22nd Apr 2008, 04:41

I have decided that I am going to advise everyone I know to sell whatever they have, be it a Cosworth, Porsche, Noble, Ferrari etc etc, and buy an Integra Type R. My Carrera 2, and my RS500? Gone tomorrow. Clearly they are but a pale shadow of a front wheel drive Japanese buzz box available for 5 grand in a free-ad near you. Judging by the way its owners hijack every performance car review on this site with willy waving and "mine's better than yours" rants, it must be true.

Can you lot listen to yourselves? Not everyone's idea of a performance car is a stripped out, bum basic front driver that needs 6000 RPM before it can out accelerate the family diesel. Yes, the Type R Hondas are good budget performance cars, but not the be all and end all. The Cosworth is a legendary performance car, and the RS500 the basis of one of the most successful competition cars the world has ever seen. The Integra frankly is disposable in comparison.

I bet your owners club meetings are a gas. What do you do when surrounded by identical cars? Start on each other and claim your model year has 0.5 lb ft more torque (at a billion more RPM) than your mate's, or just bathe in a glow of superiority, and congratulate each other on being masters of the universe, and Kings of the road?

I came on here to read a review from a fellow RS500 owner, and couldn't believe what the comments degraded into. Some of you really need to get out more.

22nd Apr 2008, 09:45

The reason why the power kicks in at 6000rpm is because it's like a race car, and the feeling the Honda gives you is just like a race car.

The Integra is one of the best front wheel drive cars ever. If you compare it to any other N/A 1.8s, it would have similar torque, probably even more. The VTEC engines are amazing.

16th Sep 2008, 17:12

Well I've struggled to read all of this but can't resist a comment too. I love the Honda engines and the way the VTEC kicks in. They are generally great on the road too. Don't know of anyone who has been disapointed with them.

Then I drove an rs500 and had to get one. Its simply a case of (way too much maybe) brute power. Mines got a few basic mods and is (only??) 408 bhp / 407 lb torque at the wheels - sorry not sure of the actual flywheel output.

Believe it or not this is pretty much standard - one fuel rail (it comes with two fitted and eight injectors) was disconnected for the showroom etc. The sales brochure clearly points out that its built for 450bhp if you want to wire it all up... its rough and ready power 'out of the box'really.

The old shells are more a worry than the engine so a lot of work is needed to make them handle well mind you. I don't care what is best, only what is more fun to drive, hence the 500 is now the car for me.

25th May 2009, 03:02

I own an RS500, and I can bet you any money that my mildly tune example (at 300bhp) could slate a Type R or an Evo 10.

My RS500 has been lightened with a fiber glass bonnet, front and rear back bumper and spoiler.

I've also put in a dump valve, more air intake, stronger head gasket, manual tuned engine and a stage 1 chip. Not much to put on 60bhp.

25th May 2009, 18:47

Pretty much any turbo engine can gain good power with very simple mods, add a chip and hell even a diesel can gain 50-80bhp.

4th Jun 2009, 21:38

I stumbled across this looking for parts and read some of the posts made. And thought I would just post a video link. This is a buddy of mine that has a stock S2000. The only things added were the turbo and bigger injectors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQst99sHUsc

5th Jun 2009, 06:43

Talk about weight and torque and rally stages and cast iron blocks and 4wd all you want, fact remains in STANDARD form the Honda is quicker. Book figures prove this.

12th Jul 2009, 19:56

This whole argument is gone completely off the track. Honda a good engine? Well yes. Dismissing the Cosworth Engineering, this is something you will never be able to do. It's been proven time and time again, and written in the history books, long before Honda thought of it. It's really that simple, so the the last comment on here this (5th June 09), well that's simply not the case, research your facts.

13th Jul 2009, 15:09

Just thought I'd point out that what you found is wrong, the Escort Cossie has a 0-60 of 5.7, and the 0-100 is 15.7. However you are right about the top speed, 137 MPH.

14th Jul 2009, 04:30

Depending where you get your figures, either one of you is right. I would imagine the Escort was quicker off the line due to 4WD, but the Teg would pull away after initial traction was done with due to the Cossie having bigger power losses through 4WD. Overall, both are very evenly matched in terms of performance.

14th Jul 2009, 14:51

I can't imagine an Integra Type R pulling away from an Escort Cossie' they ain't that powerful.

15th Jul 2009, 12:57

197bhp, 1060kg in weight and 8900rpm's. More than enough.

16th Jul 2009, 11:20

It's a bit too simplistic to just quote power to weight ratios, you have to take the whole car into account, like gear ratio's torque etc, and the Escort Cossie has more than enough torque to be able to make its power quickly.

17th Jul 2009, 04:08

It is a bit, but when you factor in that the Cossie has 4WD sapping power in the top end, but getting good launches, then the guy who suggested the Teg would be slower off the mark but quicker in the top end is probably right.

176.87bhp per ton for the Escort.

181.80bhp per ton for the 197bhp Integra DC2.

The Teg actually has it beat on paper, but I doubt you would pull them apart TBH.

17th Jul 2009, 06:37

I used to own an Audi S3 with 4wd 1.8t engine remapped to over 250bhp. Yes the torque is nice to have, but torque doesn't equal speed. Sold the Audi to buy my 3rd Honda Integra Type R just coz it's faster, and a lot more fun and responsive. Turbo's are great for torque, but that doesn't automatically make them fast. My friends 170bhp Seat Leon diesel has bags and bags of torque (more than double the Honda I think), but it still gets whipped by the Honda every single time.

17th Jul 2009, 19:07

Yeah but a diesel will never be a performance car anyway.

18th Jul 2009, 05:49

I'm sure there are lots and lots of people out there that will disagree with that.

How about the diesel Audi that won the 24 hr LeMans race?

18th Jul 2009, 10:17

Yeah and the last commentor also forgot that the Audi diesel LeMans car has two turbos and a larger displacement, which the petrol cars are not allowed to have as they develop far more hp per litre than there diesel counterparts.

If the petrol cars had a similar spec to the Audi, they would beat its ass. The Audi is more powerful because of a better spec engine, nothing more.

Same on the road, diesel cars will always be behind a good petrol, nuff said.