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
Must we do an inflation! What! Article every few months?
Is it really inflation when everyone’s wallet is staying the same size?
As this is a car site can’t we argue for a maximum psi on inflation? I’m just saying it’s necessary but by how much?
I don’t have an economics pun for “please god give the tire techs some sidewall to work with”.
Honda doesn’t want people looking at the Prelude for 43k and realizing that for only 3k more they can move up to a Type R, so they needed a bigger price gap. Damn Prelude.
Are those cars really competing? The Prelude is a sleek hybrid liftback coupe, the Civic Type R is a turbo manual four-door sedan with a bunch of aggressive bits and styling about it.
Well since the Prelude has the brakes and suspension setup from the Type R, I’d say yes. Someone might look at the Prelude and think why am I paying this much for Type R parts when for a little upgrade I can go full Type R instead?
Here’s another thought. At $50,000 shouldn’t it at least be good looking?
The current gen Type R looks mega in real life, especially from the front and front 3/4. Those pumped up fenders give it a real BTCC vibe.
Yes, and it’s getting really old seeing article after article complaining about car prices. It very much has “old man yells at cloud” vibes.
I bought my first car (a 2003 WRX) in 2010 for $10k. At that time, I aspired to one day own a 911 and it would cost me a simply outrageous $75k. A medium-sized comfortable family home was $300k.
Now, 16 years later, my wife’s Mazda SUV is within spitting distance of that 911 back then, and our house is worth close to triple what we paid for it.
Times change, and sure, while it might seem wild that we live in the era of a $50k Civic, it was $17k back in 1998, or about the same price as a Dodge Caravan or Chevy Camaro. Fast forward to today, and an average Chrysler Pacifica is just over $50k, and the Camaro doesn’t exist anymore, but for the last year that it did, average MSRP was in the mid-$40k range.
So like it or not, the Civic Type R is still about the same cost it always has been, but you’ve now lived long enough to see the effects of inflation.
I’m a tad older but I have only bought 1 car that cost more than $10k. A brand new Isuzu Vehicross for $23,995 or $10k off sticker almost a 34% discount. I don’t yell at clouds they are soothing but you better stay the fuck off my lawn. Lol
Now do purchasing power of consumers over the same time period.
It did come off as a generic AI-assisted click bait kind of automotive article, which I specifically seek to avoid by paying for this site.
Automotive journalist suddenly realizes that nearly all cars costs too damn much.
It seems to me that car price discussions on this website are always being done in in terms of what prices were when commenters were buying their first new car (e.g. why isn’t the Integra 30k because that’s what an ’00 Type R was). As someone who is currently too young to buy a new car, the track-tuned version of a civic hammering for the price of an average new vehicle seems fine. I suspect that the 50k mark’s significance is waning as it becomes mid-spec Highlander territory.
I paid $36.5k for my 1 year old GR Corolla in July ’24 and I haven’t looked back.
You was robbed I only paid $7k more for my house in 2018.
A 2017 CTR bought for its msrp in today’s money would be $45,612 thanks to inflation. I do think the FL5 is worth that $2500 more due to the wider wheels with bespoke PS4S that are better than the Contis, 2 piece rotors, better cooling, wireless carplay, radar cruise, and better stereo. I’ve added the FL5 wheels and brake rotors to my FK8 and spent more than that.
I’m not sure it’s comparable, but this makes a GR Corolla look like a bargain for $10k less. I have as much trouble wrapping my brain around a $40K Corolla as a $50K Civic.
It makes the WRX look like a bargain at, yet again, another $10k less.
But it’s more just a fun car, than a “track-focused” vehicle at this point.
And it doesn’t have a hatch that both the GR Corolla, TypeS, and CTR have.
Unfortunately, the WRX now starts at $37k, and the higher trims push the price north of $47k.
And it’s a tractor
When the Type R debuted in the US in 2017, it was priced from $33,900. $33,900 in 2017 is $44,826 today, adjusted for inflation, so its gone up about 3 grand in constant late 2025 dollars
I mean Honda is in the business of making money and dumb JDM bros have proven pretty unequivocally that they will pay (or more accurately finance) anything to get their hands on a CTR. There was a time when these were transacting in the 70s, and special edition CTRs can get within spitting distance of six figures.
To be fair, I’ve never driven one, but I have a hard time believing that a front wheel drive zooted up economy car is THAT magnificent. These were already a tough sell for me personally in the mid 40s and you still are not going to get one off the lot at MSRP. The general consensus is the ITS is the better buy because dealers sell it at MSRP and, very occasionally if you’re patient, under it…and by the time you get to the actual transaction price of a CTR the MSRP delta doesn’t matter anymore.
As V10emous said, Honda sees this and they want a slice of the pie themselves. Them and Toyota’s stupid and anti-consumer allocation systems are literally set up to allow their dealerships to charge out the ass, but when it comes to corporations greed always wins in the end and big daddy Honda wants their cut.
All of this would end if enthusiasts stopped paying these absurd prices but unfortunately many of us just can’t help ourselves. I also put some blame for this car being unobtainium on automotive journalists (not the ones here mind you). The way this damn thing is written about is just silly. If you were to just go off of articles and YouTube videos you’d think this is a McLaren F1 for $50 grand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an automobile receive such universal, cultish praise in my entire life.
And here we are! We have a fucking Civic for $50,000 BEFORE dealerships get a hold of you. It’s just ridiculous. I’ve toyed with getting a CTR or ITS on and off for years but I just don’t think I’m willing to swallow the cost when I could get a rear wheel drive luxury car with the same or better performance for the same price. I get that this manual transmission is god’s gift to humanity or something but that’s basically what you’re paying the premium for, and I’m sure I’ll get grilled for this but I just don’t care deeply enough about manuals to pay the price here.
You can get a lightly used M340i that’s rear wheel drive, has a B58, and somehow gets better fuel economy for this price, and that’s what I’m doing every time. Everyone else can have god’s manual and their $55,000 Civic, I’ll perfectly happy with a ZF8, two extra cylinders, and a car that spanks this in every other way.
This shit is just ridiculous. I refuse to believe that this car is THAT special. It’s cool, it throws down great lap times, and has a great transmission. For $40-$45,000 I might be in, but in the mid 50s and higher I am firmly out. Hell you’re in spitting distance of a base Blackwing at that point…
Isn’t a Blackwing $100K+? $50k is a pretty vast spitting distance.
In any case, you really should take one for a spin. It’s truly incredible how well Honda has tuned the worst habits of FWD out of this platform. But don’t take my word for it. Take a look at it’s Nürburgring 7:39.691 lap time.
THAT’S FASTER THAN A MURCIELAGO LP640 OR A 997 GT3 LP640!!!
A CT4V BW starts in the low 60s
Gotcha. That additional $14k would be an extra $300ish a month for someone like me (I only buy new cars that I can own in 48 months.)
That’s a lot nice dinners out with the wife. The CT4V BW is spicy but the wife is spicier.
Why not make the nice dinners at home and have your cake/eat it too ????
Actually I think $350 if the old $25;per $1,000 financed still holds true. Taken from when I tried to sell Dodge vehicles before Stellantis and Ram were a thing.
~$300 = maybe 2.5 nice dinners/month for two people these days for a standard, mid-range, quality local restaurant. I cook all the time and am very busy. I also like cars very much. I would absolutely buy a tier down if it meant that was the only way I could enjoy a couple of nice hours a month having a nice meal prepared for us.
Yeah but the US doesn’t have a Ring and probably few places you can actually let it rip
FWIW You can get them for MSRP now, have been able to for a bit. Only suckers pay ADM on them. one of my friends got his in October for $500 off msrp, another bought hers for MSRP in August.
Granted I am also biased as I own a FK8, but it really doesn’t compare from a driving experience to the m340i. The Type R has that special motorsports feeling, the BMWs are just fast, insulated sedans, but a bit boring. Also the Used v New comparison almost never favors the new car. However, with the CTR, you don’t lose your ass with depreciation.
My dude, did you ever actually look at a Type R at a dealership in 2018?
Because eight years ago, they were being sold for over $50,000.
Exactly. MSRP was fictional for these cars from Day 1. Honda is just adjusting pricing to what the market thinks they are worth. And they are obviously eating some of the tariff costs even so.
TBH I’d rather the manufacturers make the money than the dealer. What do they really bring to the table?
A LOT. They offload a TON of cost and risk from manufactures in return for the pittance they (normally) make selling new cars. And relative to the investment necessary to be a franchised dealer, it is very much a pittance.
The main thing they bring to the table as a car buyer is the ability to play them against each other for a better price, and far more locations to choose from. Direct sales just means everyone gets screwed equally. Or in the case of Tesla, randomly at Elon’s whims.
The original owner of my 2018 paid $48k for it new
I’ve just given up on being able to own any fun new car. Used is where it is, but even used tends to have high price or high miles.
Honestly, the ratio betweeen “base model and top model” is something I love to look at, and IMO until you hit 2x most people aren’t going to car.
Further, the people cross-shopping a CTR and base model probably don’t overlap much, if at all — compared to, say, shoppers of higher-end 911s and Corvettes where they have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to explain to themselves that the fancy version is actually worth 2x or 3x the perfectly capable base model.
I’m not in the market at $50k, but I can see it working just fine.
You can get a brand new blue BMW 330i w/ a beige interior for $50K.
Just sayin’
But it will be worth ~$24,000 at trade in 3 years later.
Who cares. Drive it for a decade and enjoy it. If all we thought about was resale value after 3 years there wouldn’t be anything left but Japanese crossovers…
This is a post about the high purchase cost of a car and your response to a 50% short-term depreciation rate is “Who cares”?
I’d care. A 330i is a nice but bland car. Not worth that kind of depreciation to me. The TypeR looks to be worth 10-15K more after 3 years. Lot of money in my book.
I’ve been fielding trade in offers for my 107k mile 2018 CTR from $21-24k sight unseen. They hold value incredibly well
I’m on Nsane side I bought my DD new in 2002 and still driving it and enjoying it. Best answer find a car you love, buy the best version you can afford, do proper maintenance and drive it forever. From new to classic same owner.
Just because something is German and RWD doesn’t mean it’s automatically better.
Or buy the BMW after 3 years and drive it for another 10!
That’s what I did. 5 months down, 115 to go. I’m sure nothing will go wrong in that time.
“Or buy the BMW after 3 years”
This is the answer.
“and drive it for another 10!”
Umm…well the N20 is out to pasture, so maybe! Update us in 115! 🙂
Buy it new, ordered exactly the way you want it, and keep the thing forever. 15 years and counting for mine.
That’s 10 years? Insane
Or buy it new and keep it forever as I am doing. 15 years now for my wagon. After 15 years, who cares what it cost new? Not that it matters because I am not selling it, but a RWD/6spd BMW wagon holds it’s value REALLY nicely too. Buying one used then was basically impossible, as there are less than 500 in the country to start with. Also hard to do European Delivery for a used one, LOL. It’s a good thing they killed that program, or I may have talked myself into spending $70K on a Z4 when they brought the manual back.
My sole out of pocket “repair” in the last 11 years has been a new battery. Though I doubt your ’22 will be quite that good.
Seriously. If you’re that concerned with trade-in value after 3 years and you’re actually turning cars over that fast, just lease it. Aside from a couple standouts like the Tacoma where value remains essentially flat, there is zero point in purchasing a new car and getting rid of it after three years.
There’s not much point in leasing one either. It doesn’t actually save you any money unless the automaker is wildly subventing the lease but not incentivizing buying as much (not nearly so much a thing anymore, which is why you don’t see crazy-cheap lease deals anymore). And then the fees can eat up any savings even then. And Dog help you if you go over on the mileage.
All you are doing is paying the stiff initial depreciation over and over – and in Maine you get boned on new car excise tax those first three years big-time over and over too. Being the accounting dork that I am, I track these things for all of my cars. Even for the cars I bought new and only kept 2-3 years, I came out ahead buying vs. leasing. I shudder to think what 5 3yr leases would have cost vs. what I paid to buy and keep my BMW all these years. Excise and sales tax alone… <shudder> And I still have a car worth $20K+. Admittedly, I don’t drive any one car all that much. and I have basically never driven that car in the winter after the first year or two.
Yes, I’m really surprised leasing has been suggested here as a way to avoid depreciation. I thought his was widely understood.
How does leasing help? If you lease, you pay the depreciation over the term of the leas, plus interest and acquisition fees.
But you won’t have had to ride in a rough-riding Civic for three years. <shrug> Worth it to me.
My BMW is still worth about 70% of what I paid for it after 15 years, and it sure isn’t dropping in value. You just need to order the RIGHT 3-series. 🙂
Post 2020 BMWs are reliable now. Like…very reliable. Don’t get me wrong, if shit goes wrong it won’t be something your local mechanic can knock out for a couple hundred bucks, but they’re not the money pits they once were, and they’re holding their value much better as a result.
Pre-2020 BMWs are reliable too. IMHO they have never been money pits (with exceptions, of course, the early turbos were disasters, and so are most of the V-engines). They cost to maintain proportionate to what they cost new, and always have. The main problem is that people think that because you can buy one used for the price of a new shitbox they will cost what a shitbox costs to maintain. They are wrong.
My bought-new ’11 328! wagon has needed a new battery in the now 11 years since the warranty ended, and it didn’t need much under warranty either. My ’11 128i has had a few more things go wrong before I bought it five years ago, but NOTHING broke in the first four years I owned it, and in the past year a few minor age and heat/sun related things. Stout cars, and a delight to drive. I find them reasonably easy to wrench on as well when they do need it. Did the front struts on the 1-series last weekend.
Yeah just very ugly and not that great
Yes, but the 330i is automatic only and that 2.0-liter turbo engine is quick enough but really dull and makes the wrong noises for something trying to be a premium sports sedan.
The Type R stands out for being unique and very good at the weird niche it occupies. The 330i is just another heavy isolated German compact turbo 4. They’re everywhere. And they’re overpriced.
The 330i, as you said, is not the right 3 series. The right one costs far more than a type R.
IMHO, there are no right BMWs anymore, but I have less than zero interest in a Honda anything, never mind one that wants to be a “track weapon”, which is something I really could not care less about. So I would still prefer the slightly dull BMW over that nonsense that at the end of the day, is still just an uncomfortable Civic that is crap to drive on public streets. Pumped-up econoboxes beyond the basic GTI are stupid.
“which is something I really could not care less about”
Which is why I noted how niche the Type R is. There are a lot of more comfortable less focused cars for this money (and I’d probably choose one of them myself for this price). But if you want something quick, tactile, handling-oriented, and with a good manual transmission (or any at all), what else is there? I kind of agree about the GTI, but it isn’t as sharp, it’s not as nice inside as it used to be, and the stick shift is gone. I don’t like that DSG in normal driving situations. Like the TypeR’s ride quality, it sacrifices day to day livability for performance.
Exactly why I have no real interest in anything currently sold new to start with. But I especially have no interest in a Civic R.
I don’t even get the point of cars like these. They aren’t actually THAT wonderful on the track compared to an ACTUAL track car, which you can have for much, much less, and you are risking your $50K daily driver doing that with them. The things that make them as good as they are on a track make them bloody terrible on the street. Neither fish nor fowl.
If I wanted to have fun on both track and street for $50K, I would buy a Formula Ford or Formula V car, and tow it to the track with my BMW. The savings in tires and brakes alone would probably pay for a year of track time.
That’s fine, Kevin, I don’t really disagree. I just don’t quite understand the palpable irritation at the notion of a specialized car that doesn’t suit one’s interests. I kind of like having this diversity in an increasingly homogenized crossover world.
I am guessing you can enjoy the power and handling of the Type R outside the track if you have access to decent driving roads, though.
Obviously, there are enough people who like this sort of thing that they are worth making. Fine and dandy, but I am not one of those people.
There are guys who enjoy hitting their genitals with hammers too…
That’s pretty weird. In all the times I’ve reached into my Box of Hyperbole, I’ve never pulled that one out.
Don’t kink-shame. 😉
Me? Never!
Have you driven a CTR? Because they’re extremely comfortable. I currently have a Sport Touring hybrid and I’d argue my CTR was softer in Comfort mode than my current car is all the time. And the seats are every bit as good as the ones in a 911 GT3.
I guarantee I would not find it comfortable, and I would find it annoyingly loud, because Honda. There has never been a Japanese car made with seats I could stand, for one thing. And I HATE Porsche seats as a rule. You put up with them because they are bolted into a Porsche.
Sounds good.
All the 2.0t engines out there (almost every make/model) take some getting used to. It took me a solid decade to warm up to the idea of NOT having 6+ cylinders in something “premium”
The BMW B48 can make some fun sounds and a boatload of torque for its size, but you’d never know it the way most Bimmer owners drive — that 8AT tranny will keep you lugging along at under 2k RPM like a diesel unless you switch to Sport mode or just DIY your shifting.
Still, at cold idle it’s more cacophonous than a lot of small diesels.
“All the 2.0t engines out there (almost every make/model) take some getting used to”
That’s correct. From BMW to Audi to Honda/Acura to Genesis I’ve tried to like the 2.0ts. I still haven’t warmed up to it. The better 2.0ts perform well if kept in the boost (the B9 A4 hauls when that dsg and turbo are working together).
But I don’t like the turbo lag from a stop and they all have it. Biggest hindrance and irritation to me in everyday driving. I could get used to it if I had to, but for now I have other options.
“All the 2.0t engines out there (almost every make/model) take some getting used to.”
Which makes me laugh, because the original 2.0-ish-t engines out there – from Saab, Volvo and Audi back in the 80’s, putting out about 1/2-2/3 the power of today’s 2.0t – were highly coveted.
If you’re trading your German Luxury Depreciation in after only 3 years – you should have leased.
I bought my CPO GLD 13 years ago with 31K on the dial when it was 4 years old for 60% of MSRP – and just passed the mark where I have put 100K miles on it myself yesterday.
I quietly thank the nice people who initially leased my Mercedes every time I get into it.
I wonder what that CTR will look like in 17 years/131K miles later?
Will it get upvoted on Shitbox Showdown?
Leasing IS paying for the manufacturer’s estimate of depreciation + interest. It’s right there in the lease terms. Whether buying or leasing, the first guy is paying that depreciation.
We could have gotten a Xiaomi SU7 Max (673bhp, 0-62 in 2.78s) for $43K if not for those meddling politicians.
Say no to protectionism.
That is still selling a kidney money to get mutant kidney grilles, maybe selling both Kidneys.
A lot of the price is simply that people will pay it. Why let the dealers take all the additional profit via “market adjustments”. I don’t believe for a split second that there is $15K in actual added cost/content in a Civic R. Might as well jack the price and keep some of it for themselves. Plus the tariffs, of course.
Well, as a sanity check, the average household income in the US per the FRED was $51k in 2012. That’s $83k in 2024 (can we really trust this stat anymore because of Trump fucking with the numbers?).
ATP was $30k in September 2012, $48k in September 2024, which lines up on the percentage increase in household average income.
Supposedly the math checks out and we just need to get used to it…
Lies, damn lies, and statistics. People on the high end of the earning scale are seeing increases much faster than people anywhere else on it, and that will skew the averages. The pool of people for whom $48k is affordable is almost certainly smaller today than in 2012, despite the averages suggesting it should be the same.
I don’t have any specific numbers to back that up, but see any discussion of the K-shaped economy to understand it is happening, and not just in terms of cars.
Tariffs are a big part of the price hikes, but it’s also the manufacturers (Honda, VW, etc) trying to make these cars into actual “track weapons” and not just high-performance street cars. You’re paying a premium for engineering/parts to chase those extra few percentage points where in the past people who really wanted those extra points would’ve paid for mods. People also want a nice interior while they’re at it.
Prices are rising faster and higher than tariffs. If it were about tariffs, prices would rise an amount equal to the tariff and stop rising.
Everybody’s just using tariffs as an excuse to increase profits even more.
In regard to tariffs, Honda is obviously eating some portion of the tariff on this car or it would be even MORE expensive than it is. Inflation is a thing, everything gets more expensive every year even without idiotic tariffs. And as I said in a previous post – for this car in particular, some of non-tariff increase is certainly Honda seeing the dealers do “market adjustments” and figuring they really should be taking some of that added profit for themselves. IMHO, if dealers are getting away with selling every one they can get their grubby mitts on for over MSRP, that is prima facie evidence that your MSRP is too low. Jack it up, and when/if demand slackens, put some incentives on the things.
Your pay should be increasing proportionately with inflation. If it isn’t, that’s a YOU problem, IMHO.
Honda has been holding back on passing through the costs of the Tariffs in hopes that they’ll eventually go away, shuffle production around, and/or to help normalize higher prices by boiling the frog slowly.
Many many manufacturers are doing the same thing, not just for cars.
Else, you’d have seen a knee-jerk 15% increase in just one year, and that, clearly, didn’t happen.
Yeah, the last numbers I saw said manufacturers were still eating about 85% of the tariff costs to avoid pissing off consumers. That won’t last forever though.
…Why do you think I listed another reason in addition to tariffs?
No, prices have decidedly not caught up with tariffs.
Tariff rates right now are settling into a “negotiated” value of 15%. Using the Type R example, the price would have gone up at least 15% since Jan 2025, but it’s only gone up 2.2%. Honda is paying somewhere between 5k and 7.5k in tariffs just to get a Type R onto a dealer lot at this point, and they haven’t passed much of that on to consumers at all.
The company I work for now (EU headquarters, worldwide manufacturing, major supplier to many industries) has made the conscious decision to do the same thing for now – we ate most of the tariffs during 2025 by reducing profit margins, but now that it seems like they could be here to stay, price increases for 2026 will be dramatic. And that’s just to maintain a profit margin that allows us to continue operating.
We are just at the beginning of the price increases necessitated by tariffs.
$50,000 for a FWD economy car platform sounds ridiculous.
$50,000 for a specialized 5-second-to-60 track weapon with one of the best manual transmissions in the business that can also be used as a family car and will depreciate slowly if at all? Sounds more reasonable.
GR Corolla faces the same dichotomy. Is it an overpriced econobox or a brilliant niche driving machine?
The Elantra N poses a bit of a problem to the Type R in my mind. Just as quick and usable in the real world, same FWD limitations and economy roots for $15,000 less.
You could easily say that the resale value is baked into the CTR, and isn’t in the ElantraN because it isn’t there.
Ha, yes. good catch. I thought of that as I was typing it. See the above with the BMW 330i discussion.
My brain is stuck in about 2015 when it comes to perception of how much things should cost, so at this point I just expect to be unpleasantly shocked any time I see the price of anything.
When I bought my truck last year I was rather shocked to see that despite being 5 figures more expensive than my 2015 was, in inflation-adjusted dollars it was actually cheaper. I’ve tried to recalibrate my price expectations, but I guess I’m officially old because I’m struggling with that.
Cars, as they age, without a re-do of the platform, should get cheaper. Your R and D gets paid off after a few years, and now you can cut prices and consumers can get a real deal and you can maintain the profits you were making! Even with inflation, the raise in price should be offset by the reduced costs.
I know, I know. Wake up and get my head out of the clouds.
The problem then becomes the price hike when the new platform lands. Buyers may balk a bit at an aging platform not getting any cheaper, but they’ll freak out if the new one jumps 25-30%.
Ram’s handling of the Ram Classic while selling the new ones was a master stroke imo, and they shouldn’t have stopped. There’s always a large group of people who prefer the old one for a few years. I 100% think you are right, but if you do what Ram did, then it will ease that pain and you would develop a good customer base.
Also the Grand Caravan that was offered alongside the new Pacifica.
-Investors, the people who actually matter to car companies.
Most car development programs are planned around a total production for the entire model run. The business case has all the cost reduction estimates built in, so while they do increase profit margins over the years, that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly making more money than planned and it would be easy to pass on savings.
It’s why you often heard about automakers “losing money” on the first year or two of EV’s (and why it’s such a big deal that the projected numbers aren’t coming). They launch at a price that may not be very profitable, and hope that with scale and cost improvements they can catch up later.
While the prices hurt my soul, the Civic Type R and Golf R are the top end of their respective model lines, so they don’t seem as crazy out of line given how high prices have become for pretty much every vehicle.
Honda, like Porsche with the GT cars, is sick of watching dealers collect profits over sticker from buyers, and want that money for themselves.
What happens when the dealer still wants to collect profits? Because that’s their goal number 1.
“We had no sales, so we have canceled the Type R”
Dealers can charge $70,000 for these and people will pay it. There is no limit to what folks will fork over for a Civic Type R, and Honda knows it.
When Honda released, in Canada, the 2021 CTR Limited Edition in Yellow – the entire country-wide allotment was already pre-sold within 4-minutes (that was 100 cars which, proportionately, is more than the US’ 600 cars)
You’re not wrong. They sell regardless.
I know they are good cars, but that’s a bit crazy for me!
As I’ve said in my rambling here, I simply refuse to believe that this car is god’s gift to humanity and feed into the mass hysteria surrounding it.
Yeah I just can’t imagine too many people who can afford a $50,000 car will buy this $50,000 car.
I agree. Aside this car is a piece of incredible engineering, I would rather get a V8 at this price
In its defense: if you’re an enthusiast, it can very easily be your only car. You can absolutely do everything you could in a normal Civic with it, plus you can also track it and keep up with Caymans and such. I personally, however, would opt for an Si if I was to do it all over again. I traded in my ’24 Si for a Type R and still kick myself for having done so.
If you simply, absolutely, positively must have a red badge, then I would say it won’t disappoint you even at $50k, but for the average enthusiast, an Si will be about 85% as good while costing like 40% less. But good luck finding a new one.
Except the Si doesn’t have the hatch.
If you want the usefulness of a 5-door hatch, but the fun of a manual transmission, that leaves only the Integra or CTR.
If you really want the LSD on top, that leaves only the CTR or TypeS.
I’m often annoyed that I can’t get an Si in a hatch, because the TypeR is too much for what I would realistically do with it, but I don’t want a sedan.
But I understand why Honda doesn’t want another hot Civic hatch stepping on the toes of the CTR. Too many potential buyers would probably recognize they don’t need all the capability and could get by with the Si.
And it makes sense they made the halo the hatch, because it looks better and the practicality helps justify the price.
I’ve read that the 1.5T in the SI is infinitely less reliable than the CTR/TypeS 2.0T.