Last week, we brought you five examples of Honda's fabulous Type Rs in a Spotted special that had us bouncing off the limiter with excitement. (Sorry.)
Drive is more exciting than it looks. Honest
There's a good reason to buy every single one of those cars, as we discussed at the time, but arguably the most interesting - and you might say, most urgent - right now is the Accord Type R.
We'll warrant that of them all, the Accord is the Type R you remember least well. Perhaps thanks to its saloon bodyshell and, beneath the skirts and spoilers, mildly drab styling; perhaps because of the cooking Accord's reputation as the motoring equivalent of a tweed trilby. But the more you remember of the CH1, as it's known to its select group of fans, the more impressive it gets.
Under the bonnet of the Type-R sat a 2.2-litre H22A engine that had already found a home in the Prelude VTI, as well as several US- and JDM-spec Accords and Preludes.
Here, though, power was ramped up to 212hp courtesy of a higher compression ratio, sequential injection, low-friction pistons, a tweaked inlet manifold and a new, less restrictive exhaust - knocking similar Super Touring-inspired saloons like the Ford Mondeo ST200 and Vauxhall Vectra GSi into a cocked hat.
What was more, the Accord was almost unmatched by rivals in benefitting from a limited-slip differential as standard, giving it the tools to make use of that extra power, and making it considerably more hardcore - not to mention more credible - than any of its hotted-up family saloon brethren.
Limited-slip diff should keep the front pinned
It feels that way to drive. Rather than a big Civic, the Accord feels more like a softened-off, four-door Integra, its VTEC switch visceral, its steering lively, its front wheels tugging you onward as they find grip. Compared with its rivals, with their big, lazy V6s and heavy noses, the Accord's far more invigorating, its engine note growing ever more frantic and hard-edged, while its front wheels claw at the road surface in an attempt to translate all that top-end grunt into forward motion.
Which is partly why it looks like the most tempting buy of any Type R right now. While it isn't as sharp as an Integra, it's probably 90 per cent of the fun - yet, for now at least, it costs significantly less. It's more compelling than an EP3, too, for while the Civic has the mass-appeal and cult status, the Accord has hydraulic - and therefore way more involving - steering, that limited-slip diff and more power. Not to mention the Super Touring cachet, of course.
Not until the later FN2 Civics do you get the diff, but even then you still have to deal with less impressive steering, not to mention a punishing ride - and one of these will set you back way more cash, too. And while the FK2 rather obliterates the Accord with its performance and sense of drama, you'll have to buy one nearly-new and lose a tonne of cash in the process right now.
By contrast, you can get an Accord for peanuts. Matt's already brought this one, for £4,300, to your attention; that's strong money for what you'd hope will be one of the very best ATRs in the country. A tidy example with reasonable miles and a good history can still be had for £2,500, while a leggy one will set you back even less.
And it revs to nearly eight!
If all that sounds like an astonishing bargain, that's probably because it is. And of course, those prices won't last forever. A genuine UK-spec Integra can now set you back £10,000, and even though the Accord doesn't quite have the same following, that's almost certainly a sign of things to come.
In 25 years, Honda's brought a succession of seriously memorable Type R badged metal to this country, to our continuing delight. And while the Accord might the most hazy of them all in the collective memory, there are now some very good reasons to get reacquainted.