I'm sorry, but I still think Type Rs are overrated. You want to know why?
Sure, they're in the top 3 for specific output (horsepower per liter), behind only the S2000 and just above the Ferrari Modena, but who really cares? So the engine is impressively designed. It still only makes 195 horsepower!
The handling is good for it's class of car, definitely. But it still falls short of real sports cars in skidpad performance (.88), and the weight distribution, at 62.5%/37.5%, does not make for neutral handling. The tires are 195s on 15" wheels, not too puny for a totally stock vehicle, but NOT designed for hard driving.
What I'm saying is that it's a great sports car for the money, but everybody makes such a huge deal out of them that you'd think they could compete with, say, a Boxster, or an M3. Not even CLOSE. Sorry, rice boys.
p.s. as an afterthought to this little rant, i do agree with
overclocked on the rest of his post.
those car makers need to just bite the bullet and make all that awesome technology smog-legal and put the steering wheel on the correct side so they can bring it in to the US!