That rumor was recently shot down....It's not coming from what I've read and checked into. I was considering holding out for it and replacing the MINI, but it looks like it's a no-go. Too expensive to develop for the U.S. market. Looked at that and the Alfa 4C. But it's 18 months + to get a non-launch edition Spyder, and from seeing all the overheated tranny issues they're having, I'm glad I backed out. It is a drop dead gorgeous car in the flesh, pictures don't do it justice. But when the solution to the tranny overheating is "park it and let it cool for 10 minutes", that just doesn't work for me...
No, it's an Alfa. What's the point in hijacking a thread if you're only going to divert it back on topic?
'Major European Tire Manufacturer'. Race tires. You can hear how they sound in the downhill left-right complex 2km after Gantry: them ain't no street tires. Also, you can tell that the car has a limited slip or torque-biasing diff. Watch how he exits the reducing radius, off camber right hander under the first overpass: the car just rips through the corner. Stretching the tire spec is one thing to get ring times: but that car better have a diff in it, or else they're cheaters, dammit. Cheaters!:biggrin5:
According to this Jalopnik article it has a mechanical LSD http://jalopnik.com/the-new-civic-type-r-is-a-throwback-to-when-hondas-revv-1689126773
I'm sure it will be a great car to carve a twisty road in. As far as the looks well it will be a great car to carve a twisty road in. Remember beauty is only skin deep.
Nothing wrong with Honda -yes they are popular with the tastless mod crowd, but that is one fast Civic. Can't say I'd say no to it if it were to come stateside. But Honda hasn't brought a true hardcore sport compact across the pond since the Integra Type R. http://www.carthrottle.com/post/10-rwd-supercars-that-are-slower-around-the-nurburgring-than-the-new-civic-type-r/
I've had 5 Hondas. The last one early 90s Civic Si was a real disappointment. The quality was not even close to the others.
Loved my 92 Civic Si Hatch. A fun nimble car. Don't remember about the quality, back then quality was different than what we have today.
I had a Civic we bought new in 94, great car.... I'll never forget the test drive, some young kid salesman in the back seat as me and my wife are driving it, going on and on about how the car comes standard with a rear "defrogger".... Which was a good thing, as there was a nasty problem with frog attacks--mainly through the rear windshield-- causing many avoidable deaths in Iowa at the time...
Before I bought my first MINI I came close to buying a 2005 SI that was when it looked like a Golf. And the only reason I was interested in it was it had the shifter coming out of the dash like the WRC cars did back then. That was one of the best shifting cars I had ever driven. Still glad I did not buy it!
Hahaha...this was standard SOP for me everytime I fired up my '64 Bug and drove anywhere during the summer. Darn those race engines...
I've had my fair share of Hondas. My last was a 2000 EJ8 (Civic EX Coupe) that was a blast to drive and fairly well modded. Before that I had a 2007 FA5 (Civic Si Coupe), and to this day that was one of my very favorite cars I've owned. Kinda bummed they're not bringing us the R after all of the hub bub, but with the astronomical prices/markups on the Mugen Si (FA5 chassis) going for upwards of $40k (for a CIVIC?!?!) and the fact that there really wasn't much more to it over the standard Si, I can only imagine how out of control the R would be if it came over here. My friend Matt wants me to get one so bad (FR-S is still on it's way out), but IF they did come here the next speedbump is defeating that markup/pricetag, and that's just not going to happen.
The one thing I will say is that Honda stays true to itself and caters to a crowd loyal to it. Honda doesn't make a factory turbo'd car (aside from this new R), and it also doesn't dabble in the sport all-wheel drive category (enter Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Nissan). The Integra Type R was a great car in its own right. That B18C5 engine is near bullet proof and revs like crazy. The handling was perfect from the get go, and the looks weren't half bad. The main issue with the Type R Integra was that it was so finely tuned from the factory that modding it in nearly any way would actually detract from it's performance. While this isn't really a bad thing for the entry level race crowd that wants an out-of-the-box racecar that they can drive from the dealer straight to the track and tear it up, it's not a good thing for the younger "tuner" crowd for which the car was originally intended.