Honda Car Forum

I am looking to buy one of the above cars. Does anyone have any suggestion on which one to go for. I fancy the Type R personally as it appears best for reliability, performance and sheer fun factor, however I do like the styling and interior of the celica 190. The Focus is by far the cheapest, has the best handling (so I am led to believe), is the easiest to locate and I would suspect the easiest and cheapest to repair. The Focus and Celica wont touch the Type R on performance (0-60 = 7.9, 7.4, 6.4 respectively), however a car is much more than straight line speed. I have heard that you really have to thrash the nuts of the Civic to get it to do anything due to a lack of torque. I believe that this may also be the case for the Toyota as well. I still cannot make my mind up and would appreciate any comments people may have regarding these three (especially if you have owned or driven one yourself).Cheers

They are all good cars, however all have very different traits as you suggest. I personally would go for the Civic Type R as it is pound for pound the best performer and also looks the sharpest. It will probably be the most reliable, however will cost more to repair than the other two (certainly than the Ford). I have driven the Honda and Ford and the Honda definately wins. I have not had the pleasure of driving the Toyota yet so cannot comment.You get more for your money luxury wise with the Toyota and Ford, however if you want luxury dont go for a sports car like the Honda. Yes you do have to use the gears and give the Honda a good workout and that is what is fun about it. It is a real drivers car!!!

The focus has a great chassis but on the road is outclassed by the other two on sheer performance. The gearing on the ST170 is wayyyy to long.The celica is the best looking of the three and in the middle performance wise. But needs to be revved even more so than the type-r due to the smaller power band. (my sis has the corrolla with the 190 engine).Honda has decent build quality, faster than the other two, straight or bends especially on track. But has slightly less feedback than the other two and slightly harsher over bumps too whilst pottering around town, which is where you'll probably spend 99% of your time.Why don't you get a Honda Integra Type-R? They are just as quick as a civic, look better, Handle a whole lot better and give a massive grin factor!!! and all for a similar price. You even get better build quality than the rest of them too. Theres a big following for these online so you'll have no problems getting parts.

The Ford Focus is the easiest to repair because you will have to repair it quite often. The Honda and Toyota are by far superior performance vehciles. I have driven the Civic and the Toyota, they are equally excellent but very different in their own respects. But please, just say no to Ford.

Depends on what you want really.You're absolutely right in that, ironically, the slowest car (focus) is by far and away the best handling. Despite being the slowest, it's actually the easiest car to live with of the three, the 2 litre engine may not be as powerful as the other two, and may not be as economical, but it has a good torque spread, and anyone thats driven a type R or a toyota 190 will know first hand that to get them to go quickly, you need to rev the knackers out of them. However, lets face it, the ST170 is a bit chavvy.The Type R is a bit of a performance bargain, but the engine really needs working, and the steering is insanely numb, drivers often complain about the front wandering about and they can't feel whats going on.However, I'd buy the toyota, it's the only one of the three that feels special when you get in it. The wide back seats are first class and the low slung driving position and high flanks make it feel like more of a sportscar. You do have to rev the nuts off it, but unlike the civic, when just cruising round it's near silent, and motorway cruising is very refined (the civic sounds like a stuck in a wind tunnel).And for me, the Celica still looks much better than the other two. Personally, I'd be looking for one in Red with the Premium packs 17 inch polished alloys.Also, if you find yourself with about £3k lying about, TRD do a bolt on supercharger upgrade which retains the warranty.