Hype R?

I don’t know why, but all of the sudden, I’ve had an itch that I’ve needed to scratch. The problem is that I don’t know whether I should scratch it or just leave it alone. It’s kind of like a mosquito bite – you know if you scratch it, both good and bad things will happen – it will feel good, but it’ll also get worse. If you don’t scratch it, it’ll just go away with time.

That itch is the Honda Civic Type R. I’ll be completely honest – I don’t actually know when or how the itch started. I think it was just a seed that was planted long ago when the Type R was announced and in the last few weeks, it’s been sprouting and growing like a weed in my head. You know when you get the idea that you need something, you’ll come up with 1,001 reasons why you need it and literally 0 reasons why you don’t need it. Going back to the seed analogy – it’s just been in the back of my brain for months and it only recently got watered when Josh told me he’d throw me the keys one day and I could take it for a spin. That’s the worst thing that can happen – someone encourages the growth of a seed you didn’t really want or need to grow. This is my problem right now.

The Beyond meet was on Wednesday and truthfully, I wasn’t planning on going but when Josh said that Wednesday was the day – I couldn’t have said no, right?! So I went… And as soon as I saw Josh, his hand reached into his pocket and out came the Type R key, and he said “go for it”. If there’s anything that makes any car guy giddy (no homo), it’s when someone hands you the keys to their car and tells you to just go have fun.

This was it. I was going to see what all the hype was about. You can’t just walk into a dealership and test drive it cause you “wonder what it’s like”. You have to be serious. I’m not at that point yet – I’m toying with the idea – and there’s a very clear line between the two and so Josh’s offer was pretty much THE next best option for me.

There she is, ladies and gentlemen. The Type R right beside my ol’ gal. There’s something to be said about the Type R compared to my FRS (my opinion only because it seems like people get butt hurt about my opinion). My FRS looks better than a stock Type R. I know, I know – super subjective opinion – but from someone who is either

A) going to sell the FRS

B) keep both

It’s just what I think and If I were to go with option A, I would be totally sad about it because of all the cars I’ve gone through, I’m still not tired of looking at the FRS. And BTW, this has nothing to do against Josh – I love the guy – but I’m talking about Type R’s in general.

The interior is nice. It’s refined, it’s clean, and it’s got all the usual things you’d expect from a 2018 model. There were some things that Josh pointed out like – only the front door cards and other misc pieces is wrapped with suede/alcantara, while the rear is all fabric. Not a deal breaker – but kind of weird to have excluded the rear altogether on the Type R.

The seats are a loud, flashy red – I guess somewhat expected with the Type R. They’re comfortable and hold you well. Nice side bolsters – slightly comparable to Recaro SRD’s.

Instrument cluster is nice – all digital and reminiscent of when Honda first brought that design in 2006.

Brembo brakes up front with 20″ wheels. A bit excessive IMO…

Around the car, there is A LOT going on. It’s very aggressive and as many have already stated – is kind of like an STI.

The LED headlights are also one of my favourite things of the car. I’m glad almost all companies now are understanding and catering towards the aesthetics, function, and form of headlights. If you’re still in the halogen game in 2018, you’re out to lunch.The

The rear is one angle of the car that I’m quite fond of. I like the triple tip exhaust, I like the STI-type spoiler, I like the big rear non-functioning vents. The rear as a whole works for me, the lines all flow well and it just screams “kid racer!!!” and I love it.

The top vortex generators are funky and weird and I know if Honda left this empty and then offered it as a Type R add on – everyone with a Type R would have bought it, me included. So I’m not going to complain about ricer add-ons, because I would buy ricer add-ons.

The lip looks home made, to be quite honest. It’s got those funky batman ear things, it’s fake carbon and looks like it’s wrapped – but it’s still cool as hell. It’s just a combination of such weird and quirky things that kids would make in their garage that make the Type R so Hype R. It’s amazing how something that’s OEM can be so acceptable to me versus something that was home made. There are a lot of other factors (actual testing, proper fitment, etc) that change my opinion but Honda… You basically created a Honda ricer dream car!

Josh’s CTR was outfitted with a more aggressive carbon EVS deck and it looks great.

And so ends my quick thoughts on the CTR and before you go look at the rest of the pictures I was able to capture before my camera battery died, I’ll leave you with where I stand right this minute on the CTR because it seems everyone is wondering what I’m going to do. (Who knows, it might change as soon as this post is published…)

There’s really two options:

Option 1: Sell/part out the FRS and getting the type R.
Option 2: Sell the RX and get the type R.

I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’d be too devastated to let go of the FRS. I know what the pain of regret is like and I’ve decided that option 1 is not the way to go.

You are probably saying “well if you only have one option, why don’t you have the type R yet?”. It’s because if I sell the RX, the CTR becomes my new daily… Which also means I drive it in the winter and I’m not sure if I can come to terms with putting the CTR through our winters. I would also miss AWD, but that’s an issue for another day…

Anyway – the conclusion is this: if I can be OK with putting the CTR through winter, then it may happen. If not, then someone has to convince Diana that having 4 cars makes perfect sense. Back to pondering…

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