Thanks to Honda-tech, I found and purchased BlackDragon's (Jeff) Black '00 R this weekend. It's been a deal a month in the making, and this weekend's trip was amazing for more reasons than just getting the R.

My roommate and I headed from Arkansas to Kansas City on Thursday night - we were driving a BMW 328is that he was able to borrow for the weekend as part of a package he won in an auction. That car was nice, and quick - lots of torque. I even started wondering if I would be as happy with the R as I had been anticipating I would be. Months ago I'd considered getting an IS300. Plus, I had never driven an R, and barely even seen one. So anyway, we drive up to KC thursday night and see a show, Alien Ant Farm and Adema (and several other bands) in downtown KC and then spend the night there in KC at my ex-girlfriend's place. Had a great time and was really excited about seeing the R the next day.

Friday we headed for Omaha Nebraska where Jeff lives. Total drive time was less than 7 hours and it was cut short by my roommate driving way too fast in the 328, haha. We got to Jeff's place around 6pm, and as we came around the corner of his neighborhood, I saw the R. We parked and got out to check over the car. I don't know if anyone remembers his classified ad here on HT - but he wasn't kidding when he said this R was in perfect condition. I'll spare you all the details about just how sick he is about keeping his cars in pefect condition, haha, so lets just leave it at "perfect"! At that point Jeff came out and introduced himself, and gave me the key to check out the R (number 1214 BTW). I just still can't get over how new this car feels. Only 9600 miles on the odo (over 10K now), and it smells and looks brand new. We next took the car for a short drive and after tooling around the streets, taking it real easy, he notices that the temp is up and tells me to get on it. Wow... since I'd never driven an R, I didn't know what to expect. I had this grin on my face from ear to ear - just like he'd said I would. The other immediate thing I noticed was how planted the car was. My previous Integra (which I sold last week just in time) felt really tight, had aftermarket suspension, but just didn't feel planted like this. Definitely not planted as much while accelerating through corners. LSD owns. We came back and met Jeff's wife (very sweet and lovely BTW) and we all went out for dinner. My roommate and I drove the R, and they drove his new M-coupe. What a blast!

After dinner and drinks, we came back to Jeff's place, which they had invited us to stay at, and had some drinks and talked cars for several hours. Before I knew it, Jeff was offering up all sorts of booze I hadn't seen in a long time... hahaha! Needless to say the next morning I was a bit hung-over. I couldn't believe I felt sick on the very day I was getting the R, haha. Fortunately I quickly got over it and we decided to get some breakfast and go to the auto-parts store. We picked up an oil-filter and came back to Jeff's place where we proceeded to jack up the car and do an oil change with good 'ol Mobil 1. Jeff had taken such damn good care of this car, I almost felt bad taking it off his hands!

About 2 we snapped some more pics, I thanked Jeff about a dozen times, and then we headed out. The R had no problems keeping up with the 328 and over-powering it, of course. The trip back was quite long, and listening to 7 hours of the R&D Thermal exhaust droning got old real quick! On the trip back, I did several things the R had never seen. (don't freak, Jeff!) About half-way through the trip, I first removed the blue-jeans that had been in place of the floor mats, then I proceeded to get some choco-milk and a Mars bar from a gas station and ate them in the car while going down the road (I was careful!). Several hours later I drove the car through some rain, which was a first, and then another few hours later, I was forced to drive it over some gravel roads (slowly) and then finished the trip by gently spraying the car off at a (gasp) car-wash before my friends got to take a look at it. I'm still babying the car, but since it's my daily driver, I'm going to be forced to treat it more like one. And not only will I be treating it like a daily driver....

Sunday morning I got up about 6am and call my friends to tell them it's time to get ready. We were going to our clubs first Autocross of the season. I was really excited. I also had not told Bishop (also on HT.com) that I was getting the R, and had pretty much been lying to him for a month that I was getting an IS300. The look on his face as he walked up my driveway and saw the R sitting in the garage was priceless. He just kept saying "you motherf#$ker" over and over and laughing. It was great. Bishop and I met up with some friends that were taking a modded Civic EX and another friend with an SI. The four of us drove into Oklahoma were the auto-x was. We took highway-62, which anyone familiar with the Ozarks and east Oklahoma will tell you is an incredible drive. Extremely tight hair-pin turns creeping up a mountain. The R performed better than I could have imagined and we arrived at the auto-x right on time. Seeing that I myself have only seen one other R (yellow) in the area, it was no surprise that I turned a bunch of heads and had people constantly asking me if they could ride for a run on the course. I was cautious at first and immediately layed down a time that was 3 seconds under what my mental goal had been after seeing the first couple rounds. I then pushed it a little harder and shaved another 1 second, 2-1/2 seconds behind C5's and an M3. I had a lot of runs (doubled up classes) and learned a lot about how the car drove, but also learned that I still have a lot of learning and re-learning to do. It seemed the harder I tried to push the car, the worse I did. When I took it easy and finnesed it, I did my best. With only 7 or 8 auto-x's under my belt, it'd probably do me some good to get a little formal schooling before I set some bad habits.

Anyway - the autocross was a real treat, and the ride back was as well. I crashed (edit: fell asleep, haha) as soon as I got home, after a long and exciting weekend. I hope I didn't bore anyone with this long story (you didn't have to read it!) but I thought some ITR owner's out there might be able to take a trip down memory lane reading my first experiences while they were still fresh in my mind! In the months leading up to my purchase, I had a lot of debate about what to replace my 95 'teg with, and this forum is one of the main reasons I made the decision I did. And I don't regret it!











[Modified by uncleben, 7:18 PM 3/19/2002]

 

glad to see another HT member bought the car...congrats

oh yeah..since its gonna be daily driven, buy anything you can to deter theft

 

wow thats nice, that will soon be me.. hopefully in the next few days...

 

I know exactly how you felt with "the grin" when you got to open her up. I felt that exact same way when i got my 98 Type R about a month ago. A month and a day actually. Felt even better having her at the auto cross yesterday, which was my first auto cross ever, but definitely won't be my last Anyway good luck with your car and have fun, Ryan

 

Glad to see another HT member with an R.

 

that bought a tear to my eyes ppl !

congrats on the new car, lucky bastid......and good luck with it!

 

Dude congrats but dammit Jeff really kept that baby purdy. Try as I may I can't keep my FBP looking that pristine. But in my defense I use mine as a daily driver 2000 ITR #50 and I've run up 45k miles on her already in Miami traffic. Still first thing tommorrow I'm breaking out the car wash stuff and polishing and waxing until she's perfect or close. But again big props on getting her you'll love it but lose the R&D exh try something a little mellower your ears will thank you.

 

Congrats man....glad to see someone that deserves it got the car.

 

Nice story, nice pics!!!

It was great to meet you and Kiron and introduce you to the "world of R". I enjoyed getting ya` drunk and talking cars all night. I`m also glad to see you enjoy the "new" R as much as I enjoyed it. I think it was time for her to be driven like she was built for.
I`m also glad to read you didn`t tell everybody about me and the missus living out of her Jetta under the bridge smoking crack all day. Guess what we spent the money on?

Uuuummm....but about this eating in my....my.....your....R.....uuummm.....I think I`m gonna get sick.......choco-milk??!!....IN MY R??!!........your R.
Oh my god.
I`ll have to have Angie read this story, she`ll get a kick out of the food in my (your) R thing.

 

BTW, I`ve decided I can still use "my R" when talking about....well, my R, for one month starting today.

 

great story...there's no better feeling than right after the engine warms up and it's time to spank on the VTEC

 

nice car...just like mine excepte no tints or lowered tho...

btw..aem cai needed?

 

Congrats... take care of her.

 

LOL! I *knew* that might get under your skin a little! But I was extremely careful, didn't spill a drop! hahaha
So I was wondering, was that the first time the cup-holders had ever been used? It felt like it when it slid out, haha...

and you can keep calling it "my R" as long as you want, I'm still referring to my old teg that way! I think it's perfectly normal for people to get attached in that way... I know I did.

In response to a couple other posts, yes I already have a CAI, and to someone else, I forgot to mention above that I took off the R&D Thermal today and am running on the stock exhaust to see how I like it. It kind of takes away from the roar of the car, but my ears aren't ringing, so we'll see.

thanks everyone for all the kind words, I'm still trying to get used to the whole idea... hehe, actually, think I'll go take it for a spin right now (not literally)

cheers!

 

great story...glad you love the R

i know what you mean when you said you felt a little sick (although your sick and my sick may be different because you had a hang over) when you got the R...when i walked into the dealer to pay for the car i was white as ghost and felt sick to my stomach....the whole thing about dropping 25 k on a car made me feel a little sick...and also not being able to drive stick that well....but now im so happy that i have my R...i wouldnt trade it for anything in the world...its one of my most prized possesions....have fun with the new car

 

Your R is beautiful, props to her previous owner for keeping it like that.

 

Nice! Enjoy the R.
oh yea, the Car is really clean!

 

Your one lucky guy to have that R. Congrats on finally getting the R.

 

 

I can remember the early days with my R. I bought it without ever driving one, but I had a '94 GSR, so I sort of knew what I was getting into. After the odometer rolled over 1K I took it out and sprinted from 0-80 taking it to redline for the first time. I had a grin on my face for a week.

 

Yes, that is the first time the cup holders have ever been used.
Has anybody sat in the back seat yet? That would be a first also.

Angie laughed when i told her you ate in my R. Then she gave me a hug and said she`s sorry I had to sell the R to that mean ol` thug Ben.

 

lol nice story... glad to hear you got a kick *** R and hope you stick around and see you at some events some time. Your going to expo right ?

 

Good to hear the Black Dragon's steed went to a nice home. That car was immaculate. Too bad Jeff never got to try her on the AutoX or roadcourse himself.

Take good care of her uncleben.

-Todd (the former Yellow Dragon)

 

Welcome to R ownership, it's such a terrific car!

 

No f**king way that's a used car!

Damn the owner took real good care of it....I always hear from my friends how it's so hard to keep a black car clean.
to....er..both former/current owners.