THE CIVIC TYPE R EXPERIENCE PART TWO :
INSTRUMENTED TEST RESULTS
Part Two of our series on our 'FD2 Civic Type-R Experience' focusses on objective test results. The Honda 'Type R experience' is multi-dimensional and some of it can actually be quantified - i.e. measured by specialized instruments. Befitting the importance of the FD2 Civic Type R to enthusiasts and thus to TOVA, and also our long involvement with the introduction of this model into the Malaysian market, I made an extra effort to conduct as wide a range of intrumented measurements as I can. Those results are covered in this article, Part 2 of my Civic Type-R experience. Once again, a clarification - the tests and results covered in this article are meant to be useful information for the Honda and especially Type-R enthusiasts. Nevertheless, I do not pretend that they are 'industrial reference' results. Please view them as the results of a series of tests that a 'typical' hard-core Honda fanatic has had the good fortune of being able to perform on this great model. Of course I did made every effort possible to get them to be as accurate as possible, within the limitations I have to work with.
Dyno Result
First and foremost would be the engine power. Other than the NSX-R, the FD2 Civic Type-R is the most powerful Honda Type-R thus far (the S2000 does not carry a Type-R badge and so strictly speaking is not a 'Type-R'. Of course it is faster than most Type-Rs). The FD2 CTR's K20A-R is spec'ed to deliver 225ps with a max torque of 215Nm (21.9kgm). However, in the past one of the biggest 'excuse' given by Honda R&D for not giving 'clearance' for their Type-Rs to be sold officially outside of Japan has been the issue about qualify of petrol (fuel). JDM Type-Rs are spec'ed for RON100 petrol/fuel. When used with the generally lower octane (RON95-98) petrol outside of Japan, the engine will experience more detonation. This is actually not a real problem, as most Honda engines are fitted with a knock sensor. This is a microphone like device that 'listens' for the specific sonic signature of engine knocking and feed back a qualitative measure of the amount of detonation to the ECU. The ECU will then retard ignition timing based on the reading from this knock sensor. So one expectation from this FD2 CTR would be that while on paper it is spec'ed to deliver 225ps at the engine flywheel, when driven in Malaysia where the highest grade petrol we get is RON97, it would be expected to deliver slightly lower, due to the situation just explained.
As with previous cars, I dyno'ed the FD2 CTR on a 2WD DYNOJET dynanometer, courtesy of sponsorship by our TOVA dyno sponsor, JC Racing (formerly known as Amoil Motorsports). Incidentally, JC Racing has since upgraded their dyno to a 4WD unit.
To cut right to the chase, the FD2 CTR delivered almost 194ps at the wheels, when dyno'ed on a Dynojet. This is a great result and actually correlates quite well to Honda's specification of 225ps at the engine and the rule of thumb of 15% power loss from the Honda manual gearbox. 194ps actually works out to 228ps using the 15% estimate and so the new generation of Honda manual gearboxes would seem to be a bit more efficient than the older ones. We also have to take into account the fact that the FD2 CTR uses rather large 18-inch wheels which would have incurred slightly more power loss than the smaller 15 to 16-inchers that Honda used to use. So in the absolute term, the FD2 CTR did quite well on the dyno indeed.
Actually this dyno rating is surprising from another aspect. As noted above, the K20A-R on the FD2 CTR is actually designed to run with RON-100 grade petrol (fuel) in Japan. And the Malaysian market FD2 CTRs are actually JDM units prepared for sale in the Malaysian domestic market. So even as the Honda R&D engineer himself admits, it was expected that the use of RON-97 petrol would have led to a slightly lower power output as the ECU would be expected to run with a slightly more retarded ignition timing, to accomodate the lower grade fuel. So, judging from the dyno result, having to use RON-97 petrol/fuel in Malaysia does not seem to be of any big consequence at all !
Jackie, owner of JC Racing, owns an FD2R as well and as he has also dyno'ed his car already, we did compare notes. With the two cars' result plotted together on the same chart, the power curves were virtually identical. In absolute value, Jackie's FD2R dyno'ed at 195ps at the wheel. At this power level, this extra 1ps difference can be considered trivial and can easily be the result of variations in external conditions (e.g. a slightly cooler day) or just plain manufacturing/production tolerance. So for all practical purposes, the two FD2R dyno'ed at exactly the same result which means that it is quite conclusive to say that the FD2R will deliver 194-195ps at the wheels on a Dynoject.
For comparison to other Hondas that uses the high performance version of the K20A engine, I asked Jackie of JC Asia Motorsports/Amoil for some typical dyno results for the DC5 Integra Type R and the CL7 Accord Euro-R, the two most popular 'R' models before the FD2 CTR. The FD2 CTR that I dyno'ed is completely stock but it is actually quite impossible to find completely stock units of the DC5-R or the CL7. So the comparison may not be completely fair. Nevertheless, for both the cars, Jackie showed me a few dyno charts of relatively stock units which showed them dyno-ing at around 185-190ps at the wheels. Both the DC5-R and CL7 are rated at 220ps at the engine and so they too delivered quite well on the dyno, a bit more consistent with what would be expected with 15% power loss at the transmission. Interestingly, as we flipped through the many dyno charts in his database to find the stock ones, I was given a rather good lesson on how potent the K20A is as dynos up to 200-210ps at the wheels seems to be aplenty, coming from JDM K20ARs with just bolt-on mods; aftermarket computers like HONDATA and mods like TODA cams.
Sound Level Checks
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| Click on the photo for a WAV file of the 1-2-3 WOT run |
Subjectively, the sound of the engine at WOT is pristine. True Type-R vintage quality. This is complete with that nice engine note change when the VTEC opens. In addition, the engine sounds wilder as the revs approaches the red-line of 8500rpm. Using my newly purchased MP4 Recorder, I have recorded the sound of the FD2-R in a 1-2-3 WOT run, starting from a gentle cruise in 1st gear, then into WOT and shifting at the red-line. The WAV file is downloadle by clicking on the i-VTEC status display photo on the left.
There is much literature about how a Honda Type-R can be particular noisy 'on the go' due to a lack of soundproofing from the factory - i.e. due to steps taken to lighten the car. So to try to quantify the actual level of 'noise' heard from the front seat, I measured the sound pressure, or loudness, using a Realistic SPL meter. The results of those tests are compiled in the table below. To get a representative range of results, I had measurements taken from several conditions. The readings were taken in a neighbourhood which is reasonably quiet. For the stationary readings, the car was parked in a proper metered parking slot along a side-road running parallel and separated by a large drain to a lightly used main-road. So there were little or no traffic running nearby. Subjectively, I would say that it would be just a bit noiser than from the car porch of our own house. The reason for choosing that particular neighbourhood is because the roads are reasonably deserted enough for us (I took the measurements with the help of TOVA reader Foo) to conduct WOT runs and cruising without incurring unnecessary risks. The idea was that doing WOT runs in a busy roads where others may be out for a Sunday drive would have been dangerous. Finally, the Realistic offers both A-weighted and C-weighted readings and our measurements were taken at A-weighted readings as that is supposed to approximate the hearing response of the human ear.
In order to try to get some sort of baseline reference, to take into account the outside ambient
noise (traffic and other things), we took a measurement from inside the car with the car parked and all
windows closed and engine off. This should give some sort of baseline idea of the 'base' noise level
inside the car. In this condition, the Realistic SPL meter actually did not deliver any reading,
meaning the sound level was below the lower limits of the meter's sensitivity ! This means
that the sound level is below 50dB, and indicates that the sound proofing in the FD2R is
quite adequate. Unfortunately, at that time it didn't occur to me that another interesting
measurement would have been to also take a reading outside the car. That would have given a
very good indication of how much sound-proofing the FD2R actually has. Sometime in the near future,
when I get access to a TOVA reader's car, I will do this comparison and do an update, hopefully
in time for my Part-3 article.
Next, I started the car. With engine running but air-cond off, the readings from the Realistic stablised at 55dB. So the sound of the FD2-R at idling is quite quiet indeed. From inside the car, we could just hear the muted idling of the engine and the muffler is not audible at all. With the air-condition on, the reading was at 62dB. Now, the conditon of 'air-cond on' can be quite variable because of the different speed the blower fan might be working at. So our reading was taken with the blower fan manually set to '1', i.e. the slowest speed.
With the niceties out of the way, it's time to do some runs in the car. First and foremost is the sound level with the engine in 'full song'. I use a WOT run in 1st and 2nd gear for this measurement and the FD2R registered a maximum sound level of between 88 to 90dB. Note that like all of Honda's VTEC engines, the sound of the K20A-R gets louder as it nears the red-line. Next would be sound level during cruising. We took two measurements, over two different cruising speed. The first was cruising at 80kph. The 'noise' during this condition would be 'contributed' mostly by tyre and wind-noise. For steady speed cruising at approximately 80kph, on normal city roads, the FD2-R registered between 75 to 78dB. At a lower speed, for steady speed cruising at 60kph, the reading was between 73-75dB. The major difference was really wind noise. Again, all these results are summarized in the table above.
Before moving on to the next section, I need to highlight one thing about the sound level readings. Foo actually bought his Realistic SPL meter as a used item from someone. As a result, when I asked him if he knows whether the meter has been properly calibrated, he says he doesn't know. Consequently, while the results in this section can be used as 'reference', they should not taken as reference results in the strict sense of the word. Without being able to confirm that the Realistic meter has been properly calibrated, there is a possibility that the dB ratings are off. Nevertheless, we (Foo and I) are so called 'audiophiles' and we do feel that the readings are reasonably accurate based on what we hear. It would be nice if TOVA can procure our own SPL meter and of course I will ensure it will be properly calibrated. Hopefully our financial status permits this in the not too distant future.
Standing Start Acceleration Runs
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When planning for the acceleration tests with the FD2 Civic Type-R, one of the foremost things on my mind was that I was very concious that the car is not mine. So I was definitely not relishing the visions of myself returning the car to its owner with head stooped and a soft apologetic voice "I'm sorry but I seemed to have burnt your clutch trying to get good 0-100kph times !". Therefore when it came time for my acceleration and braking tests, I already made a decision much earlier that I will use the 'clutch-dump' launch method simply because it is much less likely to burn the clutch. As noted, this will have a detrimental effect on the times I got. Nevertheless, I feel this is much more preferable than dealing with the possibility of burning the clutch - the FD2 CTR is not exactly a cheap car here in Malaysia !
For my acceleration tests, I have since replaced my old GTECH Pro with a Racetech AP22 which offers many useful extra features. This FD2R test is the first review to benefit from it. One of the extra features is its ability to select the unit of measure. Because practically all of Asia has now converted over to using the metric system, similarly for my reviews, I have also changed my tests from 0-60mph and 0-1/4mile to 0-100kph and 0-400m respectively. With all these clarification out of the way, let's get on to the tests themselves.
Honda Type-Rs from the DC5 onwards have a special 5000rpm rev-cut point when the car is stationary. Like many, I was curious if this could be effectively used to implement some sort of 'launch control', much like how Hondata does it. So the first test I tried was to use the clutch-dump with WOT launch. With the tacho bouncing wildly against the 5000rpm mark, I dumped the clutch only to have the CTR hop wildly on-the-spot without going anywhere in a real hurry !! So much for 'launch control' then. It was also surprising to me because again I was expecting the large 18" wheels to adversely affect low-end torque and the wide 225 'semi-slick' tyres to give me enough traction to execute a good clean launch, even at 5000rpm. But it didn't. And neither did 4000rpm and 3000rpm. Launching at both these rpm also produced too much wheel hop. For clutch dumping, 2500rpm was the highest rpm I could use without too much wheel hop. Below that, like at 2000rpm, the car gets going without much fuss but the engine bogs significantly after that. So, for the launches I had to modulate the throttle pedal to try to maintain a steady 2500rpm, then once I dump the clutch pedal, I will floor the throttle. So this was the launch method I used for all my tests, documented in this section. Like I said earlier, I firmly believe it is not the best method - slipping the clutch would have given much faster times. But this was the method I had decided to adopt in order to avoid burning the clutch.
The results for the 0-100kph and 0-400m standing start acceleration tests I did are documented in
the table on the left. The 0-100kph acceleration test first. For the 0-100kph test, I managed to hit
an average time of 7.3 seconds, with an absolute best run of 6.8 seconds. These are not a great time
by any means, especially when taking into account very fast times reported by some U.K. magazines.
But again, I was not using the most optimum launching technique. The thing is the 0-100kph times for
the FD2 CTR is so fast that the effectiveness of the launch now have a very significant effect on
the final time. Even with the relatively simple to use 'clutch-dump' launch method, as
I didn't really do lots of practise runs beforehand (again to avoid over-stressing the car), thus
my 0-100kph test times varied by quite a bit, as shown by the rather large variance between my
best time and the averaged time.
With the FD2 Civic Type-R, there is a curious disadvantage with regards to this 0-100kph test. This has to do with its gear ratios. Specifically the ratio of its 2nd gear is so short (high) that at red-line, it is actually doing only 95kph. Now, the issue is 60mph is actually slightly over 96mph (96.2kph to be exact). So even if I were to do 0-60mph instead of 0-100kph runs, I would still have to do two gear-shifts, from 1st to 2nd and then 2nd to 3rd. This of course has a huge detrimental affect on the 0-100kph acceleration time.
After the 0-100kph runs, the next set of tests was of course the 0-400m standing start acceleration runs. For these runs, my average was 15.1 seconds with an absolute best run of also 15.1 seconds. This is of course a very tight and consistently result and is due mainly to two factors. Firsly is that the effectiveness of the launch now has much less effect on the final time as the 400m dash is done over a relatively much longer time. In addition, I had more or less some practise in executing the launch from the previous 0-100kph tests so launching the FD2 CTR in this 400m tests was a lot smoother for me. Overall, I did around five 0-400m acceleration runs and my times from all of them feel within a very tight range of just slightly over 1.0 seconds, with the worst run actually at just below 15.2 seconds.
With the two important acceleration tests done, I got on with the equally important braking test.
One of the most visually attractive parts of the FD2 Civic Type-R to enthusiasts would be its
huge front brakes. They are as large as those on the R34 Skyline GT-R !! Spotting dual-pot red
Brembo calipers on each wheel, the FD2 CTR promises fantastic stopping power. And it certainly
didn't dissapoint in my tests. Under hard braking, the tyres screeches softly even as the ABS
is working overtime. In fact, the ABS is not very obvious in action. The wide 225 tyres also
helps a lot in braking power and braking stability.
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For the braking tests, I still adopted the standard 60-0mph braking distance test for this review though for future tests, I intend to change to a 100-0kph braking distance test in order to be consistent with the acceleration tests. Over a series of half a dozen tests, I obtained an average of 123 feet. The absolute best result from the tests was 120 feet. This result is the best of all the Honda cars I have tested so far. In this set of tests, the brakes were superb with very firm feel and the car had a very stable and confident stance under hard braking. Even from doing half-a-dozen runs very rapidly back to back, the brakes held up fantastically with no hint of fade and also no smell, even after the last run. In fact, the best result (120 feet) was obtained right at the 2nd last run.
A 120 feet stopping distance for 60mph to 0mph in the absolute terms is actually a very good result. In fact, compared to the reference standards from established car magazines, it actually holds up well to many cars, including some high-end sports cars. In terms of braking time, i.e. how long it takes for the FD2R to stop from 60mph to 0mph under maximum braking, I got an average of 3.2 seconds, with an absolute minimum of 2.9 seconds. I.e. I can stop from 60mph in half the time it takes for me to accelerate to the almost same speed.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the FD2 Civic Type-R did very well in my objective 'instrumented' tests. On the dyno, it delivered a great result, in fact quite a bit above what I had expected it to deliver based on theory and also results from comparative models like the DC5R and CL7.
As for the acceleration test results, I shared them with a couple of TOVA readers whom themselves owns the FD2R. Neither of them expressed much dissapointment at my inability to consistently break into the 6-seconds mark for the 0-100kph. Neither were they at all concerned about the fact that 2nd gear redlines at 95kph. Eventually I think one of them sums up their indifference perfectly when he remarked that he's not terribly concerned about acceleration times because if he had wanted to buy a drag-car, he would have even considered a Honda.
But regardless of the 6-seconds barrier, the FD2R actually did well in the tests documented in this article, especially in the brake test. Part three of my FD2 Civic Type-R experience will focus on my subjective impressions from driving the car in a variety of conditions. I had the extreme good fortune of being able to drive the car for an rather extended period of time and had formed a more than concrete impression of it. All those and more will be in Part 3.
February 2008
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