1991 Honda CRX DX 1.5 originally from North America

Faults:

It seems to be a wreck magnet.

Temperature control not properly supported; common problem with cracking/breaking. Can be solved using an aftermarket metal support plate.

Glove compartment not well supported; common breakage problem.

Older Hondas are susceptible to rust if not careful.

General Comments:

This car was purchased specifically as a tuner project. It was at a point in time when every yutz with a Honda slapped Altezzas on it and thought they added horsepower. My goal was to design a Honda that was genuinely respectable, using a platform that was less overdone than the mid to late 90s Civics that were popular at the time. I decided on a CRX. I finally located the one I wanted in February of 2002. It was rust free (extremely hard to find in these things), virtually dent free, and more fun than anything I had ever owned before to drive.

Due to the military affiliation of my significant other, I soon got to put the little car through its paces driving halfway across the country a few times to see him. The curvy hills of Northern Georgia were a blast, and the little CRX was zippy enough to handle the insanity of every major city from SW Missouri to Fort Bragg, each time I drove there and back.

This car is now even zippier than before, with an imported B16A1 rather than the mild mannered D16 it came with. Earlier this year, we finished a lengthy project including stripping the interior and engine, sandblasting, sanding, repainting, and reinstalling everything. This car is an amazing machine. At 21 years old it still turns heads. The inside is designed perfectly for acoustics. The interior is well designed and visually pleasing. It more than gives my Cooper S a run for its money.

To summarize, this car is not perfect. It is not designed to haul things. It is not a family car. It is very quirky. And it is quite possibly one of the coolest cars ever made.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 16th July, 2012

16th Jan 2018, 14:49

This car will become valuable years from now.

In reply to 16th Jan 2018, 14:49

17th Jan 2018, 12:46

How valuable and in how many years? Why is it not valuable now? What about one that is rusted out? Will it "become valuable" also?

17th Jan 2018, 19:52

Things get valuable when the people who owned them (or wish they owned them, such as a Lamborghini that one saw when he was a kid) come to have money and want to finally own or to own again a thing from the past so they can connect somehow again with the past (a nostalgia thing).

In the case of a CRX (which was a very loved car back in the days), some of those who owned them when they were young, will one day be 50, 60 years old and will have lots of money. They will want to have again one so they can remember their young years when the car meant of lot for them, and be willing to spend good money to have one again.

By then, which could happen in the next 20 years, the only CRX still on the market will be in good condition, with no rust and perhaps fully restored plus some upgrades. Pretty sure rusted ones won't survive that long.

If you have a clean tuned one, don't scrap it, keep it in a garage ;)

1991 Honda CRX 1.6i 16 DOHC from Poland

Summary:

The car, not the hybrid

Faults:

Distributor melted (common problem).

Headlight fuse short.

Needed a new exhaust.

Needed new tires.

Just regular maintenance for a 20 year old car!

General Comments:

Best car I've ever owned, I wish all cars were built like the Honda CRX. It's the closest you can get to a race car without stripping out an interior or tuning the engine. Not to mention it's comfortable, and very ergonomic with excellent use of space.

Very reliable car; always starts, even when the distributor melted, it drove me home 100km!

This is a real car that teaches you how to drive without any of the electronic nannies that correct your mistakes for you that are found in today's cars like, for example, drive-by-wire electronic throttle, hydraulic clutches, lane departure assist, brake assist, traction control, ABS, and power steering. It's just you, the car and the road.

If I could I'd drive this car for the rest of my life, I'd be so happy.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd February, 2010

13th Jun 2010, 16:55

Update: Nothing has gone wrong as of writing :)

In reply to 13th Jun 2010, 16:55

26th Dec 2011, 04:51

Update: Changed 2 summer tires and the radiator, since it was corroded for a 20 year old car.

This past week, drove it 1500 km, and no problems whatsoever, besides an amazing drive.

26th Dec 2011, 10:38

Hmmmm, my 1980 Celica had a hydraulic clutch. You sure about that one? Also, power steering has been around for 50 years or more.

I do agree that ABS, traction control, stability control and every other expensive addition to improve a car's safety, are more excuses for people not to learn to drive properly, than anything else.

The CRX was a great car overall though. Seems you are having great luck with yours. Funny that the CR-Z comes out 20 years later with a "revolutionary" hybrid powertrain, and it still gets about the same gas mileage. 20 years in the auto business doesn't equate to much advancement does it? Seems the only progress has been on the emissions side of engines. In my opinion, they could have made the CRX HF engine run much cleaner by now, and still get the 55 mpg it was achieving over 20 years ago without 100's of pounds of battery involved. I guess oil company payoffs have been the way of things though, which stifles any real progress in efficiency.

In reply to 26th Dec 2011, 10:38

29th Aug 2013, 21:35

Yeah, I'm sure the CRX had a cable clutch, since the cable snapped on me before I sold it. I've moved on and bought a Prelude; still fun to drive, but missing that character the CRX had. A really similar car I just drove is the FR-S/Toyota GT-86/BR-Z.

19th Oct 2020, 12:09

The CRX was a great zippy little Honda with 2 seats, and a big glass hatch and quite a roomy trunk. However it could not have been considered a race car in the base setup. But looks like the reviewer was coming from a Volvo 240, so then it's understandable. Comfortable seats, great visibility, superb gearbox selector feeling, direct unassisted steering. The steering wasn't that heavy when parking.

Two downsides: the weird dashboard shape with that flat area for small items storage. And the big steering wheel. In fact, the car was pretty boring to drive with the original large steering wheel. However, when installing a sports small diameter steering, the car came alive and become fun to drive.

Being a Honda, it had the usual weak points: body rust, brake lines rust, fuel tank rust, exhaust rust, all suspension and steering wear components would wear by 80k miles, distributor problems, head gaskets, gaskets leaks including the rem. Also the bolts were very prone to get stuck from rust, always a battle to remove old bolts.