New Owner Observation / Stories

[TDC50]

Easiest manual transmission/ clutch combo I’ve ever driven. 1st gear is low so unless you are starting off uphill or you aggressively let out the clutch than almost no throttle needed to get moving

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[madbikes]

Hey new owners,

Congrats on your new purchase. I had a question for you all; might seem a little stupid but bear with me. My experience driving manuals is wholly in India, where my parents own a diesel hatchback, and most relatives have diesel cars too, due to diesel being cheaper than petrol back home and giving better gas mileage. Owing to the fact that diesel cars have higher torque which is available lower down in the rev range when compared to similar segment petrol cars, they start moving ahead when you let go of the clutch, without needing any throttle application. So my muscle memory of driving a manual is just modulating the clutch to get moving, with no throttle application. I drove a manual Mustang V8 here once, and because it had lots of torque, it was the same for that car (just modulating the clutch to get moving without requiring any throttle). I was wondering if the Type R had the same requirement to just get it moving. I can modulate the clutch just fine but whenever I have driven petrol hatchbacks in India (they are tiny ones with less than 100 HP and 100 lb ft torque), I have stalled them because of them needing the throttle as well. My guess is that with more than 300 lb ft of torque, the Type R shouldn't need the throttle like the Mustang to get moving. Could you let me know what has been your observation so far?

Regards,

Vivek.

Each car is different. The peak power has nothing to do with how easy it is to move the car by modulating the clutch alone (friction point)

The weight of the flywheel, final drive ratio and anti-stall are some of the factors that can affect how easy it is to move by friction point. My old car has half as much power than my FL5. Yet its anti-stall is so strong that I only use the friction point to start from a green light nearly all the time since it is very easy and fast. FL5 on the other hand is very slow to the point that an impatient person may honk at me. Both cars has similar gearing for 1st gear with about 100 pounds of difference.

 

[VPMotors]

Thanks for letting me know everyone. Sounds like I wouldn't need to make any drastic changes in how I am used to getting a car moving. Initial throttle modulation is where I have suffered with petrol cars, so it sounds reassuring that the FL5 would be easy to get off the line.

 

[Rhorn]

Hey new owners,

Congrats on your new purchase. I had a question for you all; might seem a little stupid but bear with me. My experience driving manuals is wholly in India, where my parents own a diesel hatchback, and most relatives have diesel cars too, due to diesel being cheaper than petrol back home and giving better gas mileage. Owing to the fact that diesel cars have higher torque which is available lower down in the rev range when compared to similar segment petrol cars, they start moving ahead when you let go of the clutch, without needing any throttle application. So my muscle memory of driving a manual is just modulating the clutch to get moving, with no throttle application. I drove a manual Mustang V8 here once, and because it had lots of torque, it was the same for that car (just modulating the clutch to get moving without requiring any throttle). I was wondering if the Type R had the same requirement to just get it moving. I can modulate the clutch just fine but whenever I have driven petrol hatchbacks in India (they are tiny ones with less than 100 HP and 100 lb ft torque), I have stalled them because of them needing the throttle as well. My guess is that with more than 300 lb ft of torque, the Type R shouldn't need the throttle like the Mustang to get moving. Could you let me know what has been your observation so far?

Regards,

Vivek.

Not really sure what you are trying to get at here, but it should be a bit easier. The clutch did take some time getting used to just because the catch point is far back. Idk if its a Honda thing or what but it did take some adjusting to. My old car (Scion tC) was a manual and the shift point was nearly identical to the one in my Mustang so I didnt have any issues driving around when it was new.

The Mustang is definitely a bit "harder" to 'creep up' just because it will need more throttle otherwise it will stall. I noticed this difference with my tC. Not sure if it has to do with overall mass or a V8 vs a I-4 thing but the CTR is "easier" to 'creep up.' And when I say creep up I mean to make small minute moves forward. With the Mustang the engine doesn't like being around 1k RPMs so I always just give it more gas if Im really trying to make a small movement, like being stuck in traffic where you barely move. With the CTR the RPMs don't drop so fast so I can be pretty liberal with the throttle when I inch up, it was just a bit awkward because I wasn't used to the higher clutch catch point.

 

[VPMotors]

Not really sure what you are trying to get at here, but it should be a bit easier. The clutch did take some time getting used to just because the catch point is far back. Idk if its a Honda thing or what but it did take some adjusting to. My old car (Scion tC) was a manual and the shift point was nearly identical to the one in my Mustang so I didnt have any issues driving around when it was new.

The Mustang is definitely a bit "harder" to 'creep up' just because it will need more throttle otherwise it will stall. I noticed this difference with my tC. Not sure if it has to do with overall mass or a V8 vs a I-4 thing but the CTR is "easier" to 'creep up.' And when I say creep up I mean to make small minute moves forward. With the Mustang the engine doesn't like being around 1k RPMs so I always just give it more gas if Im really trying to make a small movement, like being stuck in traffic where you barely move. With the CTR the RPMs don't drop so fast so I can be pretty liberal with the throttle when I inch up, it was just a bit awkward because I wasn't used to the higher clutch catch point.

Thanks for the explanation; I meant to say that to get a diesel car moving back home I never had to give it any throttle in traffic, unless I was starting uphill. I never used the throttle to creep up in traffic. Just slowly leave the clutch and the car would start moving ahead comfortably. With petrol cars, I had to press the throttle pedal as well; not doing so would stall the car. I don't really mind different clutch "bite points"; it's just that when I need to give throttle to get a petrol car to move, I either end up giving too much throttle and cause wheelspin or give too less and cause stalling. For additional context, these cars I am referring to are much less powerful than what we see in the US. For example, the diesel I drive back home is 75 HP, 200 Nm (147 lb ft) torque. Even the petrol cars I stalled were like 65 to 90 HP, around 100 lb ft of torque. I always thought it happened with all petrol cars but when I drove a Mustang (2019 V8) here all it needed was letting go of the clutch slowly to get it to move, so I thought that maybe because the V8 has so much torque it didn't need the throttle to get it to move off the line. Just was wondering whether it was the same for the CTR and looks like it would be, just a higher bite point for the clutch.

 

[Robert.C]

Thanks for the explanation; I meant to say that to get a diesel car moving back home I never had to give it any throttle in traffic, unless I was starting uphill. I never used the throttle to creep up in traffic. Just slowly leave the clutch and the car would start moving ahead comfortably. With petrol cars, I had to press the throttle pedal as well; not doing so would stall the car. I don't really mind different clutch "bite points"; it's just that when I need to give throttle to get a petrol car to move, I either end up giving too much throttle and cause wheelspin or give too less and cause stalling. For additional context, these cars I am referring to are much less powerful than what we see in the US. For example, the diesel I drive back home is 75 HP, 200 Nm (147 lb ft) torque. Even the petrol cars I stalled were like 65 to 90 HP, around 100 lb ft of torque. I always thought it happened with all petrol cars but when I drove a Mustang (2019 V8) here all it needed was letting go of the clutch slowly to get it to move, so I thought that maybe because the V8 has so much torque it didn't need the throttle to get it to move off the line. Just was wondering whether it was the same for the CTR and looks like it would be, just a higher bite point for the clutch.

Vivek, on flat ground, you’ll likely be able to use the clutch by itself, as you’re accustomed to. I can do this in my S2000, which has far less torque (I don’t use this technique, but I can). However, if you’re on an incline, you’ll likely need to apply throttle to compensate for the load being put on the car (and clutch).

Having been to India, and driven on its roads (as a passenger), I can’t imagine how fast the CTR will feel for you! I don’t think I ever exceeded 50mph the entire time I was there. Haha

 

[CTR]

You will need to give it throttle but it's a pretty easy manual car to drive. My wife didn't stall it and she hasn't driven a manual in like 8 years!

 

[VPMotors]

Vivek, on flat ground, you’ll likely be able to use the clutch by itself, as you’re accustomed to. I can do this in my S2000, which has far less torque (I don’t use this technique, but I can). However, if you’re on an incline, you’ll likely need to apply throttle to compensate for the load being put on the car (and clutch).

Having been to India, and driven on its roads (as a passenger), I can’t imagine how fast the CTR will feel for you! I don’t think I ever exceeded 50mph the entire time I was there. Haha

Thanks for your input. Driving in a city in India is a different ball game altogether as you may have noticed haha. We have great highways too though; the CTR would definitely get speeding tickets there as we have speed cameras galore! Back on topic I feel more comfortable just using the clutch so that is good news.

 

[VPMotors]

You will need to give it throttle but it's a pretty easy manual car to drive. My wife didn't stall it and she hasn't driven a manual in like 8 years!

Let's hope it is! That's pretty reassuring to know that your wife could drive it without stalling! It hasn't been that long for me but I'm a bit rusty when it comes to smoothly launching petrols; give me a diesel and I can be the smoothest driver you've ever seen haha. CTR would be a good learning experience for me I guess; the goal is to launch as smoothly as possible without any sudden jerks.

 

[s2kdriver80]

If it's any comfort, I took a friend with me to the dealer to pick up my brand new 2000 EM1 Civic Si so he could drive it back home for me. He taught me how to drive manual within 15 minutes later that day, and I was able to drive the car smoothly within a couple of days. You'll be fine since you already know how to drive manuals.

 

[VPMotors]

If it's any comfort, I took a friend with me to the dealer to pick up my brand new 2000 EM1 Civic Si so he could drive it back home for me. He taught me how to drive manual within 15 minutes later that day, and I was able to drive the car smoothly within a couple of days. You'll be fine since you already know how to drive manuals.

Would be driving it from the dealership to my place which is about 90 miles; should get used to the car in that time hopefully.

 

[s2kdriver80]

Would be driving it from the dealership to my place which is about 90 miles; should get used to the car in that time hopefully.

Yea and I'm assuming most of it is highway, so it should be a low-stress drive home.

 

[spectre186]

Question for owners with the CF wing, how is the rear visibility compared to the stock wing?

 

[thecaper]

Does anyone else think the alcantara is of higher quality in the FL5 than in the FK8? It seems to be much softer and premium feeling to me. Am I just imagining this?

 

[M!!!]

Adding a negative to my otherwise glowing impression on the FL5:

the rear camera is rather crappy, low resolution and the view is too fish-bowly

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