It’s easily the most expensive Civic yet, costs a wallet-withering £38,599 and in one sense is an absolute bargain.

Why? Because each of these tuned 240bhp Type Rs costs about £190,000 to build, netting creator Mugen a £150,000 loss for every example sold. Which makes it easier to understand why there will only be 20.

There is method to this fiscal madness, however, the establishment of Honda engine tuner Mugen in the minds of UK petrolheads being the aim. We Brits buy more Type R Civics than any other country, including Japan, presenting this tuning specialist with a tempting commercial opportunity. Mugen means “unlimited” – supposedly of power, rather than price – and though it’s owned by the Honda family, with a history stretching back to 1973, it operates separately from Honda.

Unusually, the process of making these 20 special Civics occurs entirely in the UK, Honda shipping British-built Type Rs from its Swindon plant to Mugen’s premises in Northampton. The priciest element is the total strip-down and high-precision rebuild of the engine into what’s virtually a full-race, hand-built £19,000 motor.

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My first sight of the rarest and probably most desirable Honda Civic on the planet is a flash of blood-red paint and a glint of black wheel spokes a couple of hundred yards away. Even at this range I know it’s the real thing, and up close the Mugen RR is even more striking.

Its owner, Waqar Ahmed, hops out and we shake hands. The driver of the car that followed the Mugen into the lay-by has joined us on the pavement and I shake his hand too. I assume he’s a friend of Waqar’s. Waqar thinks he’s a friend of mine. Turns out he’s a stranger to both of us; he’s simply a Honda enthusiast who wants to know if the car is for sale!

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