If you’ve got Type R dreams but decently equipped compact car money, you can’t go wrong with the regular Honda Civic. The current eleventh generation of the Civic is probably the best the model has ever been, and with prices starting at $25,400, the Civic won’t break the bank. What if a standard Civic isn’t enough, and you must have a Type R? You’re in luck, as last-gen FK8 Type Rs have finally started to show up on the used market for less than the price of a new base Civic.
FK8 values have been holding steady the last few years. Aside from outliers like the yellow limited edition Type R that was offered in ‘21, examples with lowish miles - figure under 30,000 or less - are still priced in the high $30,000 to the low to mid $40,000 range. If you’re willing to deal with older examples with higher miles, you can pick up an FK8 Type R for the price of a new Honda Civic.
If you want an FK8 from this decade, you can find a 2021 or 2022 that’s decently priced. Newer, lower mileage FK8s are going for loaded Civic Hybrid Hatchback money, which starts at $34,300 before options. This example for sale in Springfield, New Jersey (one of four FK8s the dealer has in stock) is a 2021 with 35,826 miles, and the dealer is asking $34,885. That’s still $12,160 cheaper than a brand new FL5-gen Type R.
There is one downside to these newly affordable Type Rs: There aren’t many of them. Using the aforementioned car buying sites, I’d estimate there’s 60 to 70 FK8s priced like this across the country as of this writing, a veritable handful. Still, if you’re in the market for a cheap-ish hot hatch, it might not hurt to take a leap on a used FK8 Type R.