Honda Civic Type-R 2001 test drive-2005 hatchback

City rocket

Among Honda cars in our country, only CR-V and HR-V SUVs are widespread, the remaining models of this Japanese company have not yet been in great demand. But the Honda lineup has unique samples that have no analogues in the world. Today we will talk about one of them Honda Civic Type-R.
 
Honda Motor Company has a special position among other Japanese companies. Releasing about 3 million cars a year, Honda is part of the group of leaders of the world automotive industry. A distinctive feature of the company is that even the most advanced technical solutions are used on mass models.
 
The founder of Honda Motor Company is Sochiro Honda, a specialist in the internal combustion engines. At first, his company was engaged in the production of two -stroke engines for motorcycles. In the 1950s, Honda became one of the leaders in the production of motorcycles.
 
The first car under this brand was introduced in 1962. For the S360 sports model, Honda designers have created a very interesting power unit. In a line four -cylinder engine with a working volume of 360 cubic meters. SM had four carburetors, two upper camshafts and separate chain drives for each drive wheel. The motor could spin up to 9 thousand rpm.
 
In 1967, the Honda, releasing the front-wheel drive model N360, became the founder of the popular mini-automobile class in Japan (length up to 3.4 m, the engine volume of up to 660 cubic meters).
 
In 1972, the debut of the legendary Honda Civic model took place. The car instantly became famous all over the world. For more than thirty years of production, the name Civic has become no less famous than Toyota Corolla or Volkswagen Golf. Today, the seventh generation of Honda Civic is already being released. In accordance with modern trends, each subsequent model becomes more comfortable, powerful and safe, but at the same time the image of Civic remains unchanged. The main trump card of all Honda cars are powerful and at the same time economical. At the same time, technical perfection does not cause operational qualities. Since the appearance of Honda Civic on the market, he has invariably occupies first places in reliability ratings.
 
Already on the first cars, Honda Civic used the CVCC forking engines, which corresponded to strict environmental norms of the United States, even without the use of a catalytic neutralizer.
 
In 1987, the fourth -generation Civic for the first time among mass cars installed engines with a system for changing the phases of gas distribution and the degree of opening of VTEC valves. Since then, Honda Civic began to be called a car with two engines so much changed the behavior of the car, depending on the engine speed.
 
The current generation of Honda Civic debuted in 2000. The car was very well accepted by buyers. Every year, in 160 countries, more than 600 thousand cars of this brand are sold. Currently, Honda Civic is produced at the factories of Japan, the USA and England. Models with sedan bodies, as well as a three- and five-door hatchback, are delivered to the European market. They install gasoline engines with a capacity of 90, 110, 160 and 200 liters on them. with., as well as the Common Rail turbodiesel with a capacity of 100 liters. With.
 
In the fall of 2003, Honda Civic was significantly modernized: they changed bumpers and headlights, improved the equipment of the machine. For all modifications, disc brakes with ABS and an electronic system for the distribution of brake efforts EBD are now installed.
 
Perhaps the most interesting in the Honda Civic family is the sports modification of Type-R. Such cars are produced only in one single version: a three-door hatchback with a two-liter engine of 200 liters. With. and a mechanical six -speed gearbox.
 
There are quite a few external differences from the version-r version from the basic machine: another bumper, roof spoiler, lining on the sidewalls with the Type-R nameplate, 17-inch wheels, perhaps, that's all. However, the design of the car body is significantly processed. To increase stiffness, four transverse stretch marks and additional amplifiers in the area of \u200b\u200bthe rear wheels are installed. As a result, the hardness of the body increased by 23 %. In addition, the developers made changes to the suspension design. On Honda Civic Type-R, reinforced reptile stability stabilizers and more efficient brakes were delivered. The clearance of the sports version was reduced by 15 mm.
 
But the most interesting thing is in the Honda Civic Type-R design, of course, the new generation engine I-VTEC (prefix I means Intelligent, translated from English reasonable). Unlike previous generations of Honda engines, I-VTEC engines are able to change the phases of gas distribution and the degree of valve opening depending on the speed of rotation of the crankshaft; The height of the rise of the inlet valves is regulated depending on the load. With such a Honda Civic Type-R motor, it has amazing characteristics. The maximum speed of the car is 235 km/h, and acceleration to 100 km/h occurs in just 6.6 s. At the same time, the engine has a good thrust in a wide range of revolutions. Already from 30 km/h, the car is able to confidently accelerate in the highest gear. But in full the ability of the engine they appear after 6000 rpm. The maximum torque (196 Nm) of the motor is recorded at 5900 rpm, and the maximum power is 200 liters. With. at 7400 rpm. At the same time, the Honda Civic Type-R fuel consumes no more than an ordinary family machine with a two-liter engine (8.9 liters per 100 km in a mixed cycle). In addition, the Honda motor is highly reliable and the presence of a large resource. The technical perfection of the engine is indicated by the fact that numerous attempts by tuning firms to raise the power of the standard Type-R engine ended to no avail, since it is already impossible to improve anything here.
 
Let's look into the salon. Sports seats and a block of instruments with white scales and a speedometer marked up to 260 km/h, here are the only differences in the version-r version from the usual Honda Civic. Thanks to the lever of the gearbox located on the front console, the car does not have a central tunnel, as a result, the salon turned out to be very spacious for its class. The luggage compartment does not differ in large capacity, but very convenient, and its volume can be significantly increased by folding the back of the rear seat fully or partially.
 
As a result, in everyday operation, Honda Civic Type-R is practically not inferior in convenience to ordinary family hatchbacks. The Type-R road clearance is reduced compared to the basic version, but its value (130 mm) has remained quite sufficient even for our roads.
 
The suspension, of course, is harsh, as it should be for all sports cars, but it is distinguished by increased energy intensity. For driving Honda Civic Type-R from the driver, outstanding abilities are not needed. In terms of controllability, this is a traditional front -wheel drive car, which has a tendency to demolish the front axle in marginal modes. At the same time, the potential of the car is very high. It is no coincidence that since 2003, Russian racing has been held in Russia for the Honda Civic Cup. The competitions are involved in almost serial Type-R serial machines, which differ from product samples by the presence of a safety frame.
 
Currently, the cost of Honda Civic Type-R is 34,900 dollars. The basic equipment includes an immobilizer, central locking, alarm, front-line cushions and front passenger, steering wheel electric power, depending on speed, depending on the speed, headlight correrator, mirrors with heating and heating and heating and electric drive, electric windows, headlight washers, cast discs. Installation of the air conditioner is possible only for an additional fee. However, how many we know racing cars with air conditioners?
 
For all cars sold by official dealers, there is a guarantee for three years with a run of up to 100 thousand km. The frequency of a technical inspection after a run is 15 thousand km.
 
Does Honda Civic Type-R competitors in Russia? Today, almost all leading companies produce sports versions of family hatchbacks. The trouble is that few people supply such cars to our country. Currently, the choice is small: Opel Astra GTS 2.0 Turbo, Volkswagen Golf GTI and Toyota Corolla T-Sport. At the same time, all of the listed cars are closer to ordinary road vehicles than sports. According to the dynamic characteristics, Honda Civic Type-R still has no equal. No one company offers such a city rocket anymore. At the same time, the car is well suitable not only for racing, but also for everyday driving. He has no higher operating expenses than ordinary Class C. It is also important that the reliability of Honda Civic Type-R exceeds most of its competitors. After all, as we have already said, Honda produces engines with a system for changing the phases of gas distribution and the degree of valve opening for twenty years. During this time, their device is brought to perfection. As a result, today the resource of such engines is even higher than that of many power units of a simple design.
 
The editors thanks Major Auto for the car provided.
 
Photo: Sergey Kozlovsky
 
 

Source: Magazine Cars and Prices No. 37, September 19, 2005