My personal review - Riding in Ah Wei's Honda Civic Type R (FD2R)

Call it plain luck, but before I could ask, Benny just assigned me to be the passenger in Ah Wei's Type R. My pulse quickened in excitement. Previously, I've had but glimpses of the FD2R, but never got the chance to sit inside. That day, I got my wish to experience first hand, what exactly is a Type R.

I opened the door and eased myself into the red-black Recaro seat. The contours of the race-inspired design fitted comfortably around me. I closed the door, which shut with a solid sound that was one notch above our stock FD. I looked around at the interior. It was a different feeling, looking at photos in magazines / on the internet vs actually being inside one. Ah Wei started the engine with the push button switch. The car came to life in a rather ordinary way - there was no cues that hinted on the enormous potential of the car. The exhaust note was soft at idle, and idle smoothly it did. Now, we weren't really going through all lengths to squeeze every last ounce of performance from the car, so we left the aircon on all throughout the test drive. If you look at Ah Wei and me, well, let's just say the Type R carries the most weight among all 4 cars as far as occupants are concerned. As we started moving, I honed my senses on the ride comfort and noise. Or should I say, LACK OF noise. The Type R was surprisingly quiet from the inside. The build quality of the dashboard and other bits of the interior were impressive. No creaking or squeaking noises.

As we cleared the first traffic light and turned right towards Alor Gajah, we were in 4th position. The cars started to pick up speed. After tailing the closest FD, I experienced the first unexpected burst of speed as Ah Wei down shifted and slammed the throttle wide open. The shift indicator lamps lit up sequentially, indicating precisely when to up shift. I had thought just a split second ago that everyone was accelerating at maximum rate. Turns out that Ah Wei's Type R was just cruising along behind, waiting for traffic to clear...!

In the span of mere seconds, Hanne and Justin were now behind us, overtaken as easily as though they weren't even trying. All this in spite of missing one gear change. Pressed into the Recaro bucket seat, we were right on Benny's tail. Now, the only reason we were behind is that Ah Wei's not quite sure which way to go at the upcoming traffic light, so we're actually sticking behind Benny for directions....

Ok, the lights turned green, and we're off once again. At the lights, Hanne and Icebear had managed to close the gap, but once we started moving, it was just Benny in front of us. The road was now straight, and quite clear cut, so, Ah Wei dialed in 9000RPM on the rev meter and in a matter of seconds, shot past my FD. I could barely make out Benny's expression as we overtook him and accelerated down the road. Now, the path wasn't exactly a straight line. At these speeds, the gradual right and left bank actually exerted a significant force on my body, threatening to push me either against the side window or into the driver next to me. Surprisingly, the Recaro seats were really firm and I could hold my position without using my hands just by planting my feet into the floor and pressing my body back into the bucket seat!

A bit of bumpy road coming up ahead. A quick glance at the speedometer indicated that we were above PLUS regulation speeds. Now, to be honest, it wasn't really that bad, since if you were driving that fast over the road in a normal FD, I don't think it would be significantly less bumpy. The FD2R was very stable as it negotiated the bends and curves in the road.

Due to a slight misunderstanding, I mistakenly asked Ah Wei to U-turn too early. Benny overtook us, so we realized our mistake. So, we, from a standing start, simply caught up with Benny in a matter of seconds. From inside the FD2R cabin, the lack of external noise made it seem as though Benny wasn't really revving to the max. I'm just amazed at how fast the FD2R really is. We reached the designated U-turn point and proceeded back to Team Cafe. Now, since we knew exactly where we were going, no need to follow Benny for directions anymore. Holding back no reservations, Ah Wei had the Type R bouncing off the JDM stock speed limiter all along the way back to Team Cafe. Even so, I could see Benny receding further and further behind as leaned forward and glanced in the left side mirror.

At the last traffic lights, it was shown again that you need to master the throttle / clutch modulation for perfect launching, as, even with 18" tires, you can induce a wheel spin in 2nd gear if you're not careful...!

Back at Team Cafe, we got out and exchanged our views. For me, my first experience with the Type R was very positive. Performance wise, there is simply no comparison with our FD. They may look the same, and pay the same amount of road tax, but that's where the similarities end. Build wise, the Type R is top notch. No rattling and other funny sounds. Could this be the JDM advantage vs local assembly...? Sound proofing - I thought they said the Type R was not so well soundproofed as the "normal" FD's? So, how come it seems quieter inside than a stock FD? Even the solid sound of the doors as they close - you can only get this after full soundproofing treatment. Knocking the body of the car, doesn't sound hollow and thin. To me, it looks like FD2R (stock) = FD1/2 + Soundproofing + Autofoam. Suspension is definitely harder than normal FD's. However, since we didn't spend much time driving around at "normal" speeds, I can't compare how the FD2R feels like during day-to-day driving conditions. Sigh, maybe next time I will get a chance to sit inside once again?

I was thanking Ah Wei very, very much for the experience. Actually, he's quite adapt at working the manual 6 speed shifter. I used to drive a 1.6 Satria 5 Speed Manual some years ago. In those days, I don't think I have ever managed to change gears as fast and smoothly as Ah Wei on the FD2R. So, even if I had an FD2R myself, I will probably still lose.

Well, that's it for my belated review (better late than never). After riding in such a high performance car, I feel now that my own FD2 is really, really slow and underpowered.

Would I get an FD2R instead of a FD2? Sigh:-

1- Waiting list is more than 6 months, so I hear.
2- What am I going to do with my FD2 once I get a FD2R?
3- Now already become father, my next vehicle will probably be one with 3 rows of seats....

Photos from the recent 8GCC [MLK] + S'pore Honda Civic FD Club lunch and test drive

Some photos from the outing:-


[L-R] Takashi24, Icebear, Ah Wei and Hanne checking out Icebear's SG FD2.


A closer look under the hood.


How many Honda Car Clubs are there between Malaysia and Singapore, anyway...?


Test Drivers' Group Photo before driving off.


Type R starts out in 4th position....


Type R in front, next to my FD (hidden from view by Hanne's ride) at the lights. No need to say who ended up in pole position after the lights turned green....


Post test drive discussion and debriefing, exchanging opinions, etc..

8GCC [MLK] + S'pore Honda Civic FD Club lunch and test drive

It was one fine weekend sometime last month, Benny called us out for some famous Hainanese Chicken Rice ball lunch at Batu Berendam. We had some Singapore FD owner and companions coming down in a group in a heavily modded FD. Found out later that it was actually Justin a.k.a. Icebear from the Singapore Honda Civic FD Club (www.civicfd-sg.com). They were supposed to meet up with us on the night before, however, another friend of theirs was involved in a tragic mishap, when his hood suddenly flipped open while driving along the PLUS highway, smashing into the windscreen.

From 8GCC were Benny + GF, Hanne + wife, Ah Wei, Ah Kit and Wai Yee. Missing on that day were Zurin, Napiioo and "Cikgu" Fandi ()

Wai Yee and I arrived early, so we managed to pull together 3 tables in reserve for our big group.

After lunch, we assembled in front of Team Cafe (which, it seems, is now closed down, unfortunately). In all, there were 5 FD's on the scene:-

1- Justin's FD had some serious mods in, which I hear include piggyback ECU's. Don't know the exact detail - either Benny / Hanne will provide details on this.

2- Hanne's black FD is without any new mods from our previous encounters - then again, I could be wrong. Need his input here also. Anyway, since he's already on a piggyback ECU and modded exhaust, I can't imagine what else he would have added....

3- My FD is focused on comfort - maximum soundproofing plus full Autofoam treatment. To offset the rather soft characteristics of the stock suspension, I've swapped my stock shocks for Koni FSD's. Still on stock 16" rims, though. NCT5's replaced with Yokohama DNA dB501's, which are super quiet, but cornering grip will lose out to more dedicated performance tires. I did augment my braking system with Stainless Steel Brake Hoses, which did a lot to reduce the spongy brake pedal during hard braking.

4- Ah Wei's stock FD2R. Nothing changed, except for the HU. Then again, the FD2R is so damn close to perfect, what else would you add? Well, maybe something to remove that 180kph speed limiter....

5- Benny's FD was the official safety car for this outing, serving as carrier for the 3 ladies and fragile cargo, who would not be participating in the "test drive" session coming up shortly.

So, the agreement was:-

Hanne take Justin's FD
Justin take Hanne's FD
Benny take my FD
I take Ah Wei's FD... in the passenger seat, with the expert driving his own car

With cars and drivers set, next up - the 4 FD test drive Field Report....

Benny and Hanne will post their comments, and I'll post my views on what it's like riding shotgun in a 225HP 6MT FD2R!

Sorry for the delay - as you all should know, I just became a father on Election Day....

Little Baby Charmaine is Born

Today, 8th March 2008, is the date of Malaysia's 12th General Election. It’s also the date for International Woman’s Day, as well as the first day of the second month of the lunar calendar. However, for me, it's a date to remember as it's today that my very first child is born into this world.
At 4~5am this morning, my wife started getting some strong abdominal pain. That actually comes as quite a surprise, since our O&G, Dr. Liu, estimated that she wouldn't likely deliver before next week.
Anyway, we got prepared and quickly got my wife admitted to the nearby Pantai Hospital. That was around 7am. O&G department was at level 2. Well, the routine to checking in involved some paperwork and a short trip to the registration counter on ground floor. By the time I finished signing here and there, Dr. Liu had arrived, and, after a short examination, he declared that “it was time”….
Huh? So fast? I watched as the nurses and Doctor started getting ready to deliver the baby. This being a private hospital, the husband is allowed to accompany the wife through the procedure. I heard that in the government hospital, that can only be done after the husband has sat for some training course.
Anyway, it was over (relatively) quick. Not as fast as those that you see on TV (which you can pop out a baby faster that you can cook a cup of instant noodles). Typically, some mothers struggle for 5-6 hours on average. I understand that my own mother took roughly 12~13 hours to push me out. So, it’s quite a relief that my daughter is officially born at 9.38am today, naturally (I know that c-section is the rage these days, but we still believed in a natural delivery). Not bad – 2.89kg.
Well, the pediatrician was on standby and confirmed that everything checks out. These days, the mother can actually check out within 24 hours of delivery, so we expect my wife to be discharged tomorrow, if not today.
I’m back home for awhile, to get some food prepared by my mother (as well as some traditional herbal preparation – formula provided by my mother-in-law). I’ll be going back to the hospital in awhile to see my wife and daughter again.
Family was thrilled. My grandparents and parents have been “promoted” to great grandparents and grandparents, respectively. My two sisters too, are now bestowed the title of “Auntie” each! Not forgetting me and my wife, are now parents at last….
My dear little baby girl, we named Charmaine (Chinese name will be Yee Ning, spelling to be confirmed). Throughout the past 8.xx months, we've seen and sought the expert advice from 3 O&G's - Dr Khoo (Putra Hospital, formerly known as Southern Hospital), Dr Tey (who owns his own Maternity Clinic in Muar) and Dr Liu (who just opened his clinic outside Pantai Hospital). A very big thank to all of them, including the staff of Pantai Hospital Melaka, who helped bring our precious child out into the world today. We hope that her arrival is a sign of new hope and a good future for us all!

Baby Charmaine in the arms of my wife

My wife recovering in the ward

Baby Charmaine drinking some warm water out of her bottle

Driving a Honda Civic FD2 in Paddle Shift Mode

One of the reasons I chose the 2.0 version of the 8th Gen Honda Civic over the 1.8, in spite of the longer waiting period, was the fact that it came with the Steering wheel paddle shifts (that seems like a good idea at the time). Apart from the fact that it came with leather seats, HID headlamps, turn signals on the side door mirrors and had a 2.0 liter engine capacity, but that’s straying off topic already… Now, the marketing material states that these paddles allow for the driver to manually select the gears, much like an F1 car.

Paddles are definitely more appealing than buttons on the steering (have them in the FD2, but they control the radio and cruise control). In principle, you pull back on the left paddle to shift down and pull back on the right paddle to shift up. This way, you can run through all the 5 gears of the automatic gearbox. The gearbox is a standard 5 speed automatic with lock up torque converter. It’s not a clutchless manual transmission like the DSG or even the AMT system (found on the Proton Savvy). There is no discernable different in the speed of gear changes, when using the car in paddle shift mode. In a 0-100kph dash, the paddle shifting appeared to have a 0.2 second improvement compared to “S” mode, but this may be due to coincidence and time keeper error rather than genuinely making a difference.

There are some rules to this though. First, you have to put the car in “S”. In normal drive mode “D”, the paddles are disabled. In “S” mode, the auto gearbox will only shift among gears 1, 2, and 3. Once you pull back on either paddle, it will enter manual mode (a number will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the futuristic Civic dashboard. The car knows what gear it should engage, so you won’t go into gear 1 if you’re traveling at 90kph once paddle shift mode is engaged. Now, if you pull back on the left paddle, the car will engage 1 gear lower, which is usually the one you will use for overtaking. It will not allow for over-revving the engine. If you pull back on the right paddle, the car will engage the existing auto gear, and there will be no jerking or jumping of revs. I use this for smooth transition to paddle shift mode. If you shift to “S” when you are moving at a rather high speed, the car will only engage gear 3 highest – so there will be a jerk. To do this smoothly is to shift the gearbox into “S”, then immediately start pulling back a couple of times on the right paddle. The car will end up in either gear 4 or 5, without the shock on your gearbox.

Now, the only way to shift out of paddle shift mode is to put the car back in “D” gear. So, make up your mind about which mode you’d like to drive in, so you don’t end up rocking the gear stick back and forth. Note that the torque converter does not seem to lock up when you are in paddle shift mode, so for best fuel economy on gear 5, drive in “D” mode. While in paddle shift mode, the gear will not change up if the revs get too high. If you do step all the way to redline, the needle will just bounce off the rev-limiter, wasting your time and making you sound like an idiot from the outside (I sometimes forget that I am in paddle shift mode at the traffic lights, hence the “idiot” effect). When accelerating from a standstill, you can engage gear 1 or gear 2, for a slower but more sedated launch (useful when there’s snow or sand on the road, to prevent skidding). The car will, however, downshift it the speed gets too low. If you come to a stop, the gear will shift back to 1. If your speed is too low, you will not be allowed to engage the higher gears (which will undoubtedly strain the engine), so you can keep pulling back on the right paddle safely. Nor will the car allow you to downshift such that you will over-rev and blow your engine. The gear number will just blink in the dashboard, but no shifting will occur.

Before I talk about using the paddle shift mode, I’d like to point out that for tights turns or when the parking lot, it’s not so convenient to use. This is because; the paddles are mounted on the steering wheel, which you turn to make your car corner. Now, in a tight turn, your steering wheel can get turned until it’s upside down. If you were to attempt a gear change now, the left paddle now upshifts and the right paddle downshifts (since they are now inverted). So, unless you know what you are doing, better to stick to D or normal S mode when negotiating tight turns (like in a car park).

So, the question now is, when do you use paddle shift mode? The short version is:- 1. To pre-select a lower gear for overtaking 2. For engine braking effect when descending slopes 3. To select and hold gears entering and exiting corners 4. To prevent automatic oscillation between gears when going up slopes 5. To avoid sudden downshifts to allow for a smoother ride For the long version, read on…. Firstly, I use it if I need to pre-select a lower gear prior to overtaking. A little flashback to the good old days where everyone drives with a manual transmission. In order to get the best acceleration for the overtaking maneuver, you need to step the clutch, drop a gear, step on the accelerator (bringing up the revs to match the speed of the lower gear) and release the clutch. Done correctly, your car will not jerk because you raised the revs exactly as required. Now, when this is done, your revs will be high (not yet at redline) and in the power band (remember, in those days before VTEC, most of the power comes only in the high RPM region). So, when you floor the accelerator, your car will accelerate faster than if you had been in a higher gear. Now, back to the present.

In our Auto FD, there is no clutch, and no need to match the revs when changing gears. It’s all done automatically. Let’s take a typical overtaking scenario in “D” mode. When the time is right, you just step harder on the accelerator paddle. Depending on how hard and fast you mash the throttle, the artificial intelligence in the car figures out that “hey, this guy needs to accelerate” and then only initiates the down shift. In experience, the car appears to pause briefly to see if the accelerator is really stepped on continuously, or if it’s just a stab or spike. The throttle body of the FD is controlled by wire (ironically, that wire is not directly connected to the accelerator peddle, but is opened or closed depending on the position and changes in the peddle position). While this may allow for a smoother and more economical ride by ironing out the “spikes” in our right foot, there’s an unfortunate additional effect of throttle lag. You can practically stomp on the throttle and your rpm would not fluctuate (don’t try this when something is in front of your car, you have to do it really fast, though). So, all that delay will mean that you have to “advance” your right foot timing BEFORE you want to actually shoot forward. So much for a responsive drive….

Enter the paddle shift. It’s actually nothing more than a mechanism to allow the driver to engage and maintain a specific gear. In a 4 speed auto usually found in other cars, you can have the same effect by turning off OD (hence, dropping to gear 3) or shifting the gear stick to “2” or “L” (pre-selecting gear 2 or 1 respectively). However, that will involve taking your hand off the steering wheel, and is not linear (1 to 2 to 3 push stick forward and back, 3 to 4 push OD button on and off). You can also forget and push 3 to neutral by mistake (and shifting in and out of N in a moving car is really bad for the transmission). Anyway, by pre-selecting the gear prior to the overtaking maneuver, the car will be in the correct gear (with correspondingly high RPM) when the throttle is floored. I notice that the rev needle will travel all the way to the 6.8K mark when in fully auto mode, so once the car gets going, paddle shifting can never beat the auto – only match it (if you’re as consistent as a computer yourself). Now, you also select lower gears when you need to employ engine braking (not so wise in an auto, as the fluids in the torque converter will get heated up by this). It’s either your brakes or the transmission – though 4 brake pads are way cheaper than 1 new gearbox. Selecting lower gears as you enter a high speed corner, will allow you to power your way through and out of the turn (without worrying that the gearbox will suddenly have a mind of its own and either shift up or down).

Note that you don’t have a clutch to allow for safe heel and toe technique (since you want to brake, and at the same time keep the revs up so you can slowly transfer power to the wheels by releasing the “clutch”). For automatics, we have to stick to braking while accelerating, and this as I’ve mentioned, is not good for the torque converter. For more practical driving, you can engage and stick to a lower gear while traveling up hill. A typical auto gearbox may decide to change to a higher gear while going up hill, since the revs are so high (necessary to overcome the force of gravity on the car as it goes up the slope). But when that happens, the car is strained to maintain the forward motion against larger gear ratios. So, the car shifts down again. Effect is a jerky drive with oscillating revs and gears, long run will overheat transmission. This is why for towing heavy loads and prolonged spirited driving, the installation of an ATF cooler is mandatory to avoid the premature death of the transmission.

Lastly, you can use this to prevent the car from downshifting under full acceleration. Done correctly, this will prevent sudden jerks as the auto transmission kicks down if you step just slightly too hard, leading to a perceived smoother ride. In all, the paddle shift seems to be more hype, as, under the skin, we are just looking at a standard auto transmission. Performance-wise, it’s no better than a regular auto, and certainly cannot challenge a manual gearbox. Notice that all Honda performance marques like the S2000 and Type R are all with a manual shifter…? Still, the ability to pre-select gears without taking your hands off the steering wheel may be useful in spirited driving which demand precise control of gears, and in this case, where the normal automatic will be found lagging, paddle shifting will put control back into the hands of the driver….