Type R sneaks into US

The American market is introducing a Type R to its shores. It has never been on offer there before, so the US motoring media is in a tizz over news it’ll be introduced this year ( assuming President Trump lets a foreign carmaker unleash something as unholy as this unimpeded, of course).

If the car is to be judged on a value basis with a dollar amount pinned to each cut, crease, slash, wing, splitter and intake, then it’ll prove solid value for money.

It’s purportedly still a five- door hatchback but there is so much stuff going on, it’s difficult to stand back and assess it for what it is without being distracted by manga cartoon theatrics, or one of its three centrally mounted exhaust pipes.

If the design language is box- of- frogs crazy, then at least the performance figures speak much more clearly: a direct- injected 2.0- litre four- cylinder turbo developing 228kW peak power and 400Nm of torque. The only gearbox available is a shortthrow six- speed manual, which might confuse a few American buyers.

But what about us Kiwis? The good news is, for the first time, we also look set to receive the Civic Type R through the national Honda dealer network.

The distributor has to launch the civvie- street hatchback the Type R is based on first, of course.

But following that model’s arrival later this year, we also will be able to marvel in the madness up close. Just don’t cut yourself on one of those wing edges.