Here's Another Great Reason To Buy A 2023 Honda Civic Type R

Nov. 05, 2022 9:08 AM ET by Jarryd Neves Industry News / 10 Comments

It boasts the best residual values of any 2023 Honda.

The new Honda Civic Type R is one of the most exciting cars to arrive in 2022, thanks to a fine blend of turbocharged grunt, on-track prowess, and enthusiast-focused standard equipment. And, according to Cars Direct, the Japanese hot hatch is a rather smart buy as well.

Using the brand's latest lease residual guide (a document sent to Honda dealers), the publication was able to ascertain that the Type R has a staggering 79% residual value - higher than any other MY2023 Honda. This figure is tied to a 24-month lease with a 10,000-mile-per-year limit.

If you were to opt for a three-year lease (with the same annual mileage cap), the 2023 Civic Type R still boasts a residual value of 74%. This bests the regular Civic and the Civic Si by a considerable margin, with the lesser models scoring 67% and 69%, respectively.

While that's all impressive, buyers should be careful about tailoring their leasing plans. Opting for a two-year lease plan with a yearly 12,000-mile cap lowers the residual value by 1%. Stretch that to 15,000 miles and the figure decreases by 2%. It's remarkable to think the Type R has such a high score; it even beats the incredibly popular CR-V Hybrid Sport, which has a 74% residual value.

It's not a cheap car to buy, though. The Civic Type R retails for more than $42,000. Not only is that more than the equally appealing Corolla GR, but it's a whopping $5,000 more expensive than the outgoing model. If you can buy one at the list price - which seems unlikely in the era of excessive dealer markups - it's still cheaper than the Golf R.

Interestingly, a closer look finds that the new Civic Type R has far better residual values than the Subaru WRX. For reference, a Subaru dealer leasing guide here in Los Angeles lists the base 2022 WRX with manual transmission at 65% on a 36-month lease with 10,000 miles a year. That's 9% lower than the new Civic Type R.

Even more interesting, Cars Direct notes the Civic Type R boasts superior residuals to the seemingly unloved Subaru WRX. As per an LA-based Subaru dealer, the leasing guide places the residual value at 65% for a base '22 WRX with a manual gearbox, on a 36-month lease permitting 10,000 miles a year.

So, should you buy a Civic Type R? Well the answer was always going to be yes - purely based on its talents - but now it seems there's an added benefit to leasing an example. Just hope and pray you can find an example being sold by a dealer at MSRP, as that may be a problem when scouting a car as desirable as this.