07-17-2004, 07:50 PM
MichaelJComputer Wrote:It does not make business sense to cater to the enthusiast market.
Please. Both the STi and Evo are homologated specials in much the same vane as the Type-R vehicles and they're sold here. What's more is that neither Mitsubishi nor Subaru has the financial resources that Honda has yet they were able to bring their special cars at a reasonable price. On top of that, import tariffs on cars coming from Europe are higher than those coming from England (where the Civic Type-R is made).
There is more to the lack of R's than just business sense. It makes less sense to continue to sell the NSX here yet they do it. Somehow the bean counters at American Honda have gotten the upper hand over the enthusiasts. I'm sure the numbers have something to do with it but I think arrogance and stupidity are equally to blame.
The King Motorsports Civic in my opinion, is weak. They put the thing on a dyno and it was only able to muster the same hp at the wheels as the stock engine. Also, with 240 crank hp I'd like to think it'd be more than .2 seconds quicker to 60 than the RSX-S. To tell the truth I haven't been impressed with any of the Mugen project cars of late. When Car and driver tested the Mugen S2000 it put on a similarly gperformance.