Making this car more raw?

[jtlctr]

Agree with what you have done so far, well I don't have a tune so won't comment on that but IMO an intake is the best thing for this car, it makes fun noises for a cheap price (PRL). RMM I am with you imo a waste of money. People swear on this but all it has introduced to me is NVH, I don't launch the car though so maybe a difference experience for others but on track I see zero difference.
Acuity shifter I am considering as a future upgrade myself. The honda shifter is already excellent but there is definitely room for improvement, easy to install and not that expensive.

I am going to be installing H&R springs soon. Really just for looks but coilovers is the way to go always I just don't want to spend the money and the time dialing them. Hope the springs don't ruin anything since the car is excellent as is.

Another thing that maybe would not count towards rawness is the integra type S ADM (or can get the fancy DCS as well), it lets you drive the car in +R which adds some rawness, without it +R is in my opinion undrivable.


Exhaust does add another layer, more feedback and its pretty fun. Unlike some cars on this one I would not put it on the top of my list. I am glad I have it but was not as good of an upgrade as the intake.

Yeah, the RMM didn’t make a very noticeable difference to me either. I did it because it made a huge difference in previous cars I’ve owned, but I didn’t have an issue with the stock one on the FL5.

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[MooMoo]

Yeah, the RMM didn’t make a very noticeable difference to me either. I did it because it made a huge difference in previous cars I’ve owned, but I didn’t have an issue with the stock one on the FL5.

honestly think people just overhyped it to justify their purchase.

 

[Jack90210]

Be careful with the anti lift kit, I ran the power flex one on my old 24 civic sport and they can get unbearably squeaky once the lubrication dries up. The drive feel however, is a lot better

I've been wondering about this, it'll be a testbed for other poly bushings. As I said above I'm going for more feedback through the wheel and the seat, and usually the first step is to remove the "give" at the rubber bushings. I don't mind a firm ride but I don't want squeaks! Appreciate the heads-up.

As it is now the car compares favorably to my stock, low-mileage E92 335i (N54) as I go back and forth between the two. I'll be setting that up as a summer/track attack car with bushing upgrades front and rear, including solid rear subframe bushings and spherical control-arm bushings up front. Neither car needs more power at the moment (I have a modded/tuned Macan Turbo that scratches that itch).

Looking forward to following up in this thread.

 

[Cueyo]

Did you do the LCA bushings, too?

Yes I did

 

[Blindeye_03]

Yeah, the RMM didn’t make a very noticeable difference to me either. I did it because it made a huge difference in previous cars I’ve owned, but I didn’t have an issue with the stock one on the FL5.

I am glad I am not taking crazy pills - I could tell a pretty significant difference when I had the PRL RMM installed on my FK8. Then I did the same to my FL5 and I can barely tell its there.

 

[cryptolime]

I am glad I am not taking crazy pills - I could tell a pretty significant difference when I had the PRL RMM installed on my FK8. Then I did the same to my FL5 and I can barely tell its there.

the OEM mount is probably stiff enough. The Si one has a noticeable amount of slop.

 

[ctechauto]

The PRL RMM is about 10% stiffer but 100% more noisey and rattly

 

[T41WN.1]

The PRL RMM is about 10% stiffer but 100% more noisey and rattly

Thank god I stumbled on this thread.

Was gonna cop myself a PRL RMM but hearing the honesty from other owners who have installed it, I think I'd rather save myself a couple hundred bucks and use it on petrol

 

[Blindeye_03]

the OEM mount is probably stiff enough. The Si one has a noticeable amount of slop.

I am genuinely curious if the OEM FL5 mount is stiffer than the one in the FK8.

I may end up finding whatever is slightly stiffer than the PRL RMM and replacing it at some point. I dont mind some NVH - but I dont feel like I am getting any NVH from it lol.

 

[AspecR]

I am genuinely curious if the OEM FL5 mount is stiffer than the one in the FK8.

I may end up finding whatever is slightly stiffer than the PRL RMM and replacing it at some point. I dont mind some NVH - but I dont feel like I am getting any NVH from it lol.

Don't waste your time with the stock mounts

 

[jtlctr]

I imagine the stiffer mount comes more into play during wheel spin. Now that I have a tune, I may swap the stock mount back in and see how bad the wheel hop is.

 

[atlcivic]

I definitely felt the engine rubber banding between shifts with the stock mount and couldn’t stand that feeling. I have the wunderladen rmm now and it definitely fixed most of it. I must be old though bc I do feel the slight chatter and resonance at idle and low rpms and am now getting annoyed with it, even though it is subtle. That being said, I may go back and try the stock mount again, or throw more money into the car by installing rigid collars and performance dampers, and some sound deadening in the trunk to see if that resolves it.

 

[Shankmeyster]

Sounds like you need a custom tune to get power delivery where you want it to be.

 

[lilDumpsterRat]

I think the hype train does things to people's imaginations for these cars where they really do think they're going to step into a 4 door Elise.

As someone who came into this car from a history of past "high end sports cars", I'll tell anyone reading this right now what this car is not- it's not a good primary choice for a "fun car". If 4 doors and a manual transmission were not hard requirements, I would not be driving this car... and as soon as the funds free up I'll be buying another Porsche/Emira/McLaren/etc.

So when I see folks come in here with a stable full of other fun cars expecting to add to the list of cars they want to tear through the mountains with, I know I'm most likely looking at a transient member of these forums.

If the expectation shifts to a "do-it-all" car that can be a kid/dog taxi and grocery getter as well as it can be a genuine sports car, now you're in this car's sweet spot. It's not the best at either.

Best way I can explain my individual situation without breaking into full dissertation-mode- I needed something like this because I just couldn't justify having both a 911 AND an S4 like I did at one point... I tried with an RS5 and it didn't work. It does with my DE5... but also I do still occasionally get in it and think things like "wouldn't it be nice if I could put the top down and hear a glorious flat 6". It is "special" for what it is, but it doesn't truly compare to the pantheon of high end sports cars- on really any level if we're getting serious. If you have any sort of expectations beyond that you will almost surely be disappointed.

Hope that helps someone in the future avoid spending all the time looking for a car with no ADM just to turn around and list it for sale in 2 weeks...

everything is subjective when we're talking about feelings, but I dont agree that it cant compare to high end cars. To me, It does in the sense that it is a pleasure to drive, more so than some exotics. my comparisons are limited, but to me the feeling is much better than a Huracan anywhere, the huracan is an aboslutely brutish beast of a car, glorious sounds, but actual fun through corners and mountains? type R feels better, more honest, more connected to you, more controllable in a concentrated way that transcends the abysmal engine and exhaust note of the type r. That says a lot, to enjoy driving a car so much that even if it sounds sorta ass you still enjoy it more. I dont think the fl5 sounds good at all, yet, everytime id get out of the huracan for a week id always chuckle about how i wanted to get back in my type r because it was just more fun everywhere, on the road putting around, and in spirited driving.

even a 991 GT3, to me the gold standard. I wouldnt say the type R feels better, but I wouldnt say it feels worse at all in any way, just different. still very fun to drive. Honestly when i got back into the type R after a bunch of laps in the GT3, I was blown away that the type R was still almost as much fun, and in some ways more fun, because it has a certain scapel like sharpness to its handling that is uniquely japanese.

So i think it does hold up against cars that cost 3X what it does, not so much in raw numbers on paper, but in the way it feels. I think you need to take your de5 and push it harder, the way it feels above 90 mph pushing into corners is very unique, and puts it up there satisfaction wise with the big boys imo.

 

[Unity Performance]

If the PRL RMM hasn’t lived up to expectations on the 2.0T, give Wunderladen Street or COBB a try. I say 2.0T specifically because we’ve had the PRL unit for over a year on our 1.5T FL1, and it’s a great improvement.

On my FK8 prior to my FL5, switching from PRL after 6 months to Wunderladen Street made an immediate difference - reduced NVH and better performance at the same time. I perfected the same launch that I couldn’t get on the car before with the PRL RMM, and the 1-2 shift felt way more controlled.

As soon as I got the FL5 new in August I could feel the slop with the stock RMM - no need to launch the car to verify that, even on/off throttle in day to day driving conditions you can feel the lurch/jerk. Switched up to Wunderladen Street since it was that good in the FK8, and immediately the jerking is gone. There’s minimal NVH. I’m also going to try COBB next and see how they compares to Wunderladen.

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