It is quite true that the Revolutionary War did not have the same feature of top-to-bottom upheaval found in the French, Russian or Cuban revolutions. The elite political leadership did not really change, and after the surrender at Yorktown that elite was really concerned, in the 1780's, that "the mob" might try to overthrow it - which is a reason why there's an electoral college instead of a popular vote for President, by the way. The change towards a less-elitist , more popular government would happen more gradually, mostly in the 19th c.

However, it's hard to call it a civil war because of the distance. It would take weeks for a ship to sail from England to Boston. The Colonies had become very much self-governing over 150 years out of necessity. The royal authority was limited. There was a governor in each, appointed by the king, but there was no way to have him tightly linked to England, and governors tended to be quite independent- they could and would wage war, when they wanted, and not necessarily cooperate in doing so, and would not readily get much help from England. This was very much the case in the French and Indian War, where the colonies found their individual state militias not really adequate , and only after the conflict had muddled along for a while was a very large force of professional soldiers finally sent from England to do the job. That distance prevented the back-and-forth that you would expect in something called a civil war. From 1775 on , it didn't come back to England. Soldiers from the colonies never landed at , say, Plymouth seeking to take territory or gain the alliance of Perthshire. It was a revolt of a distant colony that stayed in that colony and wasn't quelled.

Terms are always changeable, as they carry connotations. When the Lost Cause school of history dominated discussion of the war 1860-65, some southerners liked to say The War Between the States, as opposed to the previous The War of the Rebellion, and the term The Civil War was sort of a compromise term- but with the end of the Lost Cause, we now might start using something more to the point, like The Slaveholders Rebellion. So, likewise, some people will now avoid the term American Revolution- it didn't change society that deeply. The American Revolutionary War is more accurate, The American War of Independence still better. Re-enactors sometimes just say Rev War, which is succinct. If you're an anglophile, I suppose you could start using The American Revolt, and see if it catches on:)

Don Higgenbotham: The War of American Independence