With `retro styling’ the flavour of the day, with designers looking in old and faded brochures for inspiration, it was only a matter of time until someone came up with a new slant on `retro’.

"Huh?" I hear you say, "What’s he on? There’s nothing remotely retro about the Honda Integra.."

But there is, at least in the Integra Type R. This mean`n’nasty little stealth fighter of a car takes us back to the days before the invention of insulation.

In Honda’s own words, "R stands for racing and that is the underlying theme behind the development of the Integra Type R".

One thing the designers had to do was reduce weight, so they turfed out a fair bit of insulation, which is actually quite heavy stuff, from under the carpets and over the firewall. A few other slimming tricks like a lighter flywheel and exhaust system, and a thinner windscreen, saw the Integra lose 27kgs. And the sunroof option is no longer available (too heavy).

The double-wishbone suspension has been tuned for greater feedback and to further reduce understeer, while the entire car was lowered by 15mm. Since all that `go’ would need some `whoa’ to match it, the braking capacity was boosted with larger discs and calipers on all four wheels.

There’s also an extremely purposeful looking alloy brace across the front shocker mounts, and a matching unit in the rear end, all aimed at increasing the coupe’s structural rigidity.

And just to make sure no-one could mistake it for what it is, Integra Type R was given a distinctive new bodykit with an impressive high rear wing plus chin spoiler and sideskirts.

Adrenaline waits within
The cockpit is pure racecar in both look and feel, from seats to steering wheel.

It’s a bit heavy on the trad-black, but in the `image’ department there’s the ever-popular "carbon fibre-look" panels, which admittedly left us wondering why they bothered – surely those panels add a few grams of weight? No queries about the dashboard though, which looks the part and is perfectly complemented by the Momo steering wheel.

Not everyone will necessarily like the overly intimate nature of the Recaro seats, but those who appreciate a seat with firm support at all points, including the sides, are most unlikely to complain. They grip the body in a manner that ensures no lateral movement in corners.

A frantic clashing and wailing cacophony of sound issues from the engine bay as the 1.8 VTEC sets about producing power that’s usually expected from a big six, with accompanying road-rumble from the 55-series tyres making its way through the carpets.

At about this point, you recall that the 141kW is attained at 7,900rpm, with the torque of 178Nm arriving at least a bit earlier, at 6,300rpm. It’s almost impossible to hear the stereo above 60kmh without really pumping it up, so we spent more time listening to the engine.

Setting things in motion is a relatively simple affair, with a clutch pedal that’s easier on the ankle than expected in a car with such obvious aspirations to a racetrack.

The 5-speed is an absolute delight to use, a close ratio front-drive box that actually manages to feel almost like a rear-driver. Well, I did say almost – if the shift lever was a couple more centimetres to the rear it’d be near perfect.

Far from displaying the savage understeer expected of a powerful front-drive car, it turns in to corners in a way that almost raises doubts about which wheels are actually doing the work! Seriously, it’s that good.

And while you’re having so much fun you might keep an eye on its consumption of premium unleaded. We did, and got a surprise or two.

Our worst result (at the top of the `fun’ scale!) was 12.2 L/100kms (23mpg) and we averaged 9.9 ((34mpg), but our best was a pleasing 7.4 L/100kms (38mpg). Who says you can’t have fun and still be practical!