Our increasingly impatient wait for the new Civic Type-R continues. Honda has been drip-feeding its latest hot hatch for a little while now - we've even driven a prototype - but the real thing won't land until 2015.
To try and placate us in the meantime, the Japanese firm is taking this smartly appointed Civic Sport to the Paris motor show.
Honda says it provides a visual link to the new turbocharged Type-R, and the darkened light lenses and black mouth certainly recall some aspects of the Nürburgring-bashing concept. Otherwise, though, it's business as usual - the demonic rear wing doesn't make it to the Sport.
That spoiler - with its integrated rear lights - is the part of the Type-R concept we're desperate makes it to production. We're firmly crossing our fingers that Honda won't bottle it.
Other details about the more tepid Sport? You can have it as a five-door hatch or a swoopy yet commodious Tourer. Engine options remain the same as less assertively styled Civics, with a 118bhp 1.6-litre diesel or 140bhp 1.8-litre petrol your choices.
Perhaps more interestingly, it introduces the Civic's new infotainment system, which runs an Android operating system and uses a 7-inch touchscreen with smartphone-esque pinch and zoom and swipe operation. Not headline news, we admit, but Honda's previous systems have been a little naff, so using something proven outside of the car world is a good step.
The Civic is one of the many, many cars meeting its public for the first time at Paris next week. We'll be there, wearing out our shoes, so pop back to TG for live show news.
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