Practical Justifications for the Type R

Caestus said:

I won't be able to haul around any 4x8 sheets of Plywood or 8' 2x4s but that is ok... I can always rent a Home Depot Flat bed.

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JayDiem said:

Car is super practical in my opinion. 4 doors, excellent handling, pay for civic insurance and civic repairs but get double the performance. And the Cargo area with seats down is 5 ft deep or just as deep as many full size trucks. Sometimes I like to see how far I can push it.

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xc1v1cx said:

With your number of passengers, it can be practical, however as some have mentioned there is a cost to making it so. On top of the smaller rims + bigger tires, you probably want to consider the spare tire kit.

Let's be honest though, practicality is not why we like the Type R, nor is it what it was designed for. If the added expenses are something you are comfortable with, then by all means go for it if it makes sense to you. Otherwise you may have a more practical car that you look at every day and wonder what could have been

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charleswrivers said:

Depends on your point of view...

Comparing it to a sport hatch that costs a little more than 1/2 what a CTR costs... burns 2/3 the fuel... with tire costs substantially less over the lifetime while seating one more... it doesn't make much sense.

If you're looking at other performance cars however... when looking back at the relatively low cost of entry and very functional 2+2 for seating 4 adults with hatchback storage... while matching or beating other dedicated sportscars for far less money to buy and maintain while likely being very reliable long-term... it makes sense.

It's all in how you compare it. Depending on how do so can make it seem ridiculous and frivolous or a bargain.

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MonkeyConQueso said:

Agreed, the CTR is not a practical car. A basic Civic Hatch of any form will be more practical than the CTR by far.

However, if you have the extra money and want to have something that's fun and handles really damn well.... then go for it.

I personally justified it because I'm a car person. I didn't really want to pay anything over $40k for a vehicle, and I like light and sporty/good handling cars... The CTR lands on those points squarely. Ultimately, I knew it wasn't stretching my budget, I could easily afford it, and I would have been disappointed in any other car that was out there around that price point when I purchased in early '18.

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willskiGT said:

I think it's all relative.

The Civic Type R is (for me) an extremely practical car. I can seat 4 adults comfortably with all their belongings. It's got a huge hatch/trunk area, which is even larger when you fold down the seats. Suspension is nice and compliant in Comfort, the car gets 30mpg on the highway (and still averages around 24mpg in mixed driving), and has a modern infotainment suite. It's extremely cheap to maintain/service and insurance is shockingly cheap (I pay around $475 for 6 months).

I was cross shopping the CTR with used GT350s, V8 Vantages, Camaro Z/28, and Lotus Elise/Exiges. Those cars (the Lotuses in particular) are more of what I would call impractical cars. They get atrocious gas mileage, have poor visibility, no storage space, servicing and insurance costs are insane.

The line between practical/impractical for me is when the car is difficult/not fun to daily drive, but obviously that line is different for everyone.

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R-10552 said:

From a cargo space perspective, I do not think you can get a more practical car that has similar performance to the TypeR for the price. If you start factoring in maintenance and running costs then things get worse for it. But who cares about that?! You're driving a TypeR!

But I will say this: If you want a TypeR do not settle for the sport hatch (as long as you can afford the TypeR). You will regret it and it will end up costing you more in the long run if you can't get the TypeR out of your head and you end up upgrading later. I've done that with so many cars in the past. Just get what you want.

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Zeffy94 said:

Maintenance and running costs completely caught me off guard. Much higher than I expected, although some is my own doing.

The car is practical, but after living with it for about 18 months I do think as a daily driver in certain areas it falls short. Uneven roads are a nightmare in terms of ride comfort, and that’s a majority of my commute (thanks PA!). Comfort mode helps, but the nerfed throttle pedal response sucks. The other issue is when you’re in traffic and you have to constantly shuffle gears, because pretty much below 2k RPM the engine feels gutless. I always try to keep the car above 2k RPM for that reason (and because auto rev match works too then).

Find the perfect road though and this car shines. The question then becomes how often you find those roads though. I know with the increased construction in my area as well as school starting back up there’s more traffic on the roads which dampens the experience.

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Zeffy94 said:

Maintenance and running costs completely caught me off guard. Much higher than I expected, although some is my own doing.

The car is practical, but after living with it for about 18 months I do think as a daily driver in certain areas it falls short. Uneven roads are a nightmare in terms of ride comfort, and that’s a majority of my commute (thanks PA!). Comfort mode helps, but the nerfed throttle pedal response sucks. The other issue is when you’re in traffic and you have to constantly shuffle gears, because pretty much below 2k RPM the engine feels gutless. I always try to keep the car above 2k RPM for that reason (and because auto rev match works too then).

Find the perfect road though and this car shines. The question then becomes how often you find those roads though. I know with the increased construction in my area as well as school starting back up there’s more traffic on the roads which dampens the experience.

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Zeffy94 said:

Maintenance and running costs completely caught me off guard. Much higher than I expected, although some is my own doing.

The car is practical, but after living with it for about 18 months I do think as a daily driver in certain areas it falls short. Uneven roads are a nightmare in terms of ride comfort, and that’s a majority of my commute (thanks PA!). Comfort mode helps, but the nerfed throttle pedal response sucks. The other issue is when you’re in traffic and you have to constantly shuffle gears, because pretty much below 2k RPM the engine feels gutless. I always try to keep the car above 2k RPM for that reason (and because auto rev match works too then).

Find the perfect road though and this car shines. The question then becomes how often you find those roads though. I know with the increased construction in my area as well as school starting back up there’s more traffic on the roads which dampens the experience.

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tinyman392 said:

I haven't noticed any maintenance cost differences. The only thing that would come to mind would be the brake pads and rotors that might be slightly higher. Running costs is definitely going to be in gas since it's not the most fuel efficient (but I would't say it isn't fuel efficient either) and you have to get premium, more or less.

You're having issues with comfort, and with the stock setup on the CTR, I agree with you. It's not bad bad, but it's not good either. Swap to 18" wheels and it'll get rid of the issue almost entirely. Plus if you go to a light setup (around 20-ish lbs per wheel) it'll also be faster, have a better tire selection, and possibly cheaper tires too!

If you want auto rev match to work below 2000 RPM, downshift 2+ gears. The rev match is a little slower though, but if you want to speed it up, blip the throttle while you're moving the gear lever

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Zeffy94 said:

It’s mostly fuel, and the fact that tires are SO damn expensive (cheaping out for what the car is feels wrong). I’m almost to 29 MPG combined (per the dashboard) and I still have to fill up once a week.

I considered the swap to 18s but then not only would I need new wheels I would need ANOTHER set of new tires for them. Rather not spending a couple grand for a while.

But yeah, comfort mode helps with the craptastic roads in PA but you can still feel a lot of the vibrations make their way into the cabin. On the plus side, hitting potholes doesn’t quite sound like I just blew an entire axle up.

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