The long version

Honda had never sold a Type R in America before the FK8, and the launch-year hype matched that novelty: dealer markups, waiting lists, cars changing hands before the first oil change. Four years of production settled that into something closer to a normal ownership pattern — Type R forums stay full of track-day writeups and daily-commute complaints about ride height over speed bumps in roughly equal measure. Depreciation data backs it up: the FK8 loses value at less than half the industry rate, an unusual outcome for a turbocharged hot hatch with adaptive dampers and a claimed Nürburgring FWD record.