Car News in Japan recently test drove some of the newly arriving CTRs from Britian. They also took it on a handling course. Which they said it was abit like the old CTR but didn't have quite the kick into vtec like the old did and the front seem to understeer abit but what was noticeable was body roll. They said this be ok for city and country driving but not track driving as you notice rolling body alot more which puts the car off balance feeling. CTR shares the plateform for the new Integra Type R as well and engine that has only 5ps's less. They also said the new CTR is 20kilos heavier then the last yr model and it's noticable in quick run abouts. They also said there was some brake fadding after running some laps on a 12 corner track. They said the dash board shifter actually falls easy at hand and shifts even smoother then the new ITR 6 speed.

But one thing they talked about is powersteering breakaway and oil preasure pump inside the power steering was different on the CTR compared to new ITR and it was done this way as it's part of getting the new ITR suiteable for crash testing stds for exporting the ITR to the US.

Differences of UK CTR and JDM CTR:
The JDM CTR has a Union Jack flag emblem on the back of the hatch to show it's a Brit CTR...the UKspec verison doesn't have this.

The JDM CTR carries red recaro's which are the same as seen in the Accord Type R in the UK but only in black. The UK spec CTR has black recaros which are same recaros used in Subaru STi verison 6 models only in black with red stiching and Type R embroided on the head rest.

JDM CTR has 11.5 to 1 comp. ratio and the UK spec CTR has 11.0 to 1 comp ratio.
The JDM CTR makes 212bhp and the UKspec CTR reports only 197bhp but reports say it more likely 205bhp according to what some tuners have reported. The decrease in hp is more then likely to meet the lower emissions in the UK and also lower octane stds in the UK.

The only difference in gear ratios is in 4-5-6th gears as there slightly shorter gear ratios as top speed is not as big of deal in Japan with limitors inforced on the CTRs. Though the UKspec CTR is said to driven to 147mph topspeed.

The only only other difference is the JDM CTR has 11% stiffer front springs and dampers stiffer rates increased front 19% and rear 27%. The difference is because the Japanese have alot smoother and newer roads then in Europe which has roads alot like the US in the cities.

They said if you see it you would notice it, mostly because of it's rounded look and how tall it looks almost like the more boxy city type cars.

Heres some pics:

 

Marvelous!

 

Looks pretty good to me!

 

I´m gona try to get some pics and a booklet when it arrives at the local dealership.. cant wait to see it in real person!

 

That make no sense at all. Shouldnt the UKDM have the Brit flag to show its UKDM? Why does the JDM have the Union Jack to show that its UKDM? That makes no sense

 

I hate the looks of it. Nice Honda focus-minivan.

 

Actually the reason the union jack was placed on it was to show it was made in britain and also separate it from the UK verisons. If you goto the Japanese CTR website you will see the flag all over place and Honda asked for the flag to show it was made at there new plant in the UK...and show how pround they are of it..as well. Not sure is people know this or not but you actually see alot of Euro cars in Japan being sold mostly because Japanese tend like to have something different and not look the same. I don't know if your remember this or not but the Accord Type R was first made for the europe only. But Japanese finally wanted it seeing it in touring cars and such so they brought version over and it's called the Euro Type R or Euro R for short. The main reason for attaching the name too it like that was because the Japanese like to have euro type cars. Some good tuners for Alfa Romeros and Austins are in Japan.