Yahoo News Honda Integra Type R: the greatest front-wheel-drive car ever?
What is the best handling front-wheel-drive car ever produced? The Peugeot 205 GTi, possibly? The Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy? Or perhaps it is this: the Honda Integra Type R.
There are plenty of people who’d vote for it, not least the team behind Evo magazine circa 2006, which after pitching the Honda against 14 other front-wheel-drive greats concluded there was simply nothing better. So what’s all the fuss about?
Not the styling, certainly, which aside from the picnic bench-sized rear wing and small front splitter is entirely forgettable. Same goes for the interior which with its black plastic facia and basic controls is pure 1990s Honda.
But then you climb in and start to appreciate the details, such as the close embrace of the Recaro seats, the stubby titanium gear lever, and a rev counter that reads up to 10,000rpm.
The car we are driving today now serves in Honda UK’s heritage collection. Its condition is thus as immaculate as you’d expect, despite being 18 years old, and the mileage is low at just 58,000. There can be no better way to remind ourselves of the brilliance that was the first Honda Type R (for Racing) to be officially sold in the UK.
The 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine catches as cleanly as if the car were new (old Hondas are good like that) and with a prod of the light clutch and a click of the gear-lever you’re away. In those first few hundred yards it’s difficult not to expect more given the car’s formidable reputation, but the reality is the steering doesn’t chat away as you might expect (in fact it’s rather heavy) and the engine sounds plain.
But then the car starts to get under your skin, dazzling with the sharpness of its throttle response, the weight of the steering making more sense as you start to lean on the front tyres, and the whole car being so perfectly balanced that it seems to dance beneath you.
What’s better still is that the Type R doesn’t need to be travelling at warp speed for all this to happen, but is in fact up on tiptoes from as little as 40mph. Lift off the throttle and it’ll slide, but in a gentle, controllable way, while getting back on the power has the front diff pulling you through the turn, tyres locked on to line.
It is the perfect reminder of why older, lighter cars on relative skinny tyres can be so much fun – especially when they sit on double wishbone suspension front and rear...
Then there’s the engine. Oh, what an engine, ported, polished and assembled by hand rather than machine, it’s specification is truly exotic. Admittedly, 187bhp is nothing by today’s turbocharged standards, but when it arrives at 7,900rpm in a car weighing just 1,225kg you certainly know about it – and indeed can see as much in the 6.7 second 0-62mph sprint.
Which makes it all the more surprising how tractable the Integra is at low revs, despite the lofty red line.
Don’t, however, go mistaking the Type R for being a sensible daily driver, because once up to motorway speeds the short gearing and lack of sound deadening (even the windscreen is thinner to save weight) are all too evident. Which of course is entirely the point, because it makes the Type R visceral and urgent.
It is a car that is impossible to ignore, not because it is in any way annoying, but because it involves you so comprehensively in everything it does.
You’ll discover as much the first time the VTEC variable valve timing kicks in, the engine switching character to show its manic side, charging hard from 6,000rpm (right about where most other engines are starting to run out of steam!) through 7,000, 8,000, and more.
It’s then your job to use the rifle-bolt gear shift to keep the engine within this zone, whether you’re accelerating, braking, in a straight line or going around a corner. That’s where the magic of this car resides, when the engine, steering and chassis come together in perfect harmony.
What a joy this car is. A riot of poise, feedback and agility of the likes we’ll probably never see again. The best-handling front-wheel-drive car ever? It might just be.
THE FACTS
Honda Integra DC2 Type R
PRODUCED 1995-2000 (sold in the UK from 1998)
PRICE NOW £5,000-£13,000
POWER/TORQUE 187bhp @ 7,900rpm/131lb ft @ 7,300rpm
ACCELERATION 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds
TOP SPEED 145mph
FUEL ECONOMY 32.1mpg (EU Combined)
VERDICT Not just brilliant for a front-wheel-drive car, but brilliant full stop. If you’re in the market for a dependable modern classic that won’t break the bank, the Integra Type R is almost impossible to ignore.
TELEGRAPH RATING Five out of five stars
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