I’m dreaming of a…

This month the theme is Japanese, fast and white...

It seems that every new car that comes out looks best in white nowadays. We predicted it two years ago with the pearly Fiat 500, but it’s the sneering race-track bullies that pull it off best.

This Honda isn’t actually an all-new car: it’s a very exclusive version of the current Civic Type R, but it’s so thoroughly modified it’s a far cry from the (plenty fast enough) original. For a car prepared for the track by Mugen, the Japanese company famous for world-class racing engines, you’d normally expect to pay a six-figure sum. But this ultra-limited UK run of just 20 Mugen Civics will be just £38,599 each. Lucky buyers will not only get an astonishing 240PS from the 2-litre engine, but also personalised consultations with Mugen engineers throughout the process of their car being built.

…white Lexus

Of course, if you’re a fan of the Rising Sun and have a bit more than 40 grand to burn (try 340), then there’s always the Lexus LFA.

Lexus have always been solidly popular around these parts. Company bosses and well-to-do dads know them as the ‘Japanese Mercedes’. But while the big Lexus saloons were more than a match in quality and ride for their German rivals, Mercedes held the trump card in the form of hypercars such as the Maybach or the Mercedes-McLaren SLR.

Not any more. Not having driven one yet, we can’t predict how this new LFA will match

 up against the SLR, but we predict a hell of a battle. With a 4.8-litre V10, the LFA will be good for over 200mph. It promises to be an engineering masterpiece of light weight, efficiency and brute power.

In the words of Chief Engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi: “The LFA is a thoroughbred supercar – a machine engineered to achieve a single goal: to deliver a supreme driving experience.”