Is this true?

[Chris da Silva]

A friend of mine showed me a copy of the October 2020 edition of Classic & Sports Car magazine.

In it, there was a side-by-side road test of an [EA11R] Cappuccino alongside its rival, the Honda Beat.

But what confused me is that in the spec list for the Cappuccino, the transmission was given as either a 5-speed manual box or a 4-speed automatic box! Did the EA11R have that option? I thought that the automatic box was only available for the Series 2 (EA21R) variant, and it was 3-speed!

One of the images of the EA11R in that magazine showed the T-bar gear lever; and it looked like the [3-speed] one fitted to the EA21R!

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Or you can try to obtain a back-order copy of that magazine (if they're still available) to check it out!

[Martin Williams]

I remember seeing this and thinking that is not right.
The car they used for the comparison was an EA21R, the photo of the engine bay shows this clearly.
The mention of a 4 speed automatic prompted me to investigate and I struggled to find anything that explicitly stated the Cappo had a three speed, however I found no other references to a 4 speed so I am sure it was an editorial error. Indeed, the markings by the gear shift in the photos are 1, 2, D so to me it is pretty conclusive.

I think it would have been a better comparison had they used a manual Cappo. One of the criticisms they levied was against the steering, would they have found it less "indecisive" without the power assistance?

However, it is always good to see the Cappo featured in magazines, the July 2022 issue of Classic & Sports Car has it on the cover as one of their "Fuel Crisis Classics"

[Ian Linden]

Borg Warner/Aisin automatic gearboxes of that vintage had a fourth speed only if fitted with an "overdrive" unit added to the three speed box. The EA21R automatic version did not have the overdrive unit, so were three speed, as is shown on the Information/Cappuccino/Cappuccino Production page on this site.

I have driven Adrian Furniss's EA11R with power steering. The power effect is delightful for parking, but not noticeable at speed (say above 25 mph). Perhaps the vehicle tested needed the steering aligned, or the tester was not skilled at applying the right amount of power when cornering, something the experienced rear-wheel-drive driver does instinctively?

[Chris da Silva]

Hi Martin

I think you're right! It was probably an editorial error. (Too bad that there was no image of the VIN plate to verify that...)

My Cappo is the Series 2 (EA21R) and it has the factory-fitted 3-speed automatic box. But there's no overdrive unit attached to it! (If there was, I would have seen a flick switch somewhere ...)

The steering is light anyway and it's quite sensitive - it's definitely lighter than that of the Honda Beat.

Yeh - I also have a copy of the July 2022 issue of C&SC and the Cappo's write-up is pretty fair in that one, I must say. (The road-test example is the 5-speed manual version.)

[Ian Linden]

Yes, Chris, the normal overdrive control on that type of box is an overdrive-off button in the shifter handle. If it is not activated, the box shifts between 3rd and 4th speed autonomously.

[Chris da Silva]

Hi Ian. So it looks like mine is the all-original factory spec model (Hooray!) and that's how I want it to be!

Coming back to my original query, it looks like the test car featured in the magazine is the EA11R (which they actually printed out in the article); but the Series 1 never came with an automatic box + overdrive to make it a 4-speed unit - even though the T-shaped gear lever looked like the one fitted to the EA21R! That was the subject of my initial query.

On a parting note, if you can get hold of a back copy of the magazine in question and look through the said article, you'll see why I raised the issue out of curiosity.

[Martin Williams]

Though the article mentions the official European imports it does not say the car they had was one. Indeed it is a JDM model (several obvious differences) and the engine bay clearly shows it is an EA21R.

[Chris da Silva]

Hi Martin

OK - mystery solved! I never thought about looking at the picture from that angle!

So, it really is the Series 2! (The glaring evidence is where the gearshift is...!) That's why I said earlier that it looks like the one I've got in my Cappo! And add that to what Ian said, the automatic gearbox fitted to that featured car has an overdrive unit attached which is why the author said it had 4 gears and not 3!

Guess who wrote the article got it wrong by saying it had a 657-cc engine displacement (for EA11R's) in his vehicle spec list - which is surprising considering that it's in the magazine for collectors' - and classic car enthusiasts ... (Yep - EA21R's engine is 658 cc!)