Originally Posted by
slipangle
I can't speak for anyone else, but I think the reason why there seems to be so much emotion about this new CTR is that a lot of ppl have invested a lot of their goodwill in to Type R which has been borne about by an appreciation for cars such as the DC2R (and maybe to a lesser extent, the AU DC5R (but that's a whole can of worms there)). When Honda no longer delivers on something we've invested in in the past (both emotionally and financially), then we feel betrayed that our beliefs can be so easily dismissed for the sake of what Honda believes will bolster their bottom line by raking in more of the masses.
So what is it about Type R which manages to evoke such emotion and a faithful following that makes this new CTR so grating for people like me?. Well, when I sit back and think about the amount of effort that Honda had put in to the DC2R, and I mean the minute detail things, I can see that a bunch of Honda people really devoted a LOT of thought and effort in to feel, performance, and dynamic factors that are most likely irrelevant to 90% of drivers. I like that a lot. It's the same reason why Rolex makes diver's watches that can go to depths that most people wouldn't even dream to venture. Conversely, the new CTR instead places a LOT of thought and effort into compromising a package to suit the 90% of drivers who couldn't give two tosses as to why the car is not fitted with an LSD.
What does that tell me about Honda being an exceptional company full of clever engineers? (or so the advertising goes). They may well have had their best brains work on this CTR, but the end result smacks you in the face that the engineers just conceded to the bean counters and the PR men who think they can sell this car off spin and advertising, and the red H...cos... no one really cares whether it's faster, or lighter or cleverer than the last one, so long as we can get enough people to think they're sharing something with Jenson Button through marketing words and pictures, we'll make a mint!.
I'm more of the opinion that if Honda can win me over with technical accomplishment, then they can have my money, and all the money from people who will look at what they've created with a respect from a technical accomplishment viewpoint as opposed to just applying engineering in the fields of marketing and advertising to appeal to those that would be impressed by red starter buttons instead of (in my opinion) more impressive things like moving the gearlever's centre of mass back and downwards for mass centralisation and reducing the CoG.
In the past (as Honda Japan does now), we see a whole load of technical data and detail describing what changes they've made and how and why. I don't see any of these sort of details with the new UK CTR. Is it because they don't see that boasting about saving money with a torsion beam rear setup and the omission of an LSD cos "they can get away with it" would make very good text?.
I think if we just sit back and say, aww...ok, we should just be thankful that we get anything at all, we end up getting what we settle for. i.e. mediocrity. I won't buy in to that. We know Honda can do better. It's just that we can't get our hands on it...
