GTP Cool Wall: 1997-2000 Honda Civic Type R

[GranTurNismo]

1997-2000 Honda Civic Type R nominated by @GranTurNismo



Body Style: 3-door hatchback
Engine: 1.6L B16B inline-four
Power: 182hp
Torque: 118 lb-ft
Weight: 1090kg
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Drivetrain: front-engine, front-wheel drive

Spoiler: Additional Pictures

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[GranTurNismo]

This was the most simple and subtle out of the many Civic Type R generations. It's the best looking one, too, hence the coolest.

Also, I don't quite agree with this being called a "ricer car". First off, most ricers are in the United States, which the Type R was never sold in, and plus, those who do rice EK civics rice the regular trims, as the Type-R is too rare and expensive for pretty much any ricer to get their hands on.

 

[LivingWithGames]

The cool wall is back...? On my very birthday too, go figure. And to start it off with my favourite generation of the Civics - very nice. They usually are teritory for ricers, V-TEC kicking in yo. But if you think of the Spoon Civic, and reasonably cool tuned Civics out there, I think this is Sub-Zero. Far better than the sedan Civics that tend to get the bad respect and riceness due to more know to NFS Underground.

 

[Liquid]

Great if you can find one unmolested but that's too much of a rarity.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Hot hatches are a double edged sword.

On the one hand they can be used sensibly and reasonably most of the time while offering occasional track day or b-road fun for a reasonable price; all the performance (to anyone who isn't a racing driver) of a supercar without having to leave the house everyday and feel the urge to throw a brick through the window of your own car.

In turn they open the door for even more reckless individuals to menace other road users by tearing around at irresponsible speeds, and these individuals will often tarnish the reputation of not only other owners of said hot hatches, but of the lower performance base models as well.

Late 90s Civics are on the verge of becoming rare retro cool, but they still haven't quite tipped over that ledge for most people, and as it stands a Type-R will likely continue to make shoppers anxious in supermarket car parks for a couple of years yet

 

[SlipZtrEm]

The EK has largely shed the poorly-modified image it had back when it was younger. The ones I see now that are modified are typically quite well done. Meanwhile a stock Type R gets the unicorn factor, plus it's a simple, well-proportioned hatch. I'd imagine what we deemed stiff-riding at the time is probably now quite tame too, so it'd probably be quite alright to shuttle someone around in. Y'know, outside of the bright red seats and the need to rev it into the second half of the band for any real momentum.

Come to think of it, outside of the shouty current Type R, I almost never see modded current-gen Civics. It seems farty Scoobies and tatted-up Focuses are the current option.

Gets a Cool from me.

 

[Snikle]

My parents used to have a regular Civic sedan from the same generation. I wouldn't call that one cool. But this one is pretty cool, and I'm surprised the first Type R Civic was never polled on the cool wall. '90s Japanese cars aren't my favorite cars (or even my favorite Japanese cars), so no SZ. I voted Cool.

 

[Joey D]

There's some nostalgia with it for me, so I'll go with cool. It's also the last body style Civics that didn't look downright strange too.

 

[mustafur]

Cool, EK9 Type R's are quite rare and alot of people have started to make replicas, being the only JDM exclusive CTR helps preserve it's status.

 

[ZGBox]

Cool, it's a fine machine and it's a rare one.

 

[SVX]

Not to be pedantic, but the year range doesn't account for the facelift that happened in '98.

As for the thread, seriously uncool. Fake carbon and red interior. Yeah, no.

 

[-Fred-]

The tach goes to 10, it's got a red valve cover and it shares the same Momo steering wheel found in the 550 Maranello.


It's basically a Ferrari.

 

[noshog]

Good enough looks and performance to just push it to a Cool for me.
(Again just judging the car only, not the drivers or what they do to them)

 

[kikie]

I think this is a pretty cool car. Put on the AC system and the car is seriously cool.

 

[SPhilli911]

I’m not big on Civics, for the most part, but I’ve always liked this generation Type R. Just looks so good and I love the red interior. I also imagine the thing is just a blast to drive revving it so high. I gave it a cool.

 

[MaxAttack]

Voted uncool, but I think we may genuinely be looking at the dividing line between cool and uncool.

It slips into uncool for me because the wrong wheels go 'round, and while I'm sure we could argue about that all day, that's just how I feel. Any 2 door car with a "fast" image that wants to be cool in my book needs to ditch FWD. It's mechanical cognitive dissonance.

Fun, I'm sure.
Impressive, yeah.
Cool? Not quite.

Its place in history is not helped by the abundance of terrible examples, and the volume of small amounts of very impure cocaine that it has had delivered via the driver side window.

 

[EngieDiesel]

It's not this thing:

Spoiler: Eww gross

Therefore it automatically gets a Cool. Subtlety goes a long way towards lasting appeal.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

For me personally it's cool, but overall I would say it's uncool due to it still being a Civic.

 

[AudiMan2011]

EP3 is cooler but the EK9 is cool in its own way.

 

[motortrend]

I like this car A LOT but the nerdiness behind it can't be cool.

 

[Sage Ages]

A Honda Civic, but white.

Meh.

 

[All Your Base]

Not to be pedantic, but the year range doesn't account for the facelift that happened in '98.

As for the thread, seriously uncool. Fake carbon and red interior. Yeah, no.

Said the guy with the Civic Type R profile pic.

Anyways, cool. I prefer the EP3 Civic Type R, but only just.

 

[bjl23]

Love the '97, not to keen on the later models.

 

[SVX]

Said the guy with the Civic Type R profile pic.

Said the guy who owns the poor man's Type R, the SiR