both a Honda and Ferrari fan.
A part of me always wanted to go back to the JDM’s, and that was also helped by the latest surge in the JDM market. While I always wanted to try an Evo or a GTR as I never had one before, I found myself always going back to searching for Honda Type R’s when on 28car.com. In particular, I have always liked the Integra Type R (DC2R). Of course, that old-school B18C VTEC engine with that violent camshaft transformation was one of the reasons, but I also somehow always really liked the way it looked. It looked better than the Civic Type R EK9 and the newer Integra Type R DC5, although the Civic Type R EP3 comes a close second. I really wanted to buy a DC2R after I graduated from university, but just never found the right opportunity. Even in recent years, I never made much effort to go out and look for one, simply because most of the JDM cars you see on the open market are unfortunately abused, distastefully modified, or have some hidden skeletons. That’s just the way it is, as they often end up in the hands of unloving owners, and it was just too much trouble to go through the process of trying to find one that’s good (without paying silly prices to specialist import dealers).
Then that fateful weekend came. I was back at my parents’ place one fine Saturday and went to visit my mate @Icyj95 who also lived in the neighbourhood. Then his neighbour who lived across from him came out and Icy J introduced us, explaining to the neighbour and myself that “you are both car guys”. I knew of this neighbour, he has some nice cars including a Ferrari F430. He also had a DC2R which I had been eying since he bought it about a year ago. Literally immediately I said to this neighbour “can I check out your Type R?”. It was just that, I just wanted to check it out, out of curiosity. He kindly took me to his garage and showed me the car, before casually telling me “oh I am actually selling it as I just bought another car”. Oh dear.
Immediately I knew I was in trouble. I have wanted a DC2R for years, I kind of “know” this car from seeing it rolling past my parents’ place for the past year, and the seller and I share a mutual friend, so surely he won’t be some dodgy scammer selling a dodgy car. I was not expecting to buy a new car that weekend, I just went back to my parent’s place for a free lunch! It certainly did not help that the car was in pretty good condition. The engine bay is like new, the shut lines are good, the bolts and spot wielding areas are clean and straight, and the interior, while the driver’s seat is a little tired (pretty much inevitable), is in pretty good nick. I did not really hide my excitement or interest in the car, and after a week and a very smooth transaction, the car was under my name.
Honda’s R category began with their top of the line model, the NSX, when they released the more focused and more hardcore NSX-R in the early 90’s. As the NSX-R was a limited edition and expensive car, in 1995, Honda decided to release a “commoners” version of the R model – the DC2R. Like the NSX-R, the DC2R was about being light and having good handling. Honda achieved this by removing all sound deadening materials from the car, reducing all the windows’ thickness by 10% from the normal Integra, and strengthening the chassis for better handling. As a result, the car weighs just shy of 1,100KG (dry) and is one of the best front wheel drive cars ever made. The engine is Honda’s hand-built and hand-bored 1.8 litre VTEC engine with 200HP. At the time, the DC2R was known for its impressive figure of having more than 100HP per litre.
The first proper spirited drive I had was of course in Shek O. The perfect narrow mountain road for the perfect narrow bodied car. As always, I really appreciate the small size of these older cars as they fit Hong Kong’s mountain roads so much better. The visibility of this car is also surprisingly good, with the front windshield going all the way down towards the very low front end that the car has. The rear window is also big and clear, thanks to the car being a hatch back. The NSX was always known for having its cockpit design based on the F16 fighter jet, but frankly, it is not nearly as impressive as the DC2R in terms of visibility.
Once on the go, I find myself going right at the gas pedal and pulling the revs all the way to the 8,500rpm redline before shifting – after all, this is what the car is about. Oh, how I have missed the VTEC melody. Gear after gear, I was going right at it. The transition from the slow camshaft to the fast camshaft in these older B16 or B18 engines are so much more violent than the newer ones. It is like an on-off switch, where once the car reaches 6,000rpm the engine “switches” vigorously from the lame pre-VTEC engine note to the wild animal that is VTEC. The Type R’s that came after this, including my former FD2 with the K20A engine, just do not behave like this. While they are more powerful, with a 2.0 litre engine and 220HP, their VTEC transition is a lot more linear and therefore less dramatic and fun.
For the corners, because the car is so small and light, you can really position the car exactly where you want it to be while at the same time going down the gears with the superb short shifter before throwing it into the corner aggressively. Once you are at mid-corner, you can let go the brakes and immediately go almost full throttle for corner exit. Because the car is front wheel drive, the more power you give it at corner exit, the more grip it has. That feeling is just addictive.
From the first drive I immediately realized why these older Honda Type R’s have had such a huge following for such a long time. The factory created this car on a mission, with the purpose of creating the ultimate lightweight driver’s car. As a result, it came out of the factory as a package that was already 70-80% complete. While there are other much quicker JDM’s, like the GTR, Evo’s, and Sti’s, those cars feel really tame in their original form because their turbo’s are restricted, their suspensions are high and soft (for the rally cars like the Evo and Sti), and their brakes are not good enough for their potential power. Hence you really have to mod these JDM turbo legends in order to unleash their full power, by changing the exhausts, derestricting the ECU, and changing suspensions and brakes. The Type R on the other hand, was never about the raw power and speed. If it was, they would not use a naturally aspirated 200HP engine. It was always about the driving engagement of an extremely light and balanced car, meticulously tuned by the factory, with an underpowered but extraordinarily fun racing engine. Hence, the Type R was already such a great product when it rolled out of the factory, and I love it.
I do have one complaint, however, and that is these JDM legends are extremely boring to drive slow (unlike my Alfa, for example, which doesn’t take much speed to have fun in). You must drive in silly speeds in order to get them into that zone where they are at their prime, and I might be getting a little bit too old for that…
As always, I thank the team for their time and effort in making this video:
Alex W. (http://www.taipanmedia.com)
Alex C. (IG: @nofishshark)
See our review video here: