Looking Back 20 Years at My First Manual: the Honda CRX Si

About 20 years ago I bought my first stick.  It was a second-hand 1989 Honda Civic CRX Si in black.  For a while I even owned an additional one in white, also a manual, but that's another story.  The black one was my favorite and daily driver.  I loved it and kept it for about 6 years and 155,000 miles, until everything started failing on it and I sold it and bought the BMW E36.   The CRX was an enormously fun car.  A true two seater, it had a hatchback with a power sunroof, front wheel drive, and 1.6 L, 108 HP 4 cylinder 16-valve 1590 cc D16A6 engine with multi-point fuel injection.  It had a surprisingly roomy trunk and the stick shifted like butter.  It certainly was not a high performance car in the way a Porsche is, but for its size and fuel economy it was a little rocket and the high end version of a Civic.  It was by no means a collectible car, but it ran and ran with little maintenance, and didn't cost me much to operate-- plus in those days gasoline was around $1.00+ per gallon.  Towards the end of its life I had a new clutch put in, but no other major work. 

CRXs were manufactured from 1983 through 1991.  Mine was the third generation, which was replaced by the del Sol in 1992.  Just a few years ago, Honda introduced what is supposed to be another successor to the CRX-- the combined combustion-electric CR-Z.  You can look at it on the Honda website.  There is serious debate as to whether or not the CR-Z lives up to its CRX predecessor in terms of performance and uniqueness.  The CR-Z is certainly reminiscent in appearance of the CRX.  I've been thinking about going to test drive one just to satisfy my curiosity.  Ok-- I have to-- my curiosity won't let up.  Let's do this!  Reviews of the CR-Z have been mixed, and I've heard that if you previously owned a beloved CRX you'll be disappointed. I'm bracing myself but going to be open minded:  I'm getting ready to buy a new daily driver car as my work commute is going to be changing dramatically (for the better!) soon, and the Porsche is not an option for the coming winter and Northeast foul weather.  I've got my eyes on a couple different cars, and looking forward to spending time behind the wheel test driving those.  I'll  be sure to share my experience here.