Our first look at the hot new Honda Civic Type R has us frothing…

We love the Honda Civic Type R.

Soichiro Honda has been responsible for hundreds of killer machines. The cars as well as the bikes, after all, are encoded with the sort of engineering DNA that produces performance as well as reliability. Honda designs and builds their cars with a directness and simplicity that few other brands can match.

Since the amazing S2000 was discontinued, though, there hasn’t been much to shout about from the Honda stable.

But the new hot iterations of The Civic Type R – as well as the apparently brilliant new NSX – have therefore awoken the passion inherent in the Brand’s DNA.

We recently spent a week with the current Type R, which is based on the 9th Gen Civic platform (that’s the car, in lovely Championship White, at the top of the page). It was everything we hoped it would be. But more of that later.

News has recently broken of the next iteration of our red-badged hero. And all reports indicate that the car will be another classic.

Honda released the new look Civic Type R (above) at the recent Paris Auto Show. It is thought to be due on the streets in late 2017, after a full debut at next March’s Geneva Salon.

The details were few and far between in initial press releases. It is understood, however, that the new Type R will push 350 PS. That’s closer to the figures boasted by Ford’s Focus RS and the Mercedes AMG A45. In the FWD format, 350-odd horses will be a tough thing to handle.

The current Type R boasts around 300 PS – which is a pretty weighty number for a FWD car in itself. The Limited Slip Differential does an amazing job of eliminating all but the slightest torque steer – except on strange cambers and dodgy road surfaces you hardly notice it at all.

The new Type R will probably come with an evolution of the LSD. There will be increased downforce through that new and conspicuous aero. There’s a wider base, too.

These press pics of the new Type R rendered in badass matte black remind us of the broodingly brutal Cosworth RS 500 Focus. We had a go in that a couple of years ago. The scoop on the front and the hunkered down forequarters hammer that aesthetic home.

We’re looking forward to seeing the car in the steel.