1989 Honda CRX

My Honda is easily the best car I ever owned. Even though it was an SI model with a bigger engine than the HF, I regularly got 45 mpg (up to 50) on the highway and 38 in town. Yes, it is a 2 seater and not a family car but the large hatch allows it to carry more (and bigger) cargo than other cars with a trunk.

Maintenance wise I had few issues. Once a mechanic leaned on the radiator cap and broke off the coolant overflow hose. The air conditioning fan motor went out. The seats are prone to wear due to the wrap-around edges.

But the best part of the car was driving it! It has agility that few cars have. Yes the suspension is a bit rough on potholes but you see why when you are driving the curvy mountain roads at North Rim of the Grand Canyon. CRXs make great road trip cars except that standard transmission models do not have cruise.

These cars had wonderful gas mileage and were fun to drive. I wonder if they had to eliminate them so that hybrid cars (the Insight) would have a market? Why buy a hybrid when a gas engine car close to the same mileage and is much simpler mechanically and much cheaper? If the auto industry had taken the CRX as an example the world would be better off...

i absolutly love these xars they get great gas milege and they handle great run for a long time but i bought mine for tuneabilithy it has a japan zc engine and all kinds of upgrades but if you want a car that gets hybrid gas ratings withput the price tag this is it or 88-95 civics but these get the best mpg ecspecially the 88-91 crx hf 51 mpg the si gets around 43mpg due to its the sports edition and it has taller gears than the hf the dx sucks in my mind cause the dual port injection instead of quad but thats my opinion

For anyone looking to purchase a high mpg vehicle I highly recommend the CRX. I was researching inexpensive high mpg vehicles and only found a few models which offered 40+ mpg. I chose the CRX because of styling and reliability recommendations. My car is an 1989 DX 1.5L 5 sp manual model and currently has 180k on it. The car uses no oil and gets an average of 38 to 44 mpg depending on my driving habits and freeway to city mileage ratio (last week I averaged 43.8 mpg with about 90% freeway driving).
I purchased this car a year ago and so far have been very satisfied. I've put about 12k miles on it and so far have only had to replace a CV axle and the heater control panel (which were both broken when I got the car).
Basically if you're looking for a car that is easy and cheap to maintain this is it. If you're looking for a 100% super reliable car this is not it. When you're in the market look for cars that have not been modified or abused and have less than 200k on them. Be careful about cars that have been "tweaked" as they may have electrical or mechanical issues that can be difficult or expensive to track down.