Pravin's Honda Accord Euro R

In an ideal petrolhead world, we’d have a garage full of vehicles serving different purposes. A comfortable luxury sedan to commute in, a powerful sports car to enjoy on the weekends, a station wagon to ferry the family around in… and the list continues.

Amongst fellow petrolheads overseas, topics such as ‘the perfect two-car garage’ or ‘weekend toys’ frequently surface; topics that are virtually unheard of in our little red dot. Having the luxury of space allows them the best of both worlds – a practical car for daily driving, and a fun car for leisure or spirited driving.

The combination of land scarcity and a dense population have led to Singapore implementing its exorbitant vehicle tax structure. As much as this is necessary, it’s made the environment anything but conducive for petrolheads to fulfil their passion. Due to these restrictions, cars like the Suzuki Swift Sport, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Subaru WRX are in great demand, offering driving fun in a practical package.

In this edition of Owners' Rides, we feature Pravin and his perfect all-rounder sport sedan, fitted with street legal POTENZA RE-71RS circuit driving tyres. Initially, Pravin’s plan was to upgrade his family’s regular Honda Civic to one bearing Honda’s famed red badge – the Civic Type R. But as luck would have it, research on his planned purchase revealed this instead, the Accord Euro R.

Designed as a more subtle, grown up version of the hardcore Civic Type R, the Accord Euro R appears visually similar to the regular Accord of the same era. To Honda anoraks, select clues identify it as something special – a honeycomb grille, twin exhaust tips, and ‘Euro R’ badging. Inside, a MOMO steering wheel, supportive Recaro seats, and all-red dials confirmed that this indeed was not your regular Accord.

Pravin’s Honda Accord Euro R is a seventh-generation ‘CL7’ model. Fitted with a variant of the Civic Type R’s ‘K20A’ engine, the high-revving 2.0-litre engine is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission with a limited-slip differential.

Since day one, Pravin’s focus has always been on improving the handling of the Accord. There’s no better way to start than to reduce the car’s unsprung weight, generally understood as weight that isn’t suspended on a car’s suspension system. This includes the wheels, tyres, and hubs, and affects how hard suspension components need to work.

Pravin is no stranger to our POTENZA range of performance tyres, having previously used the POTENZA Adrenalin RE003 and POTENZA RE070. Safety and handling are the two most important attributes he looks out for, and he believes in the importance of investing in a good set of tyres. “I only buy tyres that I really trust, and Bridgestone is one of them,” he says matter-of-factly.

It was first at Tokyo Auto Salon where Pravin set his eyes on the then newly-launched POTENZA RE-71RS. Having heard good things about its POTENZA RE-71R predecessor from friends, he immediately got excited to see how a tyre with already such outstanding performance could be improved further.

The moment the POTENZA RE-71RS arrived in Singapore, a set in the 235/40R18 size was ordered from Bridgestone B-Select concept store South East Tyre Co. In fact, the set on Pravin’s car right now came from one of the pioneer batches!

Inspired by Japanese racing driver Keiichi Tsuchiya, Pravin’s mantra when it comes to car modification is rather simply, ‘what is power without control?’ With experience driving racing cars like the Radical SR3 – setting blazing laptimes despite its modest power output – he’s well aware of the impact a car’s handling has on the overall experience.

As such, modifications to the Accord have focused on improving its already excellent handling. It now sits on TEIN Flex Z coilover suspension, and all bushings have been replaced with stiffer units from SuperPro. To reduce body roll of the comfort-biased Accord, a set of front and rear anti-roll bars from H&R, as well as a front strut tower bar from famed Honda tuner Spoon Sports have been installed.

Now that ‘control’ has been sorted, Pravin has also given some attention to the Accord’s drivetrain. The engine now has a ported & polished cylinder head, a ported throttle body, with everything managed by a Hondata KPro engine control unit. Helping the engine breathe is a customised airbox with a carbon fibre heatshield, which surrounds a 6-inch BLITZ SUS Power air intake filter.

To unleash the ‘K20A’ engine’s signature VTEC howl, a MUGEN titanium cat-back sports exhaust system now nestles within a carbon fibre rear diffuser. Pravin quips that this is the one modification that puts the biggest smile on his face – and it’s not difficult to see (or hear) why.

Since day one, the Accord has appealed as a family car to both Pravin and his family. It offers good handling right out of the box, a quick-shifting manual transmission, and a powerful engine with a rich racing heritage. At the same time, it has a large and comfortable cabin, with manners docile enough for his mother to drive on a daily basis.

As it sits, the Accord has been fine-tuned by Pravin nearly to perfection, in terms of aesthetics, power, and handling. The past five years with it have brought nothing but joy, and given how smitten Pravin is with the car, we’re sure there’ll be many more years to come.

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