The Honda Civic Type R is the newest vehicle on the New South Wales Police Force in Australia, but don’t think a cop will come after you in it for breaking the hooning laws or trying to street race it at a stoplight. This 306-horsepower hot hatch, law-enforcing livery or not, will be for show.
That’s a shame, too, because the Type R looks good in a police livery. Perhaps that’s because the livery tones down all of those sharp angles some folks can’t see past, despite all of its other good qualities—its ripping turbo-four engine or handling that made even Top Gear’s Chris Harris question the need for all-wheel drive on its Ford Focus RS competitor, for example.
Honda Australia announced on Thursday that it’s lending the force a Type R in a year-long sponsored partnership between the organizations, and it’s basically a six-speed billboard for the police force’s “Eyewatch” social-media campaign—a program that basically connects people with their local police to ask questions and get crime updates and information online.
The car will tour schools and events across New South Wales during its year with the police force, with its first stop being at an annual expo this weekend. Honda Australia said the Type R is meant to help police “raise awareness of the [Eyewatch] program, and engage with local communities, especially youth.” (That joke you just made in your head about how youths are the perfect target audience for a Type R because looks like it was styled for a 12-year-old kid was hilarious! Good one.)
It’ll be interesting to see where this Type R ends up after its year with the police force, considering that it’ll probably be in better shape than any other used one out there—after all, sitting on display doesn’t actively put miles on the clock, and this hatch can’t be too abused by the people paid to enforce Australia’s strict anti-hooning laws.