Last November, Honda slightly increased the price of its Nurburgring record-smashing Civic Type R hot hatch by just $215 for a total of $34,990, including destination. No big deal. Today, however, Cars Direct has uncovered a second price increase, only this time it's nearly three times as much. Beginning this month, a 2018 Honda Civic Type R will cost you at least $35,595, including the $890 destination fee. Break those figures down and you're looking at a $600 increase and a $5 destination fee increase.

The latter increase affects all of Honda's currently on sale vehicles. Honda also announced a $100 increase on all other Civics as well. Is Honda's decision surprising given it could have simply waited until the 2019 model year to increase prices? A little bit, yes. More than likely (and this is common for all automakers), the 2019 Civic Type R will also experience a slight price boost, though it's still too early to confirm this. Honda has not added any additional standard or optional features at this time. Although the 2018 Civic Type R now costs at least $600 more than it did only last month, it's still a good bargain compared to its direct competitors.

For example, the Ford Focus RS, which ended production last month, starts at $41,995, while the Volkswagen Golf R begins at $39,785. The Subaru WRX STI, meanwhile, will set you back at least $36,095. Of course, all three of those vehicles come standard with all-wheel drive whereas the Civic Type R is front-wheel drive only. But considering the Civic Type R's FWD 'Ring record, you're still getting one hell of a performance car for the money.