SEEING spots before your eyes is possibly not the best advertisement for a high-performance car. Seeing red is also probably unwise.

Combine the two though and the small red dot that glows on the dashboard on Honda's new Civic Type R is part-reminder, part-warning that this is a Civic with a big difference. The red bonnet badge is another pointer to a thoroughly red-blooded car.

Eighteen-inch alloy wheels, red interior trim and detailing, drilled aluminium sports pedals and an alloy gearknob are the obvious hints of the raw driving appeal on offer, but it is only when the 201 horsepower engine fires up that the Type R comes to life.

Honda's choice of power unit is interesting. When you line up against the likes of the Golf GTi, Ford Focus ST, Volvo C30 and SEAT Leon Cupra, the temptation must be to go for a knockout punch in pure horsepower. The simple route would be to bolt on a whopping turbocharger and stand well back. Honda said it decided not to do this, because engineers feared a loss of smooth power delivery and less stable cornering under acceleration.

The decision to stick with a normally-aspirated engine pays off handsomely. Don't get me wrong, the 2.0-litre engine is still rev-happy, raucous and edgy, but the drive-by-wire throttle gives smoother acceleration, making the car easier to manage and less likely to land you in hot water. Linked to a six-speed, close-ratio gearbox, the engine howls up to the 5,400rpm mark, where the red i-VTEC dashboard indicator dot glows as the high-lift camshaft kicks in and takes the engine shrieking up to its 8,000rpm red line. The suspension settings are still screwed up tight, to keep you on the straight and narrow and can still knock your dentures out if you hit an unexpected pothole, but the overall driving experience is more comfortable and a lot less frenetic than in its predecessor.

Just as important, the new car, which is much quieter and refined, makes long distance travel an altogether more pleasant experience and removes the need to take two aspirin before a lengthy journey.

The Type R name was first introduced by Honda motorcycles, where the letter R was added to conventional bike names to indicate a performance derivative. The CB - a standard four-cylinder, across-the-frame bike - became the CB-R, a sporting model.

The earliest car to carry the Type R badge was the 1992 Honda NSX-R, a stripped-down, lightweight version of the NSX supercar, followed by the Integra, Civic and Accord.

Honda will have no difficulty in beating its planned annual sales figure of 5,000 Civic Type Rs. It originally planned to sell just 1,500 of the old Civic Type R, and went on to sell more than 35,000 . . .

Auto facts Honda Civic Type R

  • Price: £17,600
  • Ins group: 17E
  • Fuel consumption (Combined): 31mpg
  • Top speed: 146mph
  • Length: 427.6cm/168.3in
  • Width: 178.5cm/70.3in
  • Luggage capacity: 17.1 cu ft
  • Fuel tank capacity: 11 gallons/50 litres
  • CO2 emissions: 215g/km
  • Warranty: 3 years/90,000 miles