The Honda Civic Type R brings it.  Bold, beautiful, race-inspired styling inside and out. And the Type R delivers performance every bit to match its aggressive good looks. 

Honda even managed to pack all that into a vehicle that can still be used as a daily driver! On top of all that, the 2018 Honda Civic Type R is an incredible value.

iDriveSoCal’s, Bernadette Sanicola (who we learned can’t drive a stick shift!), took a special test drive with Rock Honda’s David Latif – hear the details in this iDSC Podcast. 

And, BTW, the special test drive was due to the fact that David had to drive Bernadette because she can’t drive stick!  Hahaha – did we mention that Bernadette can’t drive stick shift?!!?!

Our Pit Reporter for world-class races like the American Le Mans, NASCAR and others can’t drive a manual transmission.  Oh… that’s good stuff!

***Transcription***

Recorded May 10, 2018, at Benztown Studios in Glendale, CA

2018 Honda Type R

Bernadette Sanicola: Well, I love the exterior. I think it's sexy. Having the air intakes on the side and the air breathers inside. You can definitely feel the difference when you go into corners.

The interior, the seats were amazing. They are the true bucket race seats, and the bolsters on the side just have you. So I loved the digital displays too. Inside the Type R, I think it's cool because you can customize them. It gives you like an F1 feel

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. I'm Tom Smith and with me today for a little unusual vehicle review is Bernie Sports, Bernadette Sanicola.

Tom Smith: Bernadette, thank you so much for joining us. This is our outing number three.

Bernadette Sanicola: Right, right. It is, I'm glad to be here and stepped it up a little for you.

Tom Smith: Alright, yeah, and we're gonna hear all about it. And I say Bernie Sports because if you want to follow Bernadette on ... Instagram is your primary social platform, right?

"...it's so hot, there's so few of them, it's such tremendous value that if you're a buyer... you don't get to test drive."

Bernadette Sanicola: All of them.

Tom Smith: It's @BernieSports, you can tell I'm really big on social media. @BernieSports.com, no that's not how you do it.

Bernadette Sanicola: Just @, yeah.

Tom Smith: I get it. So @BernieSports you can follow her, she's all over social media. That being said, Bernadette went out to the Los Angeles suburb of Fontana, California to see our good friends at Rock Honda, connected with the general manager out there, our good friend David Latif, and the assignment was to drive a crossover.

Bernadette Sanicola: Oops.

Civic Type R - High Demand & Limited Supply

Tom Smith: But jokingly on the side, Bernadette knew that I drove a Civic Si, which is the enthusiast's version of the Civic, but then in the Civic family they have, as of this year, the new bad bad bad to the bone boy. The Honda Civic Type R.

Bernadette Sanicola: Mm-hmm.

Tom Smith: So Bernadette kind of threw down a little bit of a challenge somehow. I don't know in passing, she's like, "I'm gonna get David to let me drive the Type R." I'm like, "yeah, right. That's gonna happen."

'Cause the thing is with that car is that it's so hot there's so few of them, it's such tremendous value that if you're a buyer for the vehicle you don't get to test drive.

Bernadette Sanicola: Right.

Tom Smith: But, Bernadette, somehow worked her magic and got David to... well, I'll let you tell the story.

Bernadette Sanicola: Well, I mean,