Honda made a huge impact on the hot hatch market three years ago when it introduced the Type-R derivative of the Civic three-door. Here was a very aggressively-styled little car with a brilliant engine which produced as near to 200bhp as made no odds, and you could buy it for £16,000. No wonder it caught people's attention.The Type-R has been modestly revamped for 2004, along similar lines to other Civics. The most obvious change is the array of three blue projector style lamps in the front light units, but there are also indicators in the door mirrors, a new front spoiler shared with the humbler Sport model and a grille design unique to the Type-R. Technically, there is also a lighter flywheel/clutch assembly which is responsible for a 0.2 second reduction in the 0-62mph time.The basic principle, however, is the same as before, and so, pretty much, is the price. The exterior design - while not particularly elegant, though certainly a lot more so than that of the race version which has occasionally won races in the British Touring Car Championship - screams the car's purpose, and is more than matched by what you find inside.The gearknob (cleverly placed, as on all current Civics, on the fascia mere inches away from the steering wheel) is of aluminium effect, the instrument dials are white, and there are flashes of red all over the place. There is no doubt that the Type-R means business.Not all of this is cosmetic. The various body add-ons have, according to Honda, been carefully shaped to produce positive aerodynamic effects. But neither that, nor the six-speed gearbox, nor the impressive brake package (including 300mm discs up front) is the main point of this car.The main point is the engine. Using a typically Honda-like combination of clever systems, the two-litre VTEC unit opens and closes its valves in a manner which varies according to both revs and load. This means that it acts like any of several different engines according to what it's being asked to do.The overall result is that fuel economy, emissions and low-speed performance are more or less unaffected by the engine's ability to scream up to 8000rpm as if it had been designed from the start to go motor racing.In a straight line, on a road on which other traffic is not there and can be seen not to be there, the Type-R is a flying machine. You can hammer it up to the revlimiter, loving every last decibel of the engine note and comforted by the knowledge that Honda's VTEC technology has proved to be astonishingly reliable over the years.What about the corners, though? Well, like a large number of other performance cars, the Type-R went to the Nürburgring in Germany during the development process for a spot of chassis tuning, which is not as big a deal as manufacturers' marketing departments would like you to think. It's all very well if you regularly visit the Nürburgring, or if you make a habit of taking part in track days (as I'm sure a lot of Type-R owners do), but the relevance becomes less apparent on public roads.The main criticism of the Type-R is that, like all too many Hondas, it is under-damped at the front end. I haven't tried one on a race circuit yet, and I suspect it would actually feel better in those surroundings, since race circuits tend to have smooth surfaces.In the more hostile environment of the public highway, road surfaces are generally a lot bumpier (in the UK, anyway), and it's when encountering these bumps that the Civic reveals itself as a car which can't quite keep up with its own engine.In some ways this is a good thing, since it prevents you from using as much of the power as you might like to. This country's roads are quite treacherous enough without packs of Civics blasting along them at maximum revs. But the effect from the driving seat is that the Type-R does not feel like a complete package.Even Honda people have admitted that on back roads with no long straights, the visually similar but much less powerful Civic 1.6 VTEC Sport (which absolutely does feel like a complete package) would probably be able to keep up with its high-performance relative.Back in 2001, Honda arranged for roads on the Isle of Man to be closed so that the press could try out the original Type-R without the restrictions of speed limits or opposing traffic. Perhaps it should do something similar to sort out the suspension.In the meantime, the Type-R remains a performance bargain, at least in terms of its straightline ability. If you're on a budget and you get more kicks from acceleration than from going round corners, this is the hot hatch for you. Engine 1998cc, 4 cylinders Power 197bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 31.7mpg / 212g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.6 seconds Top speed 146mph Price £16,013 Details correct at publication date