Any higher-mileage Type R owners here who daily it as their only car, or plan to?

[RacingManiac]

A bit more than a year at the moment and about 22000miles. Only car, Michigan car, autoX car, commuter...this car will live a boring life most of the time....

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[VLJ]

A bit more than a year at the moment and about 22000miles. Only car, Michigan car, autoX car, commuter...this car will live a boring life most of the time....

How long did your original tires and brakes last, using it that way?

 

[RacingManiac]

How long did your original tires and brakes last, using it that way?

I have dedicated autoX tires+wheels for autoX, and winter tires+wheels for winter. The stock tires were used just basically commuting. And event then I got another set of wheels this year to use on the street so now they are just sitting in a room.

I am still on stock pads, they look like they will probably be fine until next spring, I will probably replace pads before next season starts.

 

[VLJ]

RacingManiac, thanks for the info.

 

[tezzasaurusrex]

Tires installed are somewhere close to $1,800, and instead of lasting the usual 60,000 miles this set will last, oh, 20,000, if we're lucky? Compared to a normal car, or even an ND2, that's a huge recurring expense.

The brakes on my old hybrid Camry basically never need replacing, and even the Miata's brakes weren't likely to need swapping for many years. The Type R brakes are a lot more expensive, and last nowhere near as long. I have read a number of accounts of people needing to swap their brakes at anywhere from 9,000-12,000 miles, despite not doing a lot of track work.

Average mileage on Premium fuel is working out to be 24 mpg for me, vs a constant 35 mpg on my ND2 (which would easily surpass 40 mpg on the freeway), and well over 50 mpg on cheaper 87 Regular fuel with the Camry.

Insurance for the Type R is pricier than for most other cars.

The tires and fuel mileage are the big ones, but taking everything into account, yes, the Type R's running costs are well above average. I suppose if things like Porsches and Corvettes are the yardstick then the Type R is relatively cheap to run, but compared to the Miata or most any normal car it's quite spendy.

It is what it is. I have to decide whether to flip the switch mentally and follow the advice of others here who say, "Just drive the thing. It's not a unicorn. Enjoy it." I suppose the question that's holding me back from doing that is whether this powertrain is long-term reliable enough to allow me to think of it as a ten-year/150,000K car that I can confidently treat like any other Honda, Toyota, or Mazda.

It's a Type R. All that grip and acceleration necessarily comes at a cost. I know I have to pay to play. I'm fine with that, in general terms. I just want to know that those higher running costs are all I need to account for, as opposed to the car inherently being too highly strung and fragile to serve as a long-term, higher-mileage daily. That's why I'm asking whether any FK8 owners have managed to put some decent mileage on that K20C motor.

I think you basically answered your own question in the last paragraph. The performance comes at a cost. To generate the amount of latitudinal G these cars can carry through a bend, the tyres need to be of a certain performance level, yes this is at the sacrifice of longevity. Same goes with the brakes since these cars have cornering assist in the VSA system that applies rear brakes during turns, all in the effort of getting you around a corner as safe and as fast as practically possible. Your driving habits will be the variable carrying the largest weight when it comes to how long your consumables last (oh and a good wheel alignment is crucial too).

Try telling me about your maintenance costs when your Camry hybrid battery is due for replacement. With proper maintenance and diligent owner habits, the Honda will go on and on, and serve to put a smile on your face as you blow past much higher HP vehicles on track and on the canyons, and it will do this for many many years, at a very low cost. There is no big DSG or timing belt service on these cars. All you have to do is change the basic consumables. Enjoy the car for what it is. Leave the worrying for things you can't fix with money.

 

[Testa_Rossa_]

A year and a half in with the FL5 and I have 23k miles on her. At around 8k I took off the summer tires and added all seasons b/c, well, Ohio. Other than disabling the native navigation sytstem and some minor rattles that I've pretty much worked out, the car has been a dream to daily. Highly recommend.

Wow, I'm at 7 months with nearly 13k on her, I feel like I'm racking up miles super fast but this car was meant to be driven and it's my one and only car! So it shall be, I love this thing and I guess if I felt like getting a second car at some point in the future I could always get another CTR in a different color lol

 

[qingcong]

Nothing, thankfully the FL5 is relatively free of the overabundance of electronic nonsense that is ruining so many modern cars. By current standards, the FL5 is a fairly bare bones car. It still uses switches and dials instead of capacitive touch garbage, there is basically zero piano black in the interior, and it isn't swamped in cheap screens everywhere.

I'm not worried about Honda's electronics. While anything can fail, I don't sweat it here.

I also agree with you about not wantng to neuter the FL5 with cheaper tires and brakes. I love this car for a reason. I won't diminish its fun factor.

I never liked the looks of the FK8, so I never followed that car. When you say that it was pretty good, are you aware of high-mileage examples that had no engine issues? That's my only concern. All the rest of FL5 ownership can be chalked up to, "It's a performance car. The costs are the costs. It is what it is," and I agree with this. The longevity of that turbo motor is my only question.

I realized you made that post a few months ago about the turbo DI aspect of the engine and whether it's reliable like old Honda engines. It seems to me that for someone intent on driving cars for a long time you seem to have cold feet about driving your current car for a long time. I'd venture to guess that switching cars will cost you more money than just keeping the car. The oldest FK8 out there is going to be 7 years old, so there's not going to be any 10 year examples. There's the FK2 which came out in 2015, it also has the turbo K20. Even if you get a 200k mile FK8, it won't have the years. You're searching for data that doesn't exist. Just drive it and trust Honda engineering, or get a Toyota/Lexus with a slushbox which will bore you to death and then you'll just want to switch cars anyways because it's so boring.

 

[VLJ]

qingcong, yes, switching cars does cost a lot of money. Unlesss we're talking about a Ferrari or a GT3 or something, we almost always lose the tax and license twice, at a bare minimum, and there is usually a decent loss on depreciation. Maybe the depreciation isnt as bad with an FL5, I don't know, as I haven't looked into seeing what these currently go for on the private party market. I assume we are now past the point of people still paying msrp or even above msrp for used ones, but I might be mistaken. Carmax offered me $45K a month ago. I imagine that number would be slightly lower now, with another thousand miles on the clock.

Regardless, I paid the msrp of $46,345 for mine, with no dealer markups or add-ons, but with tax, license, and the other fees it came to $50,061.33 OTD. Doubtful I recoup much if any of that $3,716.33 difference, plus I'd have to pay those same fees again on the next car. That's roughly $7,000 in lost fees, plus whatever loss I take in depreciation from the original $46,345 purchase price. Figure a minimum of $8,500, total. Could be a decent bit more.

Yeah, swapping new cars usually means taking a pretty decent hit, even with the FL5's superior resale value.

 

[svvitch]

Yeah, swapping new cars usually means taking a pretty decent hit, even with the FL5's superior resale value.

All the more reason to drive the wheels off it!

 

[VLJ]

It would seem so, wouldn't it? If nothing else, it makes for an interersting case study.

Without knowing the number I'd get for selling mine, it makes it difficult to compare costs. For the purposes of this exercise, let's go with Carmax's last offer of $45K. I figure that's pretty much what I could expect to get from a private party sale, though I may be selling myself short there. In any case, we'll go with $45K. Since we're talking money here, I'll go with another Camry hybrid as the replacement for the FL5. I'd get the base model, with a couple of optional packages. The msrp would be $31,755, whch comes to $35,000 OTD, give or take a few bucks.

So, after selling the Honda for $45K and buying the Camry for $35K, I get back $10K. Subtract that number from the $50K OTD for the Honda, and I basically spent $5K plus gas to drive the FL5 for six or seven months. In terms of the Camry, I've again paid another set of fees, which will cover me for an additional six or seven months beyond what I already paid for the Honda. I'll therefore divide the fees by half, so I lose roughly another $1,600.

In round numbers, I lose about $6,600 then for the privilege of driving the FL5 for seven months before switching to a model-year newer Camry.

Once in the Camry, I will average more than twice the fuel mileage while using cheaper 87 Regular vs the Honda's 91 Premium. The Camry has no starter or alternator that will ever need replacing. The regenerative brakes basically last forever. Those tiny 16" tires cost roughly half of the Type R tire price, and they last three times longer. At something like 200,000 miles I'd likely need to replace the hybrid battery, which currently runs about $3K.

I'd say that it's fairly close. Depending on the price of gas as time goes by, the Camry could still end up being a net positive financially, despite the initial hit that comes with swapping new cars in a short timeframe.

 

[BigBird]

I'll say it again, this car is not for you. it's not an interesting case study at all.

99.9999% of Type R buyers aren't cross shopping a Camry Hybrid. I would have said 100%, but here we are.

Sorry to be blunt, but you are going around in circles with the same basic argument. Take the offer from carmax, it's really good. Go Get that Camry and enjoy the saved cents.

 

[Tougefl5]

I don't understand people who think about resale value rather than enjoyment.
99.9% Cars are a deprecated asset.

 

[chopsuey34]

So, after selling the Honda for $45K and buying the Camry for $35K, I get back $10K. Subtract that number from the $50K OTD for the Honda, and I basically spent $5K plus gas to drive the FL5 for six or seven months. In terms of the Camry, I've again paid another set of fees, which will cover me for an additional six or seven months beyond what I already paid for the Honda. I'll therefore divide the fees by half, so I lose roughly another $1,600.

In round numbers, I lose about $6,600 then for the privilege of driving the FL5 for seven months before switching to a model-year newer Camry.

Once in the Camry, I will average more than twice the fuel mileage while using cheaper 87 Regular vs the Honda's 91 Premium. The Camry has no starter or alternator that will ever need replacing. The regenerative brakes basically last forever. Those tiny 16" tires cost roughly half of the Type R tire price, and they last three times longer. At something like 200,000 miles I'd likely need to replace the hybrid battery, which currently runs about $3K.

Bro, at this point you are overthinking this (coming from a guy who does DCF analysis on cars). Do you want a Type R or a Camry Hybrid? They are totally different driving experiences. Stay with the performance Type R and pay the cost to be the boss or take a relative bath to get a ultra-frugal, but boring Camry hybrid. Being a car enthusiast is expensive, you're spending bucks either way. Choose a different hobby if you're this concerned about money (says the guy who's extremely concerned about his own money).

Forget the $, you can already afford the Type R. What do you want to drive 5 years down the road?

 

[BigBird]

Stay with the performance Type R and pay the cost to be the boss

Quoted for posterity. love it

 

[VLJ]

I've already stated that I know I have to pay to play. If I want a sportscar, the running costs will be higher. I've stated plainly that I accept this fact. Additionally, having owned both the Type R and Camry hybrid, as well as the ND2 Miatas, I am obviously well aware of the driving differences between sportscars and commodity appliances. For me, sportscars are a replacement for my sportbikes, which I was forced to give up when some octogenarian in a Monte Carlo who had no business still driving on public roads t-boned me on my Kawasaki, leaving me permanently disabled.

I don't like the idea of giving up on having fun. So, even though it really doesn't make sense in my situation, I continue to hold on. MX-5s, this Type R...I continue to hold on.

Toward that end, all I was originally asking is whether the Type R's motor can be expected to last as long as most other motors, given proper maintenance.

Beyond that, the rest of this, meaning the money breakdowns, it's all just simple conjecture. Because my car is paid off, I can technically afford it. However, living on a fixed income means that money scenarios are something I always ought to consider. Basic food for thought.

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