So how come..........

[jackthelad]

I had a 2005 EP3 type R, bought it after I got rid of my mapped/track prepped 182..
first 2 weeks of ownership the bottom end started knocking, then when I replaced the engine with a used unit the timing chain stretched, followed shortly by a head gasket failure.

when the car was running correctly I didn't feel happy with the car, the vtec noise was good yes..but simple overtaking at normal speeds made you feel a bit of a cock with the loud revving it did lol.
handling wise it wasn't that bad...was a nice interior too.

but it didn't feel as quick as nimble as the 182, when I owned it I just wanted another clio so sold it and got my 197.

its pointless comparing it too a FN2 type R as there slower than the EP3. But for me it wasn't about the speed it was the overall package, and the Clio is far superior to the civic in my opinion and I wouldn't own another.
But it's each to there own I guess

 

[Mattb_197]

If you bought the Clio for speed then you might be a bit disappointed. It's fast enough to be fun when you factor in the great chassis and brakes but hell, some modern diesels can give it a good spanking especially if they are remapped. ~190bhp really isn't that much these days in the grand scheme of things and it's quite expensive to extract more power out of it and keep things N/A. That's why most go for a meg conversion as it's actually cheaper/easier.

I owned an EP3 Type R a few years ago that was tuned to around 245bhp. They are very quick capable cars when messed with, the engines are just far superior to the Clio for getting more power out of and the gearing on the box is set up pretty much perfectly to take advantage of the way it delivers the power.

The Clio's handling is far far superior though, that is why on a track they come into their own against quicker cars. A Clio 197/200 chassis with a Honda K20 engine would be mint, I think there's a lad on here attempting such a conversion at the moment!

The thing that let the Civic down for me was the ****ty steering rack, it just felt so artificial and didn't give much feedback. It handled well don't get me wrong but the feedback through the wheel was crap.

I almost got another but decided I didn't want to own the same car twice so ended up with a Clio 197 after test driving a few other things. While it's not quite as quick as my Civic it makes up for that in the handling/steering feel and in fairness, it's more than quick enough to put a smile on your face on some back roads. Which is what it's all about!