CIVIC DUTY
We may be living in a period of almost unprecedented change in the automotive market, but it’s easy to forget that similar levels of technical upheaval happened back in the 1980s. The last MGB may have left Abingdon in 1980, but its end was inevitable in the face of the sheer practicality offered by the new generation of performance hatchbacks. Ultimately, the likes of the MGB GT were eclipsed by the talents of the Golf GTI and Escort XR3i to the point where their demise was inevitable.
In focusing on the likes of the Golf and Escort though, it’s easy to forget that there was another new wave of cars coming along at the same time which made the Europeans look positively conventional.
Enter the likes of the Toyota MR2 and Honda CRX, diminutive pocket rockets packed with technology which promised both bulletproof reliability and a very different way of doing things which was at odds with the rather staid offerings of the rest of their makers’ ranges.
The story of the CRX began as early as 1984, the car essentially a coupe version of the Civic but Honda being Honda of course it couldn’t be quite that simple. The Civic platform was shortened by five inches and the sleek coupe bodyshell sat two inches lower. It was powered by a 1588cc version of the alloy Civic engine with Honda’s own PGMF-iinjection and a novel (for 1984) 12-valve head featuring two
