DC5R owners, please comment

[spetz]

Can all DC5R answer a few questions

How smooth/rough is the engine? Does it vibrate the car or is it fairly silky and quite? (I noticed 5th gen H22A preludes are very smooth, how does the DC5R compare)

How is the suspension? Too stiff for poor roads?

Clutch, easy to drive?
Road noise?
How is acceleration?
Traffic driving?

Please only DC5R owners and people with first hand experience comment

Thanks heaps

[matt]

all round pretty easy to daily drive.
can barely notice the engine when idling at traffic.
close ratio gearbox can be a little frustrating if in stop-start traffic.
stock suspension is pretty good on rough roads.
i would rate road noise as reasonably low, i had boot and rer seats out of mine recently and when it was all back in it seemed pretty quiet

its all worth it tho when u can get on some nice empty roads and open it up a bit :D

[spetz]

How about engine noise and vibration?
Is it smooth? Or can you feel the engine vibrations through the floor and stuff?

Loud engine noise?
ie, can it be a comfortable cruiser when needed/wanted?

[jas_kidd32]

The gear ratios are tiring like mentioned above. I drive through peak traffic to and from work for about 1.5hrs everyday. But you'll get used to it. The handling is responsive. Easy to dodge traffic when needed. The car has a light response overall.

Idle is noticeable at first but you tend to forget about it once you've had the car for some time.

Suspension was rough at the start, as I came from driving 4WD and family sedans this was quite a change but you do get used to it.

The gearbox crunches when cold specially the 2nd gear. I think this is a common thing but people have rectified this using aftermarket MTF. But once the gearbox settles to a perfect operating level (about 40mins of driving for me) then it becomes silky smooth.

The car suffers from road noise specially on the free way but I have upgraded the audio system which helps in blanketing the noise. Engine note is only apparent when revving at 2.5K and above that's with an aftermarket exhaust. I don't know how quiet it is with stock. The car cruises smoothly at 2.5K and below.

[XP02ED]

cant go wrong.. although the smoothness etc will relate to your cars springs/suspension and rims you are driving on. the car idles at about 1.8-2 when heating up after it goes to 0.8 which is quiet.

there is gearbox problems on 2nd which can be fixed by changing fluids or when driving for about 30 minutes.. mines alwais noisy coz i got my sunroof open ;D

[45SET]

DC5r's don't have sound deadening... so don't expect it to be quiet. Your likely to hear every rock hit the underside of the car.

Honestly... i don't see the points of these threads... you could read all the reveiws, be told by all the people on this forum... but YOUR the one that has to drive the car day in and day out. So your opinion is the only one that matters.

But hey... thats just my point of veiw.

[EL_DC5]

Go and test drive......

[Amusevtec]

IMO pretty good cruiser, if you want it to be

Good in traffic, pulls in low revs.

Your revs are pretty high on the highway and it's just a little bit noisy, but it's part of the experience.

In idle the engine is quiet, and driving it isn't really bad at all.

Clutch is easy to use, unless your weak

Only thing is the steering is a little heavy, (compared to a civic) but feels nice

[twofruitz]

How smooth/rough is the engine? Does it vibrate the car or is it fairly silky and quite? I find that its really smooth through the 2-5 rev range, but a little crazy when it hits vtec. I get alot of shudder during take off if the wheels dont grip properly, but a set of engine dampeners should fix that i guess :D

How is the suspension? Too stiff for poor roads? I have tein adjustable coilovers, provides a perfect ride.

Clutch, easy to drive? Very forgiving, but doesnt like being dropped at any rev.
Road noise? Nothing at all.
How is acceleration? If you can get any grip :) its good.
Traffic driving? Terrible, but its made for the hills, not city traffic jams.

[obsessionz]

If your worried about engine idle and noise engine is loud when you rev... dont buy this car go buy a bmw... the stock sussy isnt the best.. its good if you drive from a to b .. but if you take corners hard... get some decent coilovers and should be sweet! :thumbsup:

[m0nty ITR]

I think it's a matter of adjustment. When I bought my car just last month I thought it was bumpy and noisy. The steering felt twitchy and overall the car was very daunting to drive. I've had it 6 weeks and have now added coilovers, sway bars, strut bars, 17" wheels, CAI and exhaust. The car is noisier and bumpier than it was when I bought it but I love it. I look for excuses to go for a drive now.

I wouldn't have any other FF car in the world.

[m0nty ITR]

Road noise? Nothing at all.
How is acceleration? If you can get any grip :) its good.


Are you sure you drive an ITR? Road noise is chronic due to no sound deadening. Tyre noise on the 3 different sets of tyres I've had are loud. I haven't even driven with the RE55s yet. There's plenty of diff whine in all gears but I love that about the car. Noise shouldn't be a factor when buying an R. You look for those things to give it that race bred feeling.

I've never had an issue with traction. You actually have to slam gears very hard to axle tramp. When I first got the car I was changing into 2nd way to hard and the car would shuffle left whilst banging the tyres hard on the bitumen. It was just an adjustment of my driving style VTEC motors have very little torque so unless you're driving recklessly you should never have issues. Just make sure you don't scrimp on tyres or drive like a dick.

[spetz]

Thanks guys very helpfull :)

I'll take one for a test drive, but obviously a short test drive doesn't tell as much as owning the car and driving it daily. Also, considering I am buying second hand I don't wanna be going and joyriding other peoples cars just to see how it is


At the moment I am looking at JDM DC5R, RX8 Hi Power, 02 WRX or a brand new Euro Accord
I like the WRX for it's AWD turbo power (even though I much prefer evo, but price...)
I like the sleek and low look of the RX8, the enclosed surrounding interior
I love the DC5R for it's looks, for what it is, the K engine, and Type R heritage, but also like the comfort, practicality and looks of the Euro

Tough decission :(

[matt]

At the moment I am looking at JDM DC5R, RX8 Hi Power, 02 WRX or a brand new Euro Accord


i may be biased but id take the DC5R without question

[m0nty ITR]

i may be biased but id take the DC5R without question

You can't legally import a JDM DC5R for road registration.

[matt]

i am well aware of that, if im correct spetz doesnt live in australia.

[spetz]

Yeah not in Oz, and the only DC5Rs here are JDM
A lot of vehicles get imported from UK here as well (2nd hand) but I think UK never got the DC5R

I am also leaning towards DC5R simply due to brand loyalty, and the looks of a DC5R are just amazing, and I also think next to other Jap cars, Honda's grace the most gracefully

[matt]

thats right the UK never got the DC5 in any version, tho they are getting imported in pretty large numbers now, from Japan at least.

where are you from spetz, malaysia, singapore?

[spetz]

I'm from Cyprus
I live in Oz for 11 years I am back here and unsure whether it's permanent or just for a couple of years.
So, just in case, I want the option of being able to import my car to Oz

[spetz]

reading my other post above
I meant to write age more gracefully

[mugsee]

Euro type R? Best of both worlds.

[spetz]

Euro R
There is no new one

I found a Euro R but it's shape is not the same as the Euro Accord (similar however)

Either way, Euro R doesn't appeal to me
EP3 is another option but the look doesn't do it for me

[Amusevtec]

RX-8 High Power? Isn't that just the manual version?

[Amusevtec]

Are you sure you drive an ITR? Road noise is chronic due to no sound deadening. Tyre noise on the 3 different sets of tyres I've had are loud. I haven't even driven with the RE55s yet. There's plenty of diff whine in all gears but I love that about the car. Noise shouldn't be a factor when buying an R. You look for those things to give it that race bred feeling.

I've never had an issue with traction. You actually have to slam gears very hard to axle tramp. When I first got the car I was changing into 2nd way to hard and the car would shuffle left whilst banging the tyres hard on the bitumen. It was just an adjustment of my driving style VTEC motors have very little torque so unless you're driving recklessly you should never have issues. Just make sure you don't scrimp on tyres or drive like a dick.

I think he just has the base model

[45SET]

your in europe.

Get a Renult Clio with the V6 in the back... even the old school version would be awesome.

[spetz]

RX-8 High Power? Isn't that just the manual version?

No there's two motor variants here in manual form (both are 13B though)


And, somehow I don't really want a Renault...
I've considered A3 turbo, or Golf GTi as well. The new CTR cost the same as the 2L turbo A3 and the GTi. There is also a Seat Leon here which uses the GTi/A3 turbo motor with 240bhp
I saw an Airtrek (Outlander with Evo engine + drivetrain) but they are too expensive

[45SET]

Seat Leon Cupra Sport... OMG... get that :p

man seriously... if your planning on moving back to Australia... get something that NO ONE else is going to have.

We don't get many decent Euro's over here (we get Audi's and VW's)

but hey... a JDM DC5r is better then a AUDM DC5r

[spetz]

Well what I left out is that if I get the Euro it will be an autmatic 2L not the 2.4

You heard much about the Leon? They look quite nice, but I don't know much about it

As far as bringing a car to Oz, if I do bring one, it has to have a big aftermarket support for it
And to be honest from the options I have, I would only consider bringing the DC5R and then turbo'ing it or doing a 2.2/4 conversion to it

And, I personally think that in Oz, once you put some decent coilovers, and maybe swaybars into a DC5R, then all you need to work on is the engine, as the exterior/interior is great as is, brakes will be brembo. Of course some Works rims would be on the list too

[air23box]

JDM DC5R FTW bro....:thumbsup:

[spetz]

It's a hard decision...
The other day I saw a RX-8 with volk rims which was pretty damn hot...

The cars are second hand anyway so I guess a lot depends on which one I find first in the colour I want, price + condition

[45SET]

hmm... depends who you talk to.

I use to own a Seat Ibiza GTi (2L 8v) and sure... there wasn't as much support for parts as europe... but if you talked to the right people/shops, you could get what ever you wanted, for a decent price.

But i would stick to a VW or Audi option if you wanted one... S series and RS series of Audi's are still HELLA expensive over here.... not sure how they are over in Europe tho.

[m0nty ITR]

The Leon uses the 2.0FSI turbo so getting parts isn't an issue. They look great in Cup form too.

[didz]

Go and test drive......

Agreed.