1987 Honda CRX review from North America

The clutch began to slip around 125,000 miles or so, to the point where I could be driving down the road at 55 mph, and downshift all the way from 5th to 1st gear without using the clutch at all.

When we went to replace the clutch, we discovered that the floor was so rotten that the lift would have come right up through.

It had a tendency to overheat for no apparent reason that anyone could ever figure out.

I bought this car without really thinking too much about it, because the price was right, my previous car was undriveable (actually, it was due for a sticker, and there was no way it was going to pass), and I have to admit, on the test drive it seemed like a sporty, fun little car. If I'd looked at it a little more closely, I might have realized the shape it was in, and steered clear.

For the first few months, when the clutch still worked, and when it wasn't overheating for no good reason, it was a sharp, fun car to drive. It had great, tight steering, and was reasonably quick. It felt faster than it really was, because it sat so low to the ground, but it was still fun to pretend it was a real sports car.

It felt like a real sports car in the snow. It was nearly impossible to keep on the road, and heaven help you going up or down even a slight hill.

Not by any stretch of the imagination was it a comfortable car to be in for anything longer than maybe an hour. I made 100-mile trips in it fairly regularly, at great cost to my back.

It had a tendency to get sucked into tractor-trailers' slipstreams, which was a less-than comfortable feeling at 70 mph.

By far the lousiest car I ever drove. A CRX in good shape, one that hasn't been abused and isn't about to suffer catastrophic body failure might be a good buy, and might be fun to soup up, but out of the box they don't seem to be anything special, and if they're prone to the problems I had with mine, it's probably best to stay away.