3 Heroic Hondas We Must Protect From Ricers
You'll remember this week we posted an article called 6 Reasons Why Everyone Hates On Hondas. This has proven to be one of CT's most controversial pieces and we've loved reading all the comments; from the sublime to the ridiculous.
While the debate still rages on, I think we're all agreed that it's the countless ricer owners who give Hondas a bad name, not vice versa. The terms 'fart cans', 'stupid wings', 'hella flush' and 'dickhead schoolboy racers' have been used more times than we can count, not to mention the now venerable phrase VTEC kicked in yo!
With this in mind, we thought it only fair to explore the 3 cars from Honda's repertoire that we'd love to own. If you're a Honda ricer however, get back to your fart cans and don't even think about buying these icons. We will find you and we will hurt you.
1. Honda NSX
The Honda NSX is a hero car. Fact. It's mid-engined, rear-drive and powered by an almighty 3.0-litre V6 engine with, you guessed it, VTEC, yo!
Designed by Honda as a more powerful, cheaper-to-buy and more reliable alternative to a Ferrari, the NSX was also the first production car to feature a lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body. Performance was epic: thanks to the V6's 280bhp, the NSX was good for a 0-60mph sprint time of around 5.2sec, before hitting its 170mph top speed.
The NSX was popular with the Japanese police forceNaturally then, the super Honda quickly found favour with a new breed of buyer looking for something a little more exotic. And the same applies to today's discerning buyer. Mention the name NSX and we all go weak at the knees; this probably explains why you'll need upwards of £30k to buy a 1995 model today.
Yes Gil, we all remember the NSX...
2. Honda Integra Type R
Ahhh, the Teg Type-R. A true Honda hero and a car that instantly transformed an otherwise boring car maker into everyone's new favourite brand. The Intergra Type-R was - still is - one of the best sports cars you can buy. Its 187bhp VTEC-powered 1.8-litre would scream its way to 8400rpm and the engine was perfectly matched to a balanced chassis that would take more hell from its driver than Kimi's F1 car.
The Teg isn't an overly pretty thing to look at (nor is it particularly comfortable to drive), but ugly it is not. Best left unriced, early 1996 Tegs fetch upwards of £3000.
3. Honda S2000
Made as a 50th birthday present to itself, Honda struck hero gold with the S2k. And not only because the S2000 boasted the highest horsepower per litre record for a production car, at 118.5bhp (237bhp in total). Its record would only be taken away from the S2000 some years later by the Ferrari 458, which produced 123.78bhp per litre from its highly strung 557bhp 4.5-litre V8.
The S2k roadster was a thing of beauty and quickly cemented its position as the driving purist's choice of car. Performance was impressive (150mph top speed and 0-62mph time of just 6.2sec) but it was the 2.0-litre VTEC's colossal 9000rpm redline figure that astonished the motoring world.
Despite its appearance in The Fast And The Furious and despite the fact that you can now pick up this Honda hero for £4000, the S2000 hasn't - as far as we know - been hit by the wrath of the ricer. Long may this continue!
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