I hired one for a week and drove from London to Devon in it. If I was seventeen again I would've loved it, but I think I must be and old git now(32) cos I hated it. Very peaky, poor traction, rattly interior and I think they left the suspension off mine. Gearstick is in a good place though.

Firstly, the gearing in dervs is longer than petrols. Otherwise it would run out of revs.

Honda engines do have a smallish power band compared to turbo petrol cars, however it's not really the powerband size that's the issue, it's where it is in the revs.

Basically, having torque low down enables a lazy drive, as with a vRS. Having torque higher up makes for a more exciting drive.

When I drove a vRS this is what put me off... the power delivery. It is smooth and available at low revs, it's just dull. That's why I'm not looking for a Honda Accord Type R, which will with any luck have sufficient torque at low revs to make for an easy normal drive, yet go a bit crazy at high revs and be fun.

I'm sure the vRS is great for long journeys, motorway driving and the like, but for a spirited A/B road weekend drive, you cant beat having a revvy engine on the boil.

Oh, and dont forget the lag issue... there's no lag with an NA engine. Foot down and instant response. Providing you're in the right gear of course.

All depends on how you drive..... personally I like to properly 'drive' cars, rather than lazily sit back and press the go pedal

as we all told you last time, the re-map transforms power delivery and also virtually eliminates 'lag'.

I quite like having decent (Type R matching) acceleration available all the way from low rpm and not just right up towards the red line

Both MC Bodge and Stumpy1 have good points. A few years ago I loved the TypeR, but now can't be bothered to rag the nuts off my car every time I want to make good progress. I like the low down torque and the ease of use this brings. Even in standard form the vRS isn't too bad for lag really, but I'd like to drive an Octavia without just to see what it is like.

Sheaf, you're right. It is down to personal preference and it seems that at the age of 33 I have hit the Middle Aged Zone. Mind you, I still enjoy ragging an S200 round a track on Forza now and then.

Basically, having torque low down enables a lazy drive, as with a vRS. Having torque higher up makes for a more exciting drive.

Enabling a lazy drive does not exclude being able to have an exciting drive. You can still hoon around like a mentalist with a 6.5K redline. Just because the bulk of the power is there from 2K to 6K does not make it boring. From the sounds of it, what you're wanting is a car that will rev up to 8K because when the motor is screaming like a bike it *sounds* exciting

That's completely valid. I prefer a petrol car because of the sound. I drove a friend's VTEC (going back a few years now) and the extra urge from 6 to 8 K along with that "unnatural" redline did add to the fun factor. If you're willing to wait until 6K rpm for the real performance to kick in and work at keeping the car "on the boil", then dealing with a little pre-2K lag should not even be on the radar, should it?

Good point.