It's hard not to love the Civic Type-R. Honda's full-on performance version of the Civic punches well above its own front-wheel-drive weight against all-wheel-drive and more expensive competitors. Not only is it as quick as hell and a responsive delight to drive, but has a level of grip we can't rightfully expect from a front-wheel-drive hatchback. On top of that, the Type-R quickly nailed down the fastest front-wheel lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a blistering time of 7 minutes and 43 seconds that it held until Renault unleashed the Megane RS Trophy-R just a few months ago.

When it was released just two years ago, the Civic Type-R was an absolute wonder and arrived with an MSRP of $34,775. However, that price went up at the end of 2018 to $36,595 and was followed early this year by a bump in destination charge by $25 to $920. And now, CarsDirect.com is reporting that Honda has announced a new MSRP starting at $37,230.

While that may be in line with with pricing from competitors, the fact of the matter is that the Type-R is creeping steadily towards the $40,000 mark after starting as a sub $35,000 performance wonder. It's just a couple of hundred dollars less expensive than a current Subaru WRX STI and it's also getting closer to the $41,290 starting price of the current Volkswagen Golf R. Then there's the problem of dealer markups that Motortrend reports to be averaging at around $4,000 right now. While the value of something is in what people will actually pay for it, it does start to raise the question of whether the Type-R is still an affordable performance bargain or simply an amazing version of Honda's compact car with a realistic price tag.

MSRP's for other Honda vehicles are also going up, including the Civic, HR-V, and CR-V, but only by $100. While the destination charge is going up on the Type-R by $25, the rest of Honda's cars are only going up by $10 and SUVs, the Ridgeline, and the Odyssey by $50.