How Does Driving Experience Compare?

[TO_FL5_CW]

Great. So you know what I’m talking about.

Or are you suggesting that the FL5 does better than the GRC in wet weather?

I pushed my GRC and had less confidence believe it or not. It wasn’t for me at all. I would drive my FL5 if I had to every day in the rain vs driving a Hertz rental corolla with awd

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[superporpoise]

No disrespect but none of the above are even close to driving FL5 on a rainy day for me.. I like it even better than MK7 Golf R I also had.

Have you owned an Elantra N? There's no appreciable difference in driving dynamics between both cars in the rain. On a sunny day the Type R is better — mostly down to the seats and manual gearbox.

 

[TO_FL5_CW]

Have you owned an Elantra N? There's no appreciable difference in driving dynamics between both cars in the rain. On a sunny day the Type R is better — mostly down to the seats and manual gearbox.

On any day type r is better and no I didn’t drive Elantra n since I drove much higher performance cars.

 

[superporpoise]

On any day type r is better and no I didn’t drive Elantra n since I drove much higher performance cars.

Funny I just got this exact sentence tattooed across my chest. My plan is to take my shirt off at car meets and sit on the hood of my Type R while my wife's boyfriend sits in the drivers seat and revs the shit out of the car until the coolant tank pops

 

[firstcar]

I pushed my GRC and had less confidence believe it or not. It wasn’t for me at all. I would drive my FL5 if I had to every day in the rain vs driving a Hertz rental corolla with awd

All of the cars in this class are more or less hopped up rental cars/Ubers, including the FL5.

“Confidence” is subjective. I'm pretty sure if we did lead-follow on a wet day, me in a GRC and you in an FL5, I could maintain a pace that would expose to you the less-than-perfect parts of the FL5 experience.

With that being said, I've spent good time with all of the options in this class and all of them are good and none of them are perfect (Elantra N, Golf R, GRC, FL5).

An AWD FL5 would actually be perfect.

 

[TO_FL5_CW]

It’s pointless, enjoy

 

[VarmintCong]

Dumb question, how does the driving experience compare in a type R versus a Porsche, a bmw M, or really any higher end sports car?

i know it’s a dumb question. But I have finally been able to kick around my type r cause the weather has gotten a bit better. Honestly, it’s amazing and a lot of fun! Just wish I could get the rear to come out (fwd problems). But this made me think, how much better can the driving experience get (within reason). Wanted to know what yall thought that also have nicer cars. Thanks!

Here you go, Type R going up against the best new cars of 2023. (EVO only allows new or updated models in Car of the Year, so the Type R was in 2017 and 2020.

Spoiler, it finished ahead of the Aston and Maserati, but behind the GT3 RS and Maclaren.

 

[VarmintCong]

Thanks!!!! I love these responses! Honestly, the question stemmed from me having so much fun in the type R. I started to think…should I aspire to buy another car later…like an M2. So getting all of this insight is pretty neat!!!! I appreciate it!!!!!

When you start comparing cars like the M2 Comp, or 911 or Type R, there's not a best car, just different experiences and tradeoffs.

 

[VarmintCong]

Try to take your type R to a track day, you'll find that it rotates really well for a fwd car.

It's never going to be rwd but for what it is, it's very special imo.

My buddy spun his Integra Type R at a track day we did, I think it was in the Pocono infield. So they definitely rotate.

 

[ThreeD]

I definitely have (significantly) more fun in some cars than others.

FL5 is a great car, until you bump up on the limits of the FWD. Then, it leaves you wanting more.

Fabulous nice-weather backroads car. You need to spend significantly more to get something sufficiently better for this specific purpose (Porsche GT and 992 Turbo/Turbo S products).

Anything low speed or in less than perfect weather, and the suddenly wheel-hopping, torque steering, understeering FL5 becomes a mildly frustrating experience. It's all good until this happens.

Crossing the limits in a RWD or RWD-biased AWD car is fun. Crossing the limits in a FWD car will have you thinking about whether to trade it in or sell privately.

totally agree

The FWD corner exit understeer is can be very frustrating especially in low grip situations and hopefully you didn’t forget to do the pedal dance because if you did you can’t disable vsa when moving, wtf, and no ebrake to neutralize the understeer

It’s a good sensible daily for me with good inputs, safe, Honda reliability, all the fancy new car stuff, and a warranty. It starts when I need it to and isn’t a total soul killer. It has its moments and can balance on edge but past that your options to pick your balance are limited due to the FF layout. That plus quiet engine leads to a clinical and one dimensional driving experience.

What do you think about golf R and GRC?

 

[Stan23]

I actually got the FL5 to replace my other daily (2015 S3 8V) it's a quick little car, but oversteers bad, and I had issues with the haldex AWD. It's a pretty primitive AWD system. I really wanted a Golf R 6MT, but I think the DSG gearbox is really good too.

 

[CTR]

To me it feels like any other FWD car with an LSD in the rain, but with more road noise. So... safe? Yes. Capable? Sure. Fun? Not really.

I also live in the PNW and daily my FL5. With proper tires the car is plenty of fun to drive when it's wet. I typically put it in Comfort mode in the rain to deaden the throttle a bit but I'd argue it's probably faster than most RWD and some AWD cars in the rain.

I'm running Continental DWS 06+ for reference. Great tires in the rain!

 

[polishedmetalctr]

Thanks!!!! I love these responses! Honestly, the question stemmed from me having so much fun in the type R. I started to think…should I aspire to buy another car later…like an M2. So getting all of this insight is pretty neat!!!! I appreciate it!!!!!

Go drive the M2... you will be shocked at how disconnected it is!

 

[VarmintCong]

Go drive the M2... you will be shocked at how disconnected it is!

Even something like a 2020 M2 Competition? It seems to get rave reviews.

From my experience with BMWs, especially recent ones, they feel better when driven hard, like on an autoX or track. The older ones (E46 etc) used to feel great even driving around town, while the new ones feel dead.

Most reviews are done on track or on amazing roads, skewing their perspective.

 

[polishedmetalctr]

Even something like a 2020 M2 Competition? It seems to get rave reviews.

From my experience with BMWs, especially recent ones, they feel better when driven hard, like on an autoX or track. The older ones (E46 etc) used to feel great even driving around town, while the new ones feel dead.

Most reviews are done on track or on amazing roads, skewing their perspective.

I was talking about the newest M2, the previous 2020 M2 comp was pretty awesome

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