When your brother is a Product Technical Specialist for Honda US, you get to bring home some pretty cool toys.

NOTE: These driving impressions are not endorsed by Honda nor are they meant to reflect the final product…although this Honda Civic Type R looks to be production ready.

It’s officially been two long years since Honda first said that they will be bringing the Honda Civic Type R to the United States. Now that the fanbase is tantalizing close to realizing their dreams of owning one all we have left is to wait until June when Honda allocates them to dealerships to dole out. But what about driving impressions? Since Honda hasn’t started handing out Civic Type R’s to journalists, first impressions are slim to none…that is if one of your family member’s doesn’t work for Honda.

Last wee, we all caught a glimpse of a black 2017 Honda Civic Type R testing on Angeles Crest Highway in Southern California. According to CivicX.com, it looks like the person who’s been flogging this particular 2017 Honda Civic Type R around town is a Product Technical Specialist for Honda and, fortunately for us, one of his family member’s left a couple of impressions for us to glean over on social media.

When one of his friend’s asked him about how the power felt he stated that,

The car (2017 Honda Civic Type R) was outstanding. Definately purpose built which for Honda is very surprising.They did an amazing job. I thought 305 hp was not going to be enough but it’s more than adequate, the motor pulls strong and has boost on demand. The handling was too good, we pushed the car hard and never once thought it was close to its limits. Honestly it’s a car with such ability that it will probably scare a lot of people with how much it can handle. I can’t say what the 0-60 was, as we didn’t make note of it, but it’s properly quick this car. People are going yo be very pleasantly surprised!

And when queried about how the engine sounds from the inside,

Honestly, inside the car is still rather quiet, it makes a good sound but not noisy by any means…I think this car would be just fine as a daily driver. When driving in traffic it’s very tame. I think people who criticize the ride are a bit nit picky, I spent most of the day riding in the front as back and it was just fine, I actually count the front seats to be very comfortable and we’re great when driving the car hard.

Check out an exclusive inside video of how loud it sounds inside. We don’t think it sounds all that loud (it’s bearable.)

A post shared by Civic FK8 (@civicfk8) on Apr 10, 2017 at 6:30am PDT

And earlier last week we caught a glimpse of this Honda Civic Type R chaperoning a couple of younger passengers in its rear seats. Suffice to say, this four-seater (Yes, it’s a four seater) can handle family duties thanks to being a hatch with a proper trunk.

Say whaaaaat?! What rank is this Honda guy to be bringing it home for the kids to ride in?! #lucky #fk8 #typer #ctr #honda #employee #americanhonda A post shared by Civic FK8 (@civicfk8) on Apr 14, 2017 at 2:56pm PDT

Although Honda announced that they’re releasing this 2017 Honda Civic Type R to dealerships in late spring, many Honda reps at auto shows where the Civic Type R was present mentioned that we’d expect to wait until June. And as of today, we know of at least one salesman in Ohio who is willing to sell you one without a markup.

Two weeks ago, the 2017 Honda Civic Type R was spotted testing on the Nurburgring going under some final tweaks. Our hunch is that Honda is actively trying to regain the manufacturer FWD Ring record from the V.W. Golf GTI Clubsport S which currently owns it at 7:47.19. The Euro Spec FK2 Civic Type R previously held the record at 7:50.63. With a release date set for June, an announcement of a new ‘Ring record would boost sales if by only a little.

It won’t be long before official press cars make their rounds, but for now, we know that 305 HP is plenty fast and this car is more capable than meets the eye.