I Have Configured the Perfect 2023 Honda Civic Type R for $44,746

While there aren’t many options for the prospective Civic Type R owner, there’s still a carefully chosen spec equilibrium to achieve.

byChris Rosales|
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The 2023 Honda Civic Type R has finally hit the streets, with reports of egregious markups already plaguing the new Honda hot hatch. Dealers doing this should really cut it out, but in the meantime, the configurator for the Type R is live and ready to be configurated. 

And there isn’t much to choose from. It’s a pretty typical new car configurator where options are incredibly limited or just nonexistent, and a small palette of colors compliments some dealer-installed accessories. But, there are some options that are exclusive to the Type R that can really change the MSRP and add a little spice to the car. Also, there’s a sparse but well-chosen selection of paint colors.

The most important points of any prospective Type R build will be the color and whether or not to go for the optional but lighter $3,100 forged wheels. There are five colors choices: the classic Crystal Black Pearl, Rallye Red, the newly introduced Boost Blue in place of the previous generation’s Aegean Blue, the requisite Championship White, and Sonic Gray Pearl. I have an affinity for Sonic Gray Pearl because it coats my very own 2019 Type R and has a lot of depth beyond being another gray. But for my hypothetical new CTR, I had a colossal debate about whether to choose Rallye Red or Championship White.

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After 2 minutes of internal deliberation, I chose Rallye Red. Yes, the heritage of Champ White has a lot of allure for me, but the FL5 does wear the red really well. As much as Boost Blue is also a great shade blue, I could never match it with the aggressively red interior. Type R heritage be damned, I wish I could spec a black interior for Boost Blue.

Finally, the $3,100 question of the optional forged wheels. I decided not to spend my hypothetical money on them because frankly, there are better options for the same money in the aftermarket. $3,100 isn’t far from a brand-new set of TE37 wheels, or basically any choice of high-quality aftermarket forged wheel. The Honda wheels look kinda cool but you could do better. 

The optional wheel. Honda

I also skipped the Alcantara wheel for obvious reasons–it will get gross. I also skipped the $2,250 carbon fiber wing because it seems like a huge waste of money. Honda claims a performance gain, which I bet is marginal at best. Springing for the illuminated door sill trim ($325), the contoured floor mats ($195), the seat back protectors and cargo tray ($236), my total build cost is $44,746 with destination. Not cheap, but just for academic curiosity, adding the just wheels and wing brings that total up to a gasp-inducing $50,096. 

There isn’t much to option out but it's a cool way to burn a few minutes. Check it out and report back with your specs in the comments. I won’t judge you for buying the wing.

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