Faults:

The car does have the typical Honda rust on the rear quarters and behind the rear bumper on the lower corners. There is an aftermarket fiberglass patch panel available for this that lets you repair the rust without welding, but I've not got around to doing this yet.

Burns a little oil on start-up due to old valve seals.

Oil pan gasket seeps some and could use replacement.

Driver's side seat bolster is moderately worn from entry/exit.

Rear trailing arm bushings in need of replacement.

1-2 shift fork is worn, causing 2->3 upshifts to grind at high RPMs.

A/C compressor is shot.

General Comments:

I bought this car from its second owner for $2000. He'd used it to commute to and from work during the summers and left it parked through the school year, thus the low mileage for a 17-year-old car. It does still have many of the issues of an older car; gaskets and bushings dry out with age, and so it does burn a bit of oil and squeak on the bumps in the road.

Far and away the largest issue with the car is the transmission. These were the weak points in Civics of this vintage; the shift fork for first and second will often wear or bend with age and abuse. When this happens, second gear will not fully disengage on a shift to third gear and the transmission will sometimes grind. The effect is only pronounced at fairly high RPMs, so it's something I'm willing to live with.

Other than that, the car has been great from a reliability standpoint. It's never failed to start, runs smoothly for a four-banger, and hasn't required repairs for anything that wasn't my fault.

It's unreasonably sporty for a car that's only got 92 horsepower and regularly gets 40MPG. It's lightweight, nimble, and fairly peppy. There's a reason these cars are popular with autocrossers.

The only place where it falls short is in the interior. It may be awfully fun to drive, but in terms of interior quality it still looks the part of an early-90's economy car. It's well laid-out and the seats are good, but it's all plastic and fabric. That's not a big deal to me, but some might not like it. It's also only got two seats, which can be a hindrance sometimes, but it's also got a ton of cargo space thanks to the hatchback layout and lack of rear seats. I moved most of my stuff except for my bed and furniture in mine, and had room for more if I needed it.

Faults:

Rust at rear quarter panel on both sides; I repaired it myself. Rust on hood; I had to weld in steel to replace a hole that developed from underside of hood.

Brakes; new brakes at 120,000, then 223,000, then at 340,000, then at 450,000, then at 570,000, then at 630,000.

New mufflers at 230,000, and finally a stainless steel muffler system at 340,000. Muffler system still looks new at over 600,000.

Replaced distributor at 367,000 miles.

Required timing belt and water pump at 100,000 intervals.

Radiator developed leak at around 450,000 miles; replaced.

New struts and shocks at 225,000 miles, then new again at 500,000 miles.

New drive shafts at 200,000 and at 450,000 miles. CV boots cracked.

Seats replaced at 300,000 miles. Extreme wear on the side bolster on driver seat. Because car sits so low, entering it causes me to rub against the side of the seat wearing it out pretty quickly. The fabric on the side of the seat does not last very long at all.

Had to replace the windshield at 500,000. Too many rock chips and speckles made driving into the sun very hazardous.

Car was repainted at 500,000 miles as the paint was fading and chipped.

General Comments:

I bought this car new in 1991 at a cost of $9,500. It has A/C, 5 speed manual and not much else.

I love the Honda CRX HF.

It was my second new car and I wanted something to get great mileage and still be kind of sporty.

It handles very well (for having 13 inch 70 series tires).

The CRX HF does not have very good performance and has a hard time driving in the mountains. The 1.5 liter motor is very weak, but it is perfect for city driving and for flat highway driving. The gearing is very high, so I have to downshift going up hills. It was designed for one thing and that is Miles Per Gallon and that is what it does very well.

The CRX HF has a 10.5 gallon tank and gets over 550 miles on a tank; the most efficient car I have ever owned.

Finding a CRX HF in stock form nowadays is very hard, because kids buy them used, and tear out the motor and put in higher performance motors.

The car is very light and makes a great base for a high performance street machine rocket.

Comfort is good for such a small car. Tight suspension makes for a somewhat bumpy ride on bad roads but overall, a very comfortable car for what it is. I really sit low in a CRX; I am lower than most Corvettes.

Good points: Mileage. Comfort in a small package. Reliability. Low tire wear. Tires really last a long time on such a light car. I can fix just about anything on this car. Easy to work on. Ergonomics. Very well laid out. Lots of aftermarket stuff available if you are so inclined. Lots of room in the back. I can haul just about anything that I need because of all the room.

Bad points: Rust. Rust and rust. I have to keep guard all the time about rust. I can do bodywork so it is not a big problem but a problem none the less. Low power and high gearing makes for great mileage but poor performance on hilly roads.

My CRX HF averages about 52 MPG on the highway and almost that good in the city. If I hypermile, then I can get up to 90 MPG by following behind a truck on the highway. I made it from northern Ohio to Florida on one tank by following trucks to block the wind. It beats almost every hybrid car for MPG and it is 18 years old! Why can't car makers build a car like this again?