Being a long time enthusiast, loyalist and owner of several Type R’s in my past, the Type R badge and name carry a special weight for me. The pure driving experience and history behind the name have a special connection dating all the way back to my early years and exposure to Honda. Just about every Honda fan can say a Type R has been on their wish list in some form at some point. For me, that was always the Integra Type R. While I lusted over JDM EK9 CTR’s and built a NSX-R styled replica, its the Integra Type R that always been my basis that I will compare all Honda’s to.

The simplicity and raw driving experience of the Integra add so much character to the driving experience. Call it living in the past, but at some point after hearing the Honda rumor mill carry on for years that they will be bringing a Type R again to North America I stopped listening. For years over many generations of cars so many of us held up hope that this would happen. That once again Honda would give North Americans the best of the best that many other places in the world got to experience. Being in the industry, I’ve seen it leave a huge gap in the Honda community that exists and has had an effect on new enthusiasts getting into the brand. While the Si model has been the performance staple, so much was being left on the table.

Now, here we are in 2017.

Honda finally announced the type R was coming. For real this time. People scoured the Internet for information and blasted dealers with questions. While not much information was made public about car details, timeline or price at times the public seemed to have more knowledge than their own local dealer. Many people placed deposits and got themselves on waiting lists without knowing much. Was the car going to be what we had all been waiting for? Would Honda be able to step above the other cars in the marketplace that have had such a head start?

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have been given the chance to find out; and find out on one of Canada’s best driving roads in Cape Breton Nova Scotia – The Cabot Trail.

If you want a road trip worth driving to, to drive – add this on your bucket list.

One of our long time customers and friends, Stefan V was one of those people who lined up before knowing much. With a heavily modified and swapped supercharged 8th gen Si already in his garage, the lure of the Type R had him lining up to add to his fleet. I didn’t fully understand when he told me that he was lucky to be one of the first on the list at his dealer, exactly why he wanted one. This past September he was generous (and trusting) enough to let me take the wheel and drive the car all 320km of the twisty mountain carving cliffs and ocean side roads of the Trail.

While in the early stages I admittedly had largely ignored many of the details surrounding the final arrival I was very excited to get behind the wheel and find out, was this worth the wait?

With the Maritime ocean dictated weather always so unpredictable and with a 40% chance of rain we headed out from the base of the trail from the well known “Red Barn”.

Immediately, I knew I was drivings something different.

As soon as you sit in the very very deep and heavily bolstered seat, its clear this is a drivers car. The seating and driving position is very driver orientated. Visibility from the driver seat is excellent. Despite the high hood line, you are not seeing a windshield full of hood like many newer cars.

 

Breakdown

Exterior: While the look of the car overall is something that take a while to get use to, the more you look at the angles the better the car looks. I love the aggressive front end and headlight lines. The rear from some angles, is not overly flattering to the car, but as a whole package it does come together. The side profile looks great. I’m not huge fan of the wheels personally, but that is easily fixed as more wheel selection becomes available (note: this car is 5×120 not the common 5×114).

Interior: Inside the seats are the star. They are very well designed and give the feeling of control before you have even started the car. The steering wheel is well sized and allow for the perfect 10 and 2 grip. The red seat belts are a nice touch.

Brakes: I had heard complaints of the brakes pads being noisy from the huge Brembo calipers. While yes they are, anyone who has ever run a more aggressive brake pad wont even notice. They have great stopping power and good, consistent bite.

Powertrain: For a turbo car, its almost perfectly linear power delivery. There is no lag in almost any gear and its smooth the entireway through the RPM range. If you didn’t know it was turbo and were deaf, you would have a hard time guessing with how great the powerband is. Leave the “VTEC kicked in bro” behind, the smoothness of the power delivery is amazing and would make it a blast to drive on the track. The exhaust note and tone is perfect.

Transmission: The gearing is definitely different from any other Honda I have driven. In most cars you are in 6th in no time. In this, you can drive around without using 6 at all (as i mostly did). Its almost like an overdrive. Other than that 1-5 is well spaced. The shifts are short and the box had a really good feel. The reach from the wheel to the shifter is quick.

Suspension: While so many of the newer generation cars today and their electric power steering boxes just take away all feedback, this car is perfect. It was absolutely the biggest surprise of the car for me and what i enjoyed most. The rack and steering (In R mode) is flawless. There are very few cars I can say I have ever driven that has the feedback and agility of input that this car does. Just a slight tweak to the wheel and the car is darting where you want it to go. I love the road feel and control you have.

The shocks and sway bar setup when R mode is engaged allow the car to maintain maximum lateral grip. I did not expect the car to stay so flat in the aggressive corners of the trail. It would really take a lot or a stupid move off the gas to loop the car. The grip, even on the cooler day we were out was incredible.

Technology: Of all the electronic trinkets on the car like smart key, customizable digital dash, backup cam and side view cam, touchscreen climate control for me its the push button adjustable suspension modes that is the standout. There is a clear difference in modes and its nice to have that flexibility depending what you are using the car for.

Performance: The performance overall of the car is hard to talk about. Its a fast car there is no doubt about that. However the power and acceleration are extremelyyyyy understated from behind the wheel. The car is just so smooth and linear that its hard to really feel any of that speed. Most cars when you are doing in excess of the speed limit, feel like that. This car doesn’t. Take the speed and divide it by 2 and that’s what it “feels” like. While this may take away a bit on the on street driving excitement on the track that smoothness and always on tap power would be perfect to carry speed and plan your line into technical sections.

While this car was all stock at the time I drove it (very few parts had even been released at that time) the aftermarket is certainly well on the way to offering a huge selection of parts for the car. I cant wait to see many of the developments and parts currently in the works to improve what is an already great car. My real hope is however that companies focus on making parts that make the car better, and only better. Too often we see some manufactures making parts for cars just to get a check in a certain box that they offer X part for X car but its not truly a better part. This is one car I would not want to make many changes to unless it was truly better. Specifically the suspension; cheap springs or coilovers would only ruin one of what is to me the best the best parts of the car. Slammed car fans stay away! I’d trade a bit wheel gap for the handling of a car like this any day. As soon as Hondata releases a Flashpro that is undoubtedly going to one of the first things all owners will want to do. While it will mean more boost and more power I hope it wont lose to much of the smoothness that for me makes the car so great. Many Honda fans however want that huge power pump at some point in the RPM and they will have that option once ecu modification becomes available.
So was this car worth the wait?

When ultimately I’m left to answer that question it’s unclear. Was it the raw Integra Type R like car I was hoping it somehow would be? No. Perhaps that was just a pipe dream from years of waiting. Times have changed and cars like that cant exists any more. If you want that you have to build it (don’t worry we can help). To complete in the market today it has to be that and so much more. That “more” means all a long list of features and driving comforts and safety/crash worthyness piled on with some balance or practicality. In that Honda has succeeded.

Its like the car was built for ex R owners. While we all love the ITR, we all (most of us) have real lives now and want a car as fun but can keep up with “real” life needs of putting a kids in the back seat, wearing a suit to work and stopping at the grocery store on the way home. The R badge has matured.

I give them huge credit for finally bringing and R here and showcasing what they can do with today’s technology. When the Integra type R finished its run in 2001 for North America no one ever would have guessed at that time the next one we would see here would be 4 doors and never guessed it would have a turbo bolted the the head. While long overdue they hit the mark and did make something special. This car is…just that good. One could argue in some way that this is better than the Integra ever was in that its so much more well rounded. You don’t have to sacrifice anything but a sunroof (still). When it comes down to it all that matters is what does it feel like in the driver seat. Planted there, carving the corners and pulling the shifter back into the neat gear I couldn’t help but smile the whole time. That’s a feeling that not many other car can constantly give me and had gears turning in my head if one of these in championship white would make sense in my garage.