Couple months in now with my FL5, with an ITS vs CTR ADS module comparison.

[TO_FL5_CW]

Jesus, some of you people need to calm down with your incessant need to correct the notion that the FL5 isn't really a FWD GT3. Seriously, you really think you need to tell us that no, our $46K Honda isn't actually on the level of a $250K Zuffenhausen thoroughbred? As if we don't already realize that, and it's going to take your strident admonishments to open our eyes to this stark reality?

News flash, no one truly thinks their Honda is a FWD GT3. Rather, they may take delight in thinking of it as their FWD GT3. It's the idea of the thing. In the same way that a GT3 is the much more highly focused, stripped down, sound-deadening removed, big wing, big brakes, no compromise 911, so too is the Type R, relative to other Hondas, or other FWD cars. No one actually thinks their FL5 has the power, handling, brakes, materials, build quality, or overall attention to detail of a real GT3. It's merely an ideological comparison. This is Honda's affordable, accessible version of that "purist" ideal.

Got it now? Can you please stop hyperventilating already, worrying that the world simply won't return to its correct axis until You, Defender of the Mechanical Truth, doth go forth into the interwebs hinterlands to shoot down any and all blasphemes against The Word.

Take a breath. Nothing important is at stake here. It's simply people having fun with their toys. Nothing more.

Man, could some of you lot possibly be any more precious and pretentious? It's downright embarrassing.



.

Nobody said it’s GT3! Only 70%

Sponsored

 

[CTR]

I swapped back to the FL5 ADS module about a week after I put my stock summer tires back on and here's my opinion:

It's not as bad as I remember. I think I prefer the FL5 ADS module for spirited driving. It's totally fine in Sport and Comfort mode for a daily driver.

I'm pretty confident that Honda also changes the dynamic tuning at each corner. The car handles better in Sport and Comfort mode compared to any of the modes of the ITS ADS module. We know the module is measuring the ride height at each corner along with other factors to adjust them on the fly depending on what the car is doing.

I'm not a race car driver but I can feel the difference. I think the ADS module is more complicated than we're making it out to be. It's not the same thing as a motor turning a knob to a fixed setting like many other manufacturers do.

 

[renesis]

nice cars! Again I never driven a gt3 or gt4 so I can't really comment but I think the thing



what about sound? That is part of the driving experience and we all know the gt3 (or really any p car) is pretty special and unfortunately the sound is the weakest point of the FL5

nice cars! Again I never driven a gt3 or gt4 so I can't really comment but I think the thing



what about sound? That is part of the driving experience and we all know the gt3 (or really any p car) is pretty special and unfortunately the sound is the weakest point of the FL5

In terms of sound, FL5 doesn't even come close to the cars that I mentioned. To me, of course, 9k rpm screaming machine in GT3 was the best. But interestingly enough, I prefer the sound of GT4 over any other 991.1 or later non-GT 911s. The engine is closer to the driver and you can hear the induction noise as well. I loved the sound of GT4. On the other hand, the sound of Voodoo and Coyote are very different but fantastic as well. I wish FL5 had an engine that sounds as a half good as those cars...

 

[Noize]

This is the dissenting opinon that I suspect is probably the most accurate description of the differences between the two modules. No difference in bounciness, other than for the differences in stiffness along that sliding scale. I like to tell myself there is a big difference in reduced bounciness, but I worry that this is largely confirmation bias because I'm buying into what The Topher said, since he's taken both modules to the track and done a lot more comparitive testing.

It’s definitely confirmation bias, and that’s ok. It’s not like you wasted money if you like DE5 comfort and want the old FL5 Sport with +R full defeat off/off.

But to me, the DE5 programming is clearly based from the FL5.

The are a couple of not-perfect pavement corners that I enter at about 90mph in a CTR. The FL5 with either module ramps stiffness too much in any high speed corner, and the bouncing is present even in comfort suspension.

I can take an FK8 in at the same speed in the same corners in +R and it will not bounce at all.

It is the one fly in the FL5 ointment that Honda fk’d up. If I could adapt an FK8 module to an FL5, or flash that module’s settings to ours, that would be a sure fire cure, IMO.

 

[VLJ]

I've never driven an FK8, so I'll have to take your word on that.

The only thing I can say with certainty is that the DE5 module makes my FL5 feel more like a "normal" car. Whether that's good or bad, I still haven't decided. I know that with the CTR module my car felt uniquely stiff, and I generally thought of that as a very cool thing.

Nonetheless, yep, the bounciness sucked. It's still stiffer and bouncier than most other cars even with this ITS module, but I'm at least reasonably sure it's not as bouncy as the CTR's +R mode.

 

[MooMoo]

It would be awesome if someone actually figured out the differences in programing or measured stiffness and rebound and stuff. Its cool to see all these "butt dyno" reviews and I do appreciate them but be nice to have measured info.

 

[modern_sports_car]

I don't consume much media so I have no idea what any journalists or social personalities are saying, I was responding to the original poster's comparison. And while I am a long time Porsche owner, my proclivities tend to cars of the air cooled era so I don't have any experience piloting any of the modern supercars. What I do have experience with is chasing the big boys around a race track (not yet in my Civic, but in lots of other underdog cars) and now on some of the best roads in CO. (I cannot recommend the stretch of hwy 141 from Gateway to Naturita more highly, the best 30 minutes of street driving I have had in a LONG time).

Other than extremely high limits that are hard to even approach on the street, what the Porsche GT cars and the FL5 share are track ready handling and brakes in a street friendly package. And while I prefer a naturally aspirated car myself, at altitude the power gap between the Porsche GT cars and the CTR closes enough that they only start to get away when the speeds get well in the triple digits. FWD GT3? Yes I beliieve it's an apt moniker.

Oh and I forgot to mention, with regards to the original post, I too am VERY happy with the ITS ADS I installed just before this trip. Huge improvement to the car. I made the 141 run mostly in sport, because even with the ITS unit in there, the damping was still too stiff in +R for anything but the smoothest sections. The ITS module is both a comfort and a performance upgrade in my opinion.

I’ve driven a GT3. The ‘FWD GT3’ is very obviously subjective but feels appropriate to me. It doesn’t actually feel *like* a GT3 but mimics, to me, some kind of approximation of what Porsche might make if they made a $40k FWD car.

 

[VLJ]

For those certain special someones in this thread who simply can't stand it when people refer to the FL5 as a FWD GT3...

 

[JCZ5]

As a GT3 and GT4 owner, I have gone on quite a few test drives with the FL5. I was shockingly impressed with the handling and superb shifting feel. Once you add the price to the equation, wow, I would not hesitate to get one.

For fun, I have been debating the FL5 vs. M2 in my head for quite some time. At the end of the day, I would get the FL5.

I am hoping to add the FL5 in my garage sometime in the future.

Sponsored