From Ohio to New York in less than two days? What a road trip for a happy little prototype!
Update: My bad, it looks like the car is actually in Sweden, given the Euro plates, the radio channel and the fact the the Swedish have yellow Prius taxis too:
While we all try to figure out what sort of testing are they doing with it at the moment, Jalopnik reader and former Honda employee BuddyLee34 had this to add to the Type R in the US story:
I'm no longer with Honda, so my information is dated, but a NA (North America) Spec Type R was originally going to be built in Indiana alongside a 5 door variant of the Civic. Then the 5 door got moved to Canada, and along with it, the Type R.
The NA Type R's fate has been very much up in the air since then, so I'm not sure if it has been axed all together for the US, or if it's still hanging on.
The last I knew the Type R would have a 2.0 Turbo, and the Si would be getting a 1.5T. Their benchmark for the Type R was the best FF time at the Ring, which, at the time, was held by one of the Megane's I believe. The Si benchmark is the fastest FF time around VIR.
With rumors that the Focus RS and Golf R400 may be coming, the Type R pretty much has to. It certainly was planned for a while, but Honda being Honda, they could certainly cancel it and be boring and lame.
Well, keep hunting!
H/T and photo credit to Orlando!