Supposedly, Honda has a 2017 Civic Type R demo car making its rounds on the East Coast and these Honda salesmen were filmed giving it a “proper break in.”
If you’re going to hoon around in a new 2017 Honda Civic Type R demo vehicle you’d think you’d have the foresight to make sure no one’s filming you. A video has been making its rounds on the internet showing a bunch of Honda salesmen taking a new Type R and giving the engine, clutch, and brakes an accelerated break-in so to speak. Pay attention around:42 and 2:37 where the driver gratuitously tries out the Type R’s rev matching abilities.
More than one person in the comment section of the video seems to be in the know about this particular car and claims that this is a demo car owned by Honda for three years. Its purpose is for demonstration only, for diagnostics and repairs for techs, and will be sold used after it’s made its rounds. A bit of googling reveals that the commenter is actually the General Sales Manager for this particular dealership so we’ll take his word for it. According to him,
This car is not a retail unit. It is in the showroom and clearly says it isn’t. It’s a program car and is used for evaluation purposes only.
This Type “R” is an evaluation car and can not be retailed. Honda will have the car for 3 yrs and the car will then be sold as a pre-owned vehicle.
If that’s the case, this puts the video in a better context and probably explains why they treated this Honda Civic Type R the way they did. I’m sure if someone told you to try out a demo vehicle after hearing it hyped up for months, you’d probably take an opportunity to see what all the fuss is about (within the limits of the law of course.)
Then again, Honda Civic Type R’s have only landed on American soil for a couple of days and if this is truly a demo vehicle that was just unloaded off the trailer a few days ago according to this comment, then the engine should still be going through its break-in period. The video shows a clip of Honda suggesting that you take it easy for the first 1,000 miles. Even their bog-standard Civics recommend no sudden accelerations for the first 600 miles. If it’s going to be used for diagnostic purposes you’d think they’d do their best to keep this Civic in tip-top shape.
Since this video hit the web, it’s made its way back to the dealership and they’ve since left a comment on the video with how they responded.
Honda of Chantilly- we were made aware of this video yesterday and have responded in a decisive manner. We don not condone the behavior nor the language and have communicated our expectations very clearly to those involved. All parties have been dealt with appropriately.
We’re sure if the driver knew his shenanigans were going to be uploaded on the internet for everyone to see, he would’ve driven a lot differently. At the very least two hands on the steering wheel.
And at the end of the day, the Civic Type R is a racecar for the streets. It can definitely handle a bit fo manhandling.
