This year's purchase - 2000s crossover epidemic patient zero

[grogee]

11 minutes ago, loserone said:

Volkswagen, surely?

2.0 EFi, Turbo and dizzle got Honda PG gearboxes. The paupers had to make do with the VW box

[willswitchengage]

Interesting - I only thought it was the R8 generation that shared Honda tech.

[grogee]

2 minutes ago, willswitchengage said:

Interesting - I only thought it was the R8 generation that shared Honda tech.

I was thinking about that. I wonder if that gearbox buying was the beginning of a beautiful* relationship. 

I mean Legend/800 tie up wasn't long after 84 when EFi came out

[Schaefft]

2 hours ago, willswitchengage said:

The Ssaab was successfully sold a couple of weeks ago on CaC. I was sadly to see it leave, you often don't appreciate a car until you see somebody else driving it, and watching it grunt away into the night on a crisp and dry collection evening made me feel like something died inside me.

Anyway, we move on, and I use the philosophy of you only have one stab at life and I want to own as many interesting cars as possible. Much of life is spent either as a poverty-stricken teenager, needing an SUV slightly more practical car for ferrying around offspring, or something a bit more comfy for those twilight years.

I have always wanted a Honda CRX and have spent the past few years monitoring the usual sites for them. A couple have escaped me in auctions, but decent ones rarely come up more than once a year.

A Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace advert was found, the Bank Manager was negotiated with, a train ticket was bought, a test drive was made, hands were shaken, a journey home was made.

It has a Honda D16A9 engine which redlines at almost 7500 rpm. Fuck me is this thing fast, it's like having a motorbike engine in a car. Misjudge the clutch and wheelslip is easily possible. It has no power steering and driving it is a general hoot as it hugs the road like it's on rails. It's nice and simple, cat-less injection, no central locking, no silly immobilisers, just plug and play. It's even very economical on fuel, being absolutely tiny.

It's largely corrosion free underneath and the previous owner conducted a mild restoration as it'd sat standing for ten years before he bought it.

It's hard to fault it - it's a little noisier inside than the highly refined Saab and again sounds more like a Hayabusa (engine noise, the exhaust is silent) than the two-litre lug I'm used to. Boot space is small, but I knew about that.

Then the day after I bought it...

BROKEN PINKY! This has got to be the most pathetic and debilitating injury possible and stopped me driving for a couple of weeks. Anyway, better now, but in that time the car managed to seize the thermostat slightly open in a bizarre failure mechanism where one of the sealing rings appears to have expanded with age and got stuck. Anyway, two hours of swearing this morning and a replacement has been fitted and is working well. I can now commute with the heater actually working!

Anyway, this is the new whip which I am very excited about.

Loving it, still would love to own a second gen CRX. My brother owned two, the problem is that they are either rotten or priced in the regions where I feel like there are many other great choices out there. Good to see one in white, too!

[willswitchengage]

8 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

Loving it, still would love to own a second gen CRX. My brother owned two, the problem is that they are either rotten or priced in the regions where I feel like there are many other great choices out there. Good to see one in white, too!

White cars worked for me as my road is a scratchathon.

I found the general buying problem is most are untastefully barried and at stupid prices - stock cars are rare.

[Wibble]

My brother in law wanted one back in the day but couldn’t afford one, so bought a Civic 16i-16, which was a real hoot and same engine, I think.

[yes oui si]

Great buy, they're not getting cheaper. 

[yes oui si]

Just needs coilovers, 15x8s, stainless exhaust... 

[Supernaut]

7 minutes ago, yes oui si said:

Just needs coilovers, 15x8s, stainless exhaust... 

[yes oui si]

Okay, tongue is out of cheek... 

[willswitchengage]

32 minutes ago, yes oui si said:

Just needs coilovers, 15x8s, stainless exhaust... 

Interestingly this is the first motor car I've owned with a stock 'sports suspension setup' so it is a little bouncy and low to the ground. Why anyone would want to make this an even less pleasant driving experience... I have no idea.

[MiniMinorMk3]

On 22/11/2024 at 20:26, grogee said:

I was thinking about that. I wonder if that gearbox buying was the beginning of a beautiful* relationship. 

I mean Legend/800 tie up wasn't long after 84 when EFi came out

Triumph Acclaim was the start of the relationship, which lead to the Rover SD3.

[AnthonyG]

Yep, the BL/Honda relationship dates back to the dark days of the late 70s, the first discussions were in 78 or 79.

Getting the ADO88/Metro launched exhausted the financial and engineering reserves of what was by then a very weak company and even before the Metro actually came out it was obvious assistance from someone else would be required. 

[yes oui si]

5 hours ago, willswitchengage said:

Interestingly this is the first motor car I've owned with a stock 'sports suspension setup' so it is a little bouncy and low to the ground. Why anyone would want to make this an even less pleasant driving experience... I have no idea.

Previous joking aside, how old is the stuff that's on there? I've had a similar era Civic (VT? It's been 20 years, was a b16 though) that was quite bouncy until the tired original shocks and springs were replaced. 

[mat_the_cat]

On 22/11/2024 at 17:59, willswitchengage said:

 

I hope the registration isn't an omen...

[willswitchengage]

Thermostat replaced, car running warm again. Wahoo!

As a random point of sadness however, I have just been going through the cars I've owned in the past. I'm surprised by how many simply let the MoT expire - presumably they were just scrapped.

AK52 KHT - Skoda Labia - MoT expired - presume scrapped

J926GFV - BX pez - STILL ON THE ROAD!!!

LJ53 OWP - Motorcycle - MoT expired - presume scrapped

K573 JUA - BX - MoT expired - presume scrapped

K179 RLN - BX - STILL ON THE ROAD!!!

G387 ATF - Justy - MoT expired but bought by someone on here who tried and did not succeed in resuscitating it, presumably locked away somewhere?

H557 VEX - Corolla -MoT expired, exported I think as an Irish bloke bought it

M106 DFE - MoT failed (badly) - presume scrapped

MT58 ZTG -MoT expired - presume scrapped

 

[rainagain]

I've found that with a lot of the cars I've owned as well, after I spent a lot of time and money on a car the next owner seems to only bother with at most one MOT before it's gone. 

[Liggle]

Love the CRX, nice to see one looking standard. I actually liked the D16A9 as much as the B16A1, it was a very 'chunky' engine in comparison. Felt like it had more torque everywhere.

 

[willswitchengage]

Today has been spent playing with the 'other' car, which has spent 9/10 of my ownership years holed up in a garage being annually fired up and blasted up and down the road. Today was that day for 2024.

Pre wash, and post wash! Vive la difference.

As always, it starts first time after manually pumping some juice up to the carb. It runs well throughout the choke transition period, mechanically still seems great, and the brakes are ridiculously strong, relieving as they are my 'doomsday scenario' part and this has no servo assist. During a skid test on some gravel the diagonal brake balance is off though, any ideas on what is happening here are welcomed.

The road test felt slow, the engine feels a bit flatter than normal (or maybe I'd just forgot how slow these are), despite having electronic ignition fitted. Maybe just because it hasn't had new fuel in a few years, but any tune up or maintenance advice would be welcomed. Anyway, back in the garage again for the foreseeable.

[Surface Rust]

I wouldn't worry about tuning it until you've run a tank of fresh fuel through it and given it a damn good thrashing. You'll probably find former performance* restored.

Love the CRX. A work colleague has started racing one with his son and have had considerable success as it is so light and nimble on the track it can compete much more modern, more powerful stuff. As has already been said, Honda were really ahead of the game then.

[willswitchengage]

Today's achievement. Put the alloys on the right way round! This has asymmetrical alloys, i.e. those on the left hand differ to those on the right. When it has a fresh pair of tyres recently presumably Mr Kwikfit got them the wrong way around. All rectified now...

Or maybe it looks better with this one?

[willswitchengage]

I think this is my first ever legit MoT with no advisories - result! This car is incredibly clean. Got new front calipers fitted too so no more dodgy braking!

[Snipes]

On 22/02/2025 at 17:09, willswitchengage said:

Today's achievement. Put the alloys on the right way round! This has asymmetrical alloys, i.e. those on the left hand differ to those on the right. When it has a fresh pair of tyres recently presumably Mr Kwikfit got them the wrong way around. All rectified now...

Or maybe it looks better with this one?

I don't think I've ever noticed the asymmetric wheels before.

[willswitchengage]

42 minutes ago, Snipes said:

I don't think I've ever noticed the asymmetric wheels before.

They seemed popular in the 90s, having a recent resurgence with some modern dicut wheels.

[willswitchengage]

Also random but while it has 13 months MOT anyone interested in buying this? Yours for 6 grand... I bought it for 6200, rare car so prices are somewhat impossible to predict.

Currently busy with general life stuff right now but will probably try and sell more formally later in the year to try and maintain my 'random new old car per year' life plan

[willswitchengage]

Ok, my finger slipped on my phone earlier and I may have won an ebay auction for my next annual car swap purchase. I'll do a proper ad at the weekend but if anyone is interested this is effectively now for sale.

[willswitchengage]

A year later and here we are again, the annual silly new car.

Train tickets have been bought and reading material procured. More excitement to follow...

[willswitchengage]

Train #2

The north has electric trains now it transpires! Going well so far - a passenger has already threatened death to another within five minutes of departure and I am getting my £60 worth with almost zero phone signal the entire way and running 30 minutes late. To add insult to injury I'm pretty sure Andy Burnham is doing the train announcements.

TO BE CONTINUED

[Tickman]

16 hours ago, willswitchengage said:

TO BE CONTINUED

Hope storm bastard didn't affect the collection too much and this is just suspense in the story 

[willswitchengage]

CONTINUATION

Storm Amy has complicated things. Train #2 arrived extremely late but we still enjoyed a pleasant walk along the seafront at Blackpool, our collection destination - and hence why we thought we'd make a weekend of it.

Bargain hotel / prison cell was survived. Blackpool is fascinating on booking.com - the mean overnight price seems to be £20. Mad. The city is drowning in hotels in it's general vibe of a post-apocalyptic Vegas. I find it a genuinely fascinating place decades in the past.

The female and I are both big parkrun fans so like doing a random new event every weekend. This was no different... even with Storm Amy's attempts at cancelling half the country's events.

A lot of red! We had to go back to Preston to do the event there which was ambitiously still 'on'. We completed it, freezing and soaked, and endured further travel on a very expensive and biblically delayed Class 323 - the unique Hunslet EMUs from the 90s with crazy GTO Thyristor frequency converter sounds. Thanks to Northern Rail here too for making your delay repay system impenetrably complicated to use.

Returned to the hotel, showered, power socks put on. It's now BUSINESS TIME.

God knows something excellent is about to happen so he/she/they brought the sun out:

A (very late, again) bus to our collection location was boarded. The suspense is getting real. Which 'peak 90s Japanese build quality' crossover epidemic patient zero have I seduced?