10000 miles of ITS experience

[evanescent03]

I’d say the ITS is a street car that can be used on the track. As I implied earlier in the thread, this car is easier to drive close to the limit than my NSX. I haven’t had my ITS on a track yet, but in assertive street driving, it’s ready to dance. It’s certainly an entertaining daily driver.

super fun daily driver. I keep looking at autobahn cruisers (M8, M5, RS6) thinking “that would be such a good daily.” Those things offer a lot of power, features, luxury and flex, but I know I’d miss the FUN that is offered by the ITS.

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[Victorofhavoc]

Hey there! You seem to have a ton of experience and certainly more than I do. I do think it’s odd to say the its is closer to a track capable car than any Camaro, Vette, Mustang though. Putting it even with a 3RS is wild.

When you say track capable, do you mean from a reliability standpoint or from a braking/suspension setup or what?

If I were to take the ITS on track I would add some trackpads, fresh dot 4 fluid and some 200ish treadwear tires. If I decided to continue taking it, I’d put some better seats in the car and possibly a street-track alignment. Other cars have only needed those basic things as well. I’m just wondering what makes you think the ITS is so much more track capable than those other cars, bc I feel like it’s the same stuff. Genuinely curious what you’re looking at to put it at near 3RS level.

I’ve tried to take cars directly from the showroom to the track before and always found myself overheating the brakes and/or tires. Even on the GT4 and M3CS which I was hoping would stand up to the abuse. Of course some of the issues are me being hard on consumables (I am NOT a self proclaimed hot shoe.. I’m average at BEST but I do push hard and do my best to hustle around the circuit).

anyways - just hoping for clarification on the track capable stuff….

From a braking and alignment standpoint is kind of the start. The car has solid brakes that are (arguably) oversized for the platform, as are the tires. The alignment on the other hand is fairly sorted from factory, but it's capable of more camber (strut pins removed) and could do with a bit of toe 0 or toe out all around to make it even more tail happy.

The big thing to understand is that it's a 3200lb car on 265mm factory size tires. It can easily stuff a 285 and I bet with a bit of light work a 295 or 305. That's an insane amount of tire for the weight of this vehicle and something my z (pushing 297whp at 2850lbs with -3.8 camber and 8.8-8.9 castor) struggled to fit initially. The fact minimal mods can do it on the its is absolutely wild. A 285/30/18 in something proper high heat like a Hoosier, hoosinental, or other "200 tw" type tire would keep the front tire temp well in check. The car is also balanced well so that the front spring rate and brake setup work well to shift balance forward. I can lift the rear inside tire at almost every corner and the car rotates well enough that by the time the rear tires cross the apex threshold I'm already at full throttle. I even offered the car to an advanced driver when I rented out a track privately recently, and he surprised me with mid corner grip that I thought wasn't there. I'm not easily surprised by driving dynamics, but since he's a drifter he has a tendency to turn in later, harder, and get on gas much sooner to try and force rotation with a drift. In that one corner he pulled nearly 0.2G more peak than I did and made me go back out and drop another full 2 seconds off my time!!

I ran consistent 1.48s that day. You can check my history for the "back on track" thread to read more about it if you'd like. I don't hold back on the things I like and hate about the car... I've been fortunate to own and drive a lot of cool cars, mostly thanks to good friends and trusting instructees. My friend in his 830whp stang ran 1.52s. When I drove a 911gts (all stock except for brake pads), I ran 1.49s there on a similar day. A cayman gts I drove also ran 1.49s to 1.50s in slightly warmer weather at that track. My z (full on racecar... Cage, titanium spherical ball suspension, anti surge, baffled pan, full exhaust, intake, custom tune, fuel pump, fixed safety system, and 90% aero+) runs upper to mid 1.30s at that track. I am VERY motivated to chase my buddy down when he brings his Gt4rs out. I know I'm the faster driver, and that's the part that makes it really, really fun to chase down a faster car; it just makes you feel like a proper hero.

I'm not joking (or too insane) when I say it's a gt3rs good kind of car. My moderately modified gti was a hoot, and definitely made a lot of high power cars pucker when I turned in later, faster, and with one wheel a foot off the ground. People actively avoided talking to me at the track or hunt me down to ask about how much power it makes, especially a guy in a gt2rs that passed me, but only escaped me by a second. This car feels the same as my gti did, but a bit faster, much more steering feel, better shift feel, significantly better brake feel, and more tire.

Like you, outside of select p cars, I haven't found anything showroom ready. This car comes close, but I still swapped pads and fluid before going out. My brake/clutch fluid, however, was absolutely abysmal from factory. It looked 5 years old and it's downright insane acura or the dealer let it leave their hands in such poor condition. I would urge everyone to go out right now and check your fluids. The rest of the car did remarkably well!! I have not driven a vette or camaro to date that I haven't overheated the brake fluid, pads, tires, trans, and then engine on within 10 laps. The z06 vette I've gotten into limp mode in as little as 3 laps. The camaros almost always cook their brakes and trans within 6 laps.

The biggest heat thing I'm worried about in this car is the intake. It's the laziest and stupidest factory design I've ever seen. It despartely screams for "put a titanium pipe on me and wrap me in gold foil"... After of course wrapping the turbo with a blanket, lining the heat shield in gold, and spraying the heat shield with header ceramic.

 

[optronix]

If I said the ITS “isn’t a track car” then forgive me.

For me, the car isn’t a track car.

lol, you're forgiven.

Different strokes for different folks, but you have to expect a counterpoint with a take like that.

I'm not here to argue it's perfect either, in fact I'm pretty sure I just said earlier it's not to the point I'm gonna need another car to scratch my RWD itch... but let's call a spade a spade. The car is an absolute joy to drive on track, and "survives" track use better than 95% of other factory cars out there (I made that number up but the point is valid).

 

[evanescent03]

lol, you're forgiven.

Different strokes for different folks, but you have to expect a counterpoint with a take like that.

I'm not here to argue it's perfect either, in fact I'm pretty sure I just said earlier it's not to the point I'm gonna need another car to scratch my RWD itch... but let's call a spade a spade. The car is an absolute joy to drive on track, and "survives" track use better than 95% of other factory cars out there (I made that number up but the point is valid).

okay good… so I didn’t say it’s not a track car, just not a track car for me. lol.

I’ve seen some bizarre stuff being used as a track car/van(!) and this wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list for “I’d never do that”.

Your 95% number is conservative, it’s just not something manufacturers are giving us and Honda / Acura nailed it with these cars in so many ways.

 

[optronix]

okay good… so I didn’t say it’s not a track car, just not a track car for me. lol.

lol.

I think we agree for the most part. It's a great car, and the fact that it's half or less the price of some of these other cars we're talking about is icing on the cake.

And I do appreciate the Camaro, I'd just never own one.

 

[bvanlieu]

For the holidays, we had 10 days of travel so rented a car rather than put miles on ours. Snagged anAudi Q3, stock turbo 4 888 platform, lazy 8sp auto that wants to short shift.

Solid but boring vehicle to drive. My wife commented : is there a 6cyl available? its not fun (she has a X1 with the 3.0 as her daily, basically a lifted E91 3 series as a platform)

Jump back into the Type S when I get home...the platform, the nuances, aaaah this is why we drive. I forgot all about the lack seat memory and mirrors that don't automatically tip down

I do a fair amount of commuting in the car so 15K or so miles a year on it, and its done everything I have asked it to. So much so, I look back and wonder: where did those 10K miles go?

Thank you Honda.

 

[whtciv2k]

It’s not a track car tho. It is “track capable” but the ItS was clearly built for street/back roads.

 

[evanescent03]

Solid but boring vehicle to drive. My wife commented : is there a 6cyl available? its not fun (she has a X1 with the 3.0 as her daily, basically a lifted E91 3 series as a platform)

Jump back into the Type S when I get home...the platform, the nuances, aaaah this is why we drive. I forgot all about the lack seat memory and mirrors that don't automatically tip down


Thank you Honda.

X1 is actually a great car for the money … I had a 2019 … I think. The rear has a lot of space and it was quite fun to drive, felt rather light on its feet which is hard to find. Visibility was amazing out of it too. Seating position felt low for an “suv” which I liked but my wife disliked. Mine had the basic seats which were my only real gripe with the car. Was fast with the 2.8 but the torque made it pretty peppy. Prefer my ITS but X1 is up there for “budget” fun commuters with a ton of utility.

I’m wondering how many miles I will get on this car… feels like a keeper.

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