2001 Honda Integra Type R from UK and Ireland - Comments

I'm not particularly nice to cars when it comes to driving them sensibly, even more so if it sounds as good as the Integra. You could say that I am addicted to the noise it makes when it gets to 6100 revs. I put my foot down and the engine re-aligns itself, and then I shoot off into the distance. Well recently I broke it, the VTEC doesn't engage fully anymore, so at the moment I'm just stuck with the power of the 1.8, I just don't hear the lovely whine of the engine. The other thing with these cars is you have to make sure you check the oil every week to two weeks if you drive it hard. The lack of oil is probably the cause of the problem on mine, I went a whole month without having to do anything to it, I topped it up, sort of expected to go another month, but checked it after 3 weeks and found it nearly empty. It's certainly not the car's fault, I'm just not nice to it. I suspect that this would be a fairly expensive repair as in £1000 to £2000 but the dealer has informed me that it will go under warranty, so no problems there. If not then I will be making use of my extended AA warranty.

The manufacturer believes that you should get about 32mpg, well I am only getting 18mpg, not a big deal, I get my monies worth. I tend to cruise along at 5500 revs and then put my foot down just so that I hear the car take off. Then slow down after catching up with the next car in front, cruise at 5500 again, before putting my foot down again at the next available opportunity. Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, grgrgrrrr nice engine noise.

I have a water stain on the drivers seat which I haven't been able to get rid of, maybe the previous owner wet himself from the shear exhilaration of driving this car.

Have gone through one set of front tyre's since I got it, although I am quite surprised they lasted as long as they did. Also the tyre's should cost about £95 each, not cheap. But then you pay for what you get.

I drove it once in snow with a new set of Bridgestone Potenza's, it didn't handle too well, I had to drive everywhere in 3-5th gears because it wouldn't stop wheel spinning, I would have to pull away in 3rd or 4th, even when only touching the accelerator. People say that it doesn't handle very well in the wet, well true it doesn't, but it really isn't that bad, I have felt the back end slide out slightly, but that's easily corrected. I am considering getting a wider set of wheels in the near future, this will help stop a lot of the wheel spinning and it will handle even better, oh BTW it wheel spins in 3rd gear.

These cars are rare in black, I nearly bought a white one a few years ago, but then decided it would be best to get a mortgage on a house instead (I was 21 at the time). I had been looking on and off for the past year or so, and haven't come across any 2000/2001 black Integra type R's, so I started looking at alternative cars, but I was never happy with them. I started hunting properly for a black Integra, 6 months ago, I came across one with a week and snapped it up the following day. I have been having fun since, the wife never sees me because I'm always out in my car, does that count as a con? because it could quite easily be a pro :)

Everytime I know I have to go on a journey whether its long or short, I always say to myself "drive sensibly". I then step out the front door, and take one look at the sparkling shiny black monster sitting in my driveway in front of me. A HUGE grin appears on my face (once my neighbor said to me "you look like you have won a million pounds, or got some good sex", I just wiped the saliva away a climbed into the nice gorgeous comfy recaro bucket seat. I then proceed to drive as I'm really in an F1 car going around a race track. I do give it a few minutes for the engine to warm up, but once that's done, my foot is welded to the accellerator, I can't help it, it just sounds so cooool.

The car will do 0-60 in 6.9 seconds, I would pull up at a set of traffic lights and not have to worry about what was next to me. Thrashing the hell out of the car I have managed to stay in front of an S4 in the wet, going down a dual carriage way. He must have been wheel spinning too much and/or not being a very good driver because they will do 0-60 a lot quicker than the Integra, he didn't look too happy when I looked across and laughed. That's the amusing part, "hey £30,000 car meet my £12,000 car". I always find that amusing and the acceleration shocks the hell out of them.

I have read a few articles on this car, and many of them moan about the noise the engine makes, but for me it's a reason to have lots of points on my license. As it stands I have been EXTREMELY lucky on quite a few occasions, I'm still point less, god knows how!

Coming up behind people the Integra looks really aggressive, it looks even better if you have the lights on, although I have had someone comment on how cool my celica looked, er yea OK, may look similar, but I'm afraid NO.

I have had people comment on the noise my car makes when going passed them, apparently it sounds like an F1 car because of the high revving. This has just caused me to time it so that when I take over people they hear the VTec fully engage. I adore this car and I crave the attention that goes with having the car, I could talk and talk about this car (as I have). Its absolutely AMAZING, I have had it for 6 months now, I am certainly going to keep it for 4-5 years god forbid I don't kill myself in it. I think if money was no object there are only a few cars I would chose over this, although to be quite honest, I am so in love with this car I would probably just keep it and get a supercharger and a Bomex body kit fitted.

I'm gonna stop babbling now, I hope this has been of some use to you.

Looks like you have fun in your integra!

It is oil pressure that activates the cam swap at 6000 rpm, so low oil will cause the symptoms your cite. My Integra doesn't use oil at all, but checking regularly is very sensible as you say.

The ITR handles well enough if the wet, but it doesn't grip worth a damn in my experience. It relies heavily on hot tyre grip, and the RE010 tyres just don't warm up enough in the rain.

If you change the wheels you will screw the handling, I guarantee it. Honda deliberately put 15 inchers, with the tame profile on it to perfectly complement the suspension and steering. All the folks I know who have upgraded their wheels are disappointed so beware.

Take care and enjoy your Integra!

Oh regarding the fault with the engine. The garage scared the hell out of me. They did the service and started investigating the fault, they're a busy garage so it took some time to get it booked in. They said that it was likely to be a full engine rebuild and the warranty wouldn't cover it, that's £6,500 odd quid, £5,800 of that is parts. Well they have ripped the engine open and found that it was only the bearings on the crankshaft that had gone so the crankshaft was moving about more than it should have been creating the knocking noise I could hear. Well the Honda garage put their report into head office who have have accepted responsible for the costs of repairing it, PHEW.

Meanwhile I had already gone and scraped together a LOAD of cash from selling stuff on Ebay and getting rid of stocks and stuff. I'm now going to get invest some more money on modifications...

Sounds like a fantastic car. I'm surprised you gave it 10/10 for reliability though. The type-R is designed to be driven hard. Doing so should not damage the VTEC system-the very thing that sets it apart from the barrage of other 1.8 Litre cars out there. Especially seeing its brand spanking new.

Honda has always been perfect in reliability. There is some days ago, I heard an Integra pushing the engine to the maximum power, it's simply incredible the sound is really like an F1 machine.

I would like to buy an s2000, because it's so cheaper than the others roadsters and it has all the special engineering of Honda ; vtec power, performance, reliability and a lot of hp (and 120 hp per liter, that is like the Ferrari Modena)!

I'm happy to see that the integra is so good and Honda will always have the best engine quality.

Totally agree with u, the ITR is a fantastic car! Too bad Honda don't hand-build their Type-R engines nowadays.

Mine is also a BLACK Type-R (Year 2000). I bought mine new. It's a nice looking car! To increase the "cool" factor, I have even upgraded both by low-beam and high-beam lights to H.I.D.s (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps! And if that's not enough, I have also installed a pair of very stealthy HID driving light within the front air dam (can't tell from outside). It makes driving in pitch black highway so much more enjoyable... as I can see much much futher now (to avoid hitting any kangaroos!)... When running the HID at low-voltage setting, they emitted a super-bright projector beam in WHITE-BLUE...looks even better than the S2000, as the ITR projector lens are larger in diameter... so it much brighter than the S2000 HIDs :)

The stock Potenza tires are not very good. At 20k service, the Honda dealer has recommended to have the tires upgraded to Yokahama S306 (205 instead of 195), due to excessive wear. Cost about the same, but the ride is excellent, superb traction even in wet. And the tires are very quiet. Vast improvement over the stock Bridgestone tires. And because no wheelspin, tire wear is excellent. I can corner at unbelievable speed!

My friend owns a WRX, he wasn't a Honda fan. But after having driven my ITR, he was CONVERTED! He sold his WRX and bought a 2nd-hand ITR in Red!

I was tempted by the 350-Z a while ago... but the test drive did not convince me to upgrade. Now, the only other car I may consider is the next R35 GTR (which will coming out in a few years time)...but having said that, I have now decided to keep the ITR, simply because it is such a nice car. I will be putting in a Jackson Racing Hi-boast Supercharger kit (run it at 11psi) & JR's liquid-intercooler to improve drivability at low-rev. I will also swap in a set of Brembo GrandTurismo Brake set, and also a carbon hood to shave off a few kilos and to provide better under-hood cooling for the supercharger.

One thing for certain, I will try to refrain myself from making any other changes to the body or rim/tire size... as I don't want to spoil the ride, and also to keep it as stock looking as possible... keeping the ITR steathy and low-key is the concept! I like surprises! :)

Hi, I am from Jamaica and we also get all those cool Japanese cars...Levins, Celicas, Supras, Evos, WRX STI's, if it's manufactured in Japan we have it, not bad for a poor third world country, huh. Glad to hear that you are enjoying your car to it's full potential. I am a Toyota fan and loyalist myself, but I do have nothing, but MAD repect for both DC2 and DC5 Integra Type R's. I am also aware that it will run circles around it's nemises the Toyota Celica SS-II (GT-S/ZZT). Where you said that someone once made a comment on your car, but made a mistake in calling it a Celica that person cannot be blamed because they do look alike. In fact the Celica (ZZT) started production in late 1998 but was sold as a 1999 car while the Honda Integra Type R began production in 2001 so it was Honda who copied Toyota's 'boy racer image' but I most admit they did improve on it and make it better. Well I'm not here to compare cars

cause the Integra is far MORE SUPERIOR to the Celica. Thinking about buying one (DC5 R) myself. Continue enjoying your car...

I have a 96 JDM Integra R and I love it. Not sure where that guy got the idea the car will wheelspin in 3rd gear? in snow, maybe, but with normal driving no way (unless your LSD is not working). These cars have great traction, defies belief with the power they have going through the front skinny ish (195\) tyres that they put the power down so smoothly with no torque steer. The car will judder and spin wheels a bit going first to second in VTEC, but should not wheelspin too much if at all even in first with the LSD (unless you think your clutch\gearbox is evil and must die by dropping the clutch from standstill at 6k rpm :-; If you really like cars, GO BUY ONE AND SEE.

Just turbo'd my teg and now boy does it spin!!! running about 300bhp now and the kick is unreal. i can get wheels to spin in 3rd now... couldnt before tho and I've gained torque steer now where there wasnt any before. think I've reached the limit for this cars handling now... def not gonna turn up the boost and I'm only running 5.8 psi!!! enjoy 1 of the best driving cars on the planet!!

He's right, you won't get any torqe steer on a standard type R cos theirs theirs no bottom end power, nice looking cars with basic raw driving, but I like grip-n-go like you get in an impreza, WRX with PPP 260bhp for not a lott of cash. 130 bhp per litre. But type Rs are nice cars.

Might be 130bhp per litre, but the power to weight is less than the teg due to it weighing about 200/250kg less than the scoob. its power to weight ratio you wanna see and the teg weighing in at 1060kg with 197 bhp is around the 185hp per ton figure. scoob loses about 50hp from it 4wd system, and in the dry the teg actually out grips the subaru due to an excellent chassis, low weight and low centre of gravity. read other reviews on here with ex subaru owners agreeing to this, i know it sounds strange 2wd car having more grip than a 4wd car, but its honestly true (in the dry) in the wet totally different story tho. hope this clears it up.

Hi Folks,

I've been a DC2 Type-R fan for years, and 2 years ago managed to get my hands on a low mileage mint 1996 Japanese model DC2 Type-R in Black! The Japanese B18C-R unit has some slight differences to the Euro DC2 R unit, and makes around 10 bhp more in stock form.

The car is now completely stripped out with a six point FIA cage, race seats and harnesses, carbon-kevlar clutch, endurance race brakes, braided hoses, adjustable race suspension, and 17inch race wheels with Dunlop Direzza targa tires. Engine is virtually stock including ECU, but has race ignition system, manifold and exhaust, with cold air intake that sits down low in the front right airdam (gotta be careful of those big puddles!).

Fantastic track day car which I can faithfully report can out drive WRX's and Evo's and keep station with M3 CSLs, and the killer is this vehicle is road legal in New Zealand. To be fair, driving anywhere the limit on the road means you're being more than little irresponsible, so I try to keep the real fireworks to the track.

Well good on you if your paticular intagra and driving skill will outdrive some evo's and impreza's. but on paper and all the videos I've seen on the net, it is outclassed by the WRX. Both handling and acceleration. but I would choose one as an alternative if I could'nt afford to run an impreza, because they are fast and look sexy.

Agreed about the WRX. The WRX is a better all round road car, and in stock form the WRX will outpace the ITR on most circuits. My ITR race car is set up to allow me to push much harder and longer in the braking and cornering than with a stock car, so I have the confidence to drive faster than most WRX/Evo owners at track days - I'm no star behind the wheel.

As a former WRX owner and current ITR owner, I enjoy driving the ITR significantly more, but I'm a rev happy race car fan and the ITR pushes more buttons for me. Most folks I think would prefer the WRX, and it's definitely an easier car to live with (except when it comes time to fill up at the petrol pump!)

You got that right, my WRX is only a year old so its healthy, but £30 worth of fuel only gets me 145 miles, but its all city traffic, out on A roads or motorways it would get much more.

Hi, I've never driven a Vtec before. What I want to ask is, do you feel any surge of extra power when the vtec comes in or is it just a smooth power delivery up until the redline??