A Christmas Miracle

FDM2023 said:

Yeah the title's corny I know. Anyway, here's my purchase story.
I had a MazdaSpeed3 that I bought new in 2009. Loved the car but that engine was getting ready to fully blow up at 183,000 miles. The day the Type R's hit the market in 2022 I started calling. I'm in Central Florida and had been looking and calling every Honda dealer both locally and out of state. All of them. Everyone I contacted I got the same story - 10k market adj.. (at least).. some were 20-25k when I first started calling around. I refuse to pay market adjustment and add-ons and told the dealerships the same. They pretty much balked at me. I kept a list of all dealers I'd called and the people I'd spoken with and the emails sent and returned. I even sent a letter to American Honda complaining about the dealership markups and sent my findings - I tried everything I could think of. Nothing. Eventually I had to get out of the Speed3 and pulled the trigger on an Si. This was in mid-October 2023 - 1 year after the car first went on sale. The only Civic Si I could find without a market adj. or add-ons was in North Carolina so I hopped on a plane and Ubered to the dealership.. quickly did the deal and drove it back to Orlando. Honestly a really great car but I wanted more power. So I kept looking and calling and emailing. Four days before Christmas I called two dealerships.. one in New Jersey and one in Jacksonville. The New Jersey one confirmed they were selling for MSRP with no add-ons. The Jacksonville one (way closer) had a 5k market adj. So on Dec 23 I put my brand new(ish) Si on the auto train from Sanford FL to Lorton VA, drove it (running all tolls) through Washington DC, Delaware and New Jersey and competed the deal on a 2023 CW CTR with 6 miles on it. Drove it back to DC and was on the auto train headed back the next day - Christmas Eve. Home on Christmas morning.
Moral of my story, don't give up. To be honest I pretty much had.. but kept pushing. Yes I took a hit on the trade for the Si.. not much of one but regardless, the deal is done and I am soooo happy with this car.. seriously no words. If you are still searching for the CTR, keep pushing - it's worth it. If you already have one, you already know.

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FDM2023 said:

Yeah the title's corny I know. Anyway, here's my purchase story.

I had a MazdaSpeed3 that I bought new in 2009. Loved the car but that engine was getting ready to fully blow up at 183,000 miles. The day the Type R's hit the market in 2022 I started calling. I'm in Central Florida and had been looking and calling every Honda dealer both locally and out of state. All of them. Everyone I contacted I got the same story - 10k market adj.. (at least).. some were 20-25k when I first started calling around. I refuse to pay market adjustment and add-ons and told the dealerships the same. They pretty much balked at me. I kept a list of all dealers I'd called and the people I'd spoken with and the emails sent and returned. I even sent a letter to American Honda complaining about the dealership markups and sent my findings - I tried everything I could think of. Nothing. Eventually I had to get out of the Speed3 and pulled the trigger on an Si. This was in mid-October 2023 - 1 year after the car first went on sale. The only Civic Si I could find without a market adj. or add-ons was in North Carolina so I hopped on a plane and Ubered to the dealership.. quickly did the deal and drove it back to Orlando.

Honestly a really great car but I wanted more power. So I kept looking and calling and emailing. Four days before Christmas I called two dealerships.. one in New Jersey and one in Jacksonville. The New Jersey one confirmed they were selling for MSRP with no add-ons. The Jacksonville one (way closer) had a 5k market adj. So on Dec 23 I put my brand new(ish) Si on the auto train from Sanford FL to Lorton VA, drove it (running all tolls) through Washington DC, Delaware and New Jersey and competed the deal on a 2023 CW CTR with 6 miles on it. Drove it back to DC and was on the auto train headed back the next day - Christmas Eve. Home on Christmas morning.

Moral of my story, don't give up. To be honest I pretty much had.. but kept pushing. Yes I took a hit on the trade for the Si.. not much of one but regardless, the deal is done and I am soooo happy with this car.. seriously no words. If you are still searching for the CTR, keep pushing - it's worth it. If you already have one, you already know.

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Jester04 said:

Congratulations on the acquisition! I’m from the central FL area too! Let me know if you want to meet up.

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TW00Si said:

Congrats on the CTR purchase.

Beware of Jester, he’s just gonna make you want to make it go faster (which he can).

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TW00Si said:

Congrats on the CTR purchase.

Beware of Jester, he’s just gonna make you want to make it go faster (which he can).

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jtrader said:

Cool story, and congrats on the purchase! My only comment would be that an Si w/ a tune is more than enough power for the streets. The right tune will make it feel nearly as powerful as a CTR at almost half the total price. Now my question: What is an auto train? Does your car get loaded on the same train as you???! That's wild.

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FDM2023 said:

Interesting. I never considered the Si could come close to the R-power wise. The Si was fun to drive. Quick but never felt fast to me. Tech wise- a different world from an 09 Speed3.
Amtrak Autotrain- runs from Sanford FL to Lorton VA- they load you car on the train and you get a seat($)or a room($$) and about 15 hours later you’re there. Saved hundreds of miles but isn’t cheap. At least I got to sleep and the seats were pretty similar to first class on a plane.
Worth trying imo.

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jtrader said:

I dunno. You can get close to CTR numbers for a very modest amount of money. The Phearable 1.5 Si tune gets you 235 HP 285 TQ which is huge improvement over stock, and if you step up to the 2.5 (flex fuel e30), you're looking at 277 Horsepower / 320 Torque. Not bad for what 1k-2k bucks? I suppose it could get more expensive though, like the need for a better clutch.

No matter though, you've made your choice and it's a fine choice indeed. Enjoy!!

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FDM2023 said:

Yeah the title's corny I know. Anyway, here's my purchase story.

I had a MazdaSpeed3 that I bought new in 2009. Loved the car but that engine was getting ready to fully blow up at 183,000 miles. The day the Type R's hit the market in 2022 I started calling. I'm in Central Florida and had been looking and calling every Honda dealer both locally and out of state. All of them. Everyone I contacted I got the same story - 10k market adj.. (at least).. some were 20-25k when I first started calling around. I refuse to pay market adjustment and add-ons and told the dealerships the same. They pretty much balked at me. I kept a list of all dealers I'd called and the people I'd spoken with and the emails sent and returned. I even sent a letter to American Honda complaining about the dealership markups and sent my findings - I tried everything I could think of. Nothing. Eventually I had to get out of the Speed3 and pulled the trigger on an Si. This was in mid-October 2023 - 1 year after the car first went on sale. The only Civic Si I could find without a market adj. or add-ons was in North Carolina so I hopped on a plane and Ubered to the dealership.. quickly did the deal and drove it back to Orlando.

Honestly a really great car but I wanted more power. So I kept looking and calling and emailing. Four days before Christmas I called two dealerships.. one in New Jersey and one in Jacksonville. The New Jersey one confirmed they were selling for MSRP with no add-ons. The Jacksonville one (way closer) had a 5k market adj. So on Dec 23 I put my brand new(ish) Si on the auto train from Sanford FL to Lorton VA, drove it (running all tolls) through Washington DC, Delaware and New Jersey and competed the deal on a 2023 CW CTR with 6 miles on it. Drove it back to DC and was on the auto train headed back the next day - Christmas Eve. Home on Christmas morning.

Moral of my story, don't give up. To be honest I pretty much had.. but kept pushing. Yes I took a hit on the trade for the Si.. not much of one but regardless, the deal is done and I am soooo happy with this car.. seriously no words. If you are still searching for the CTR, keep pushing - it's worth it. If you already have one, you already know.

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Cornercarver said:

From someone else who wound up with a new SI back in '17 - but who wanted a Type R, and finally got one in 2020, congrats.
The SI is fantastic- but the Type R is more than just a power bump.
Enjoy!

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