When I think about the Honda Civic, the first thing that comes to mind is affordability. It’s the go-to recommendation when people ask me what they should buy if they’re looking for something cheap, efficient, and reliable. With a starting price of $25,890 including destination, it remains one of the more affordable options on the market, even if it doesn’t break the top 10 most affordable vehicles.
At the opposite end of the Civic spectrum is the Type R model. The current version arrived on the market in 2023, starting at $44,890. To me, that seemed insanely expensive at the time, but it was still around $1,000 cheaper than the Golf R, the Civic’s closest competitor.
No car is immune to price increases, of course. In just three short model years, the Type R’s price has ballooned by $3,200 to a new high of $48,090, including a $1,195 destination charge. While that increase isn’t exactly surprising or out of the norm, it’s still breaking my brain a bit.
Let’s Do The Math
The Honda Civic Type R first arrived in the U.S. for the 2017 model year with a starting MSRP of $34,790, or $15,160 more than that year’s base model. As a percentage, the ’17 Type R was 77% more expensive than the standard car. That’s a huge jump, but you also got a lot for your money; a turbocharged engine making 306 horsepower, a lovely six-speed manual transmission, specific chassis and suspension tuning, bigger brakes, a bunch of radical aerodynamics, and some iconic red seats.
Looking at the 2023 model year, when the current Type R hit the scene, that metric increased slightly. In that year, the Type R was $20,045 more expensive than the standard Civic, representing an 80% difference in price. That 3% difference can be chalked up to the wider track, the better brake cooling, and the extra nine horsepower included with the new design.
Fast-forward to 2026, and that delta is even larger. While the price for the base Civic hasn’t grown hugely in the past three years, the Type R is a different story. The ’26 Type R is $22,200 more than the base car, representing a difference of 85% versus the cheapest Civic. In this case, though, nothing’s been updated, added, or changed to justify the price jump since ’23.
I’ve reached out to Honda to see why this gap is growing, and here’s what the representative sent me:
Honda continually evaluates market conditions and product value to ensure competitive pricing. The Civic Type R did not have a midyear price adjustment in the 2025 calendar year, so this 2.2% increase in price for the 2026 model year reflects the first increase in over a year.
If you’ve paid any attention to the car industry this past year, I’m sure you can guess the real reason. Production for the standard Civic is located in Indiana and Ontario, while the Type R is built in Japan. With import tariffs for Japanese cars currently sitting at 15%, it’s not terribly surprising to see the sporty Civic get a price hike.
It also isn’t a one-off in the segment. Remember how I just mentioned the Golf R was around $1,000 more expensive than the Civic in 2023? Well, now it’s nearly two grand more expensive in 2026, with a starting price of $50,730.
Okay, But What About My Feelings?
While the Civic Type R’s price hikes are easily explainable, it’s still hard to wrap my head around. The words “Honda Civic” and “$50,000” in the same sentence are something that just doesn’t compute to me. Even the most expensive Civic should be a mid-$30,000 affair … right? Truth is that these days, 30 grand won’t even get you a Civic Si—those start at $32,690.
Clearly, I’m stuck in the late 2010s. On the grand stage, a near-$50,000 vehicle might not even be considered “expensive” to the new car-buying population. The average transaction price in America for a new car is over $50,000. That means, incredibly, that the Civic Type R, at $48,090, is still cheaper than the average vehicle. My brain is having a hard time accepting that one, too.
Weirdly, I’m not nearly as brain-broken when it comes to the Golf R’s current price. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s not front-wheel drive, or maybe that I subconsciously perceive Volkswagen as a more prestigious, luxurious German brand. But paying $50k for the best possible version of the Golf is slightly more palatable—it just hurts my soul. This is despite knowing the Civic is far more fun to drive.
Then there’s the Acura Integra Type S. It’s mostly the same as the Civic Type R underneath, with a few minor changes to improve comfort, a slightly classier interior. It also has five more horsepower, if that matters to you. The 2026 model starts at $54,595, or about $6500 more than the Civic. In 2024, the first year of the Type S, that gap was a bit wider, at around $7,000. Personally, I’d choose the Honda every time, but if you’re the type who prioritizes comfort and tech, the Type R’s new price tag makes upgrading to the Acura slightly more justifiable.
Top graphic images: Brian Silvestro, Honda
Do I like “attainable” performance cars being $50k? Hell no! But, this isn’t that crazy when you think about it. I googled the MSRP of my 04 STi (which I bought used in 2010). It had an MSRP in 2004 of $31,545. Plug that into an inflation calculator, and that’s $54,124 in today’s money.
The Type R is a hell of a car, and while I’d obviously like it to start about ten grand cheaper, it’s not that crazy for the amount of performance you get for the price.
An entire article that can be explained by simple inflation.
$45k in 2023 is somewhere around $55k today. I guess we should be thankful?
I guess I’m fortunate enough that we bought our Accord V6 EXL in 2017, for about $34,000 and our MDX in 2018 for $54,000. I haven’t done the inflation adjustments for those prices. So, I really don’t know exactly where they would be versus the Type R. But the price of the Type R is a bit eye-opening.
Both have essentially the same 3.5 L engine that have more CCs but fewer HP than the Type R. It will be interesting to see how they hold up versus each other. Well, I won’t know how the MDX holds up as my now ex-wife traded it in on a Lincoln Corsair. The MDX has DI which gives it a few extra HP and torques but also the possibility of carbon buildup on intake valves. The Accord does not.
At this point in life, I really don’t need a spacious back seat. So, I wouldn’t mind a Civic-sized car instead an Accord. But the Accord is paid off and at 74K miles has a lot of life left.
I remember the mid-70s Civics and they were definitely compact. Civics have grown to at least the size of my ’86 Accord. Perhaps there’s a slot for something the size of those 70s Civics.
Nope. Too refined, too subtle and too restrained.
You ever find an Autopian article in which you have a lot of expertise, but the conversation ended hours ago, so there’s no point in commenting?
I agree that is a puzzle but I think it is more a marketing issue. Keep the inexpensive Honda Civic cheap but change the name of the R to a wholly different model. It really does not have much in common so just call it the Honda Speedster, and frankly as a buyer using industry jargon to explain the price difference would not work just say Trump’s Tariffs and I’m like okay that makes sense. As for brain hurt I still can’t get over a VW not being a cheap vehicle.
What breaks my brain is that people can afford to buy new vehicles at all in 2026. I’m 49 and make about $52,000 before taxes. Not great. After taxes that means that even a base model Civic is only about $13,000 less than my annual take home pay.
I have only bought a new car once, and I doubt I ever will again. I don’t know how people pay large car payments. The insurance is also more expensive, and so is the registration. My childhood dreams of owning a Porsche or other cool cars will never come to pass. I guess that’s what happens when you work in careers that help people. Capitalism rewards liars, crooks and unscrupulous folks. I’d rather live in a world where people had free healthcare, only worked a little and had time for leisure activities, hobbies and exercise. If anyone finds that place, let me know.
Eventually, AI will be doing our leisure activities for us so that we have more time free to work for them.
But probably no money. Soylent Green is people. Tastes like chicken.
From what I could gather from research, human tastes most like pork, though I imagine it’s similar to how I would say that goose kind of tastes like duck—not really, but that’s the closest comparable I know of.
Time for a modern version of John Carpenter’s “They Live”. Perhaps without the cheesy alleyway fistfight scene. Work! Consume!
“We should do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. It is a fact today that one in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living.”
-Buckminster Fuller
It’s really going to depend on cost of living. I’m 37 and don’t make much more than you, but I could afford to buy a new Type R if you restored my credit to what it was before I was unemployed twice in the last four years or wipe out the $450 a month in student loan debt I have (which is finally gone by the end of this year!). My rent is $1100 a month or so, utilities another $250. $150 for cell phone, $170 for insurance. Leaves me about $1700, or one paycheck, to pay for groceries, a car payment, or whatever else. But I live in a state with no income taxes, so that also helps.
Unfortunately for you is that unless you are in a relationship with someone else who makes a little more than you, so that your annual household income is closer to $115k+, you are not the demographic that a new car sale is targeted at. Most folks looking at $50k cars are in the $100k-$150k annual household income range, the median I am seeing is $115k with a quick search. Even then, I am not sure how they do it, at least comfortably. I live in a very HCOL area, average household income is above $180k annually. While there are still a lot of nice, $50k+ cars on the streets, it is not like some other LCOL areas I have traveled to that seem to have a higher proportion of similar cars.
Even when my wife was working we never made it to $115k+. There is also a high cost of living where I live. Just my property tax bill alone is 17% of my take home pay. I should stop ranting about it, but that article just sent me spinning. Has anyone unplugged capitalism and plugged it back in yet? We need a reboot.
For a vast majority of people who bought FL5’s new, the car has been at least $50k. $5k markup was about the best you could find for the first 2 years. Markups really only eased as the MSRP kept jumping year over year.
For context, the Hyundai Elantra N starts at $35,100. While not in the same league as the Type R in terms of raw performance, it’s also 27% ($13k) cheaper.
Probably costs the same to produce too.