My friend from the dead-tree media was quite insistent about it. There were at least half a dozen Honda Accords available for us to drive that morning, but whatever I did I had to drive the Type-R at some point. That one, he reckoned, was the best of the bunch. Easily.It is also, of course, by some way the fastest, but that wasn't the point. The two of us have had similar conversations for several years now, and we often agree that the high-performance ones are not necessarily the most rewarding to drive. In this case, he said, things were different. He had already driven the Type-R over on the Continent and he thought it was fantastic.Along with all the other Accords, the Type-R shares smart good looks - recently improved further for the 2001 model year - and build quality which makes some other manufacturers look like they are throwing the components together from ten feet away and hoping for the best. What distinguishes this Accord from the others is the stonkingly powerful 2.2-litre engine which uses the famed VTEC technology.A quick recap on VTEC: Honda uses it in various ways, but the performance application works by introducing new cam profiles at high revs. Up to around 6000rpm, the engine is a reasonably strong twin-cam unit. Thereafter, trickery inside the cylinder head brings race-type cam lobes into play, so that instead of petering out and requiring you to change up a gear, the engine takes on a new, much sharper note and moves into realms of performance you would not have dreamed of previously. Effectively you get a road engine and a race one in the same package.The first VTEC car was the Civic VTi, introduced about ten years ago. It caused a lot of excitement, but the problem as I saw it was that at lower revs it didn't perform at all well. It seems that Honda has realised this, because, as well as sounding and to some extent feeling like a Touring Car when it's being pushed, the Accord is also satisfyingly brisk when you're working at lower revs.Just as well, really. If you've ever tried keeping a road car revving at over 6000 for any length of time, you'll have realised that it just isn't practical.VTEC is at its most useful when you're overtaking. You're buzzing along a country road quite happily, using normal revs, until you come up against a much slower vehicle. There are few chances to pass, but then a brief possibility arises. You select a suitable gear, floor the throttle, and then, just before the revcounter needle hits 6000, you take off. You pass the lorry, bus or whatever with the greatest ease, while its driver looks up in some confusion as he tries to find the low-flying jet which he thinks has just screamed overhead.It's all quite good fun, in very small doses, though without hiring a race circuit you can never use the full potential as much as you would like to. Still, brake horsepower is not the be-all and end-all of fast road cars (not the good ones, anyway), and since my friend was so enthusiastic about the Type-R I assumed it would be a blast on corners too.Well, not really. I've made other references in CARkeys to the habit many Accords have of rocking slightly on their suspension - the effect is to make you feel that the wheels are several inches closer together than they actually are. The luxury-spec Type-V manages to avoid this, and I would have thought the Type-R would also be free from it, but no, it was still there. It's one part of the general impression that there is a very sharp, sweet-handling performance car waiting to be revealed if Honda's chassis department could only be allowed another week's work on it.I was ready to make non-committal noises next time I saw the friend who had been so enthusiastic about the Type-R, but when we did meet he got his comment in first. "I think I was wrong about it," he said, a little bashfully, and that was a surprise. His opinions, once formed, are usually defended strongly.It turned out that he had first driven the car in Germany, where the roads are unrecognisably smoother than they are here. It had also been a quiet part of the country, without much traffic. In that environment, with no bumps or odd cambers to cause the suspension any confusion, the Type-R was brilliant.So, if you are one of our German readers, there's no argument - go for this car. If you live in the UK, however much you may enjoy the extraordinary top-end performance and the fabulous engine note, you may find that the Type-R's suspension is too highly tuned for its own good. Engine 1390 cc, 4 cylinders Power 180 bhp @6200 rpm Torque 184 ib/ft @2000 rpm Transmission 7 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 47.9 mpg / 139 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.9sec Top speed 142 mph Price From £18714.00 approx Release date 15/05/2010
