streetlegal gocart

Road & Track
1987 U.K. 1.95 US$2.95
Scoop! The New Mid-Engine CRX
Help Honda fine-tune it

The front-drive CRX was back to basics;
for the 1988 model Honda moves the
BASICS TO THE BACK

WHILE IT HAS
the reliability, cost effectiveness and directness of design expected of all members of the Japanese automotive industry, Honda also has an atypical but well earned reputation for innovation. With such attributes, it is no wonder that Honda enjoys the respect of enthusiasts and the general car-buying public alike.
New Honda models have been such certain winners that dealers can mark them up, commanding premium prices (but still giving real value for money) until the supply catches up with the demand. By then, Honda has another new model...

If you were a Honda designer projecting a new model, you'd have advanced engineering and unprecedented problem-solving working for you. Let's say you were given the task of producking a new CRX, a car that would combine
the appeal of the quck and saucy existing version with the mid-engine layout of one of you rivals, the Toyota MR2 ( a great performing 2-seater with everything going for it but looks). Ah-stying. That's one of Honda's strong suits-avant-garde, but not radical or freakish exterior design. So you'd go to work on the freshest, tightest, most harmonious little package you could devise...
We haven't actually seen this next new Honda, but educated guesses plus the talents of Mark Stehrenberger (a designer himself with the same feeling for logic and harmony as Honda's) have resulted in the illustrations you see here. Followers of honda design might say the shape and detailing are predictable, especially the "face" at the front, but the overall form is more reminiscent of a Pontiac Fiero GT, with similar roof sails. It's a much smaller package, of course, probably very close to the front-drive CRX dimensionally, with a wheelbase of approximately 87.5 in., front/rear track around 55.0 and height about 45.0, the latter figure (and the resulting frontal area) a significant reduction. Power, from a 1.6-liter 16-valve four mounted transversely just ahead of the rear wheels, should be about 26 percent greater than that of the present 1.5 Si unit, or about 133 bhp, and the weight should still come in under a ton. So a good weight-to-power ratio, coupled with the reduced frontal area and improved aerodynamics, would allow gearing for 125 mph, perhaps even 130. And handling? Well, if you were a Honda engineer, wouldn't you be looking for 0.9g?
And if you were a Honda marketing expert, what price would you set? Well, you could start with $12,500, and let the customers line up at the dealerships, each hoping that the $15,000 in his fist were enough. And then later, when things were cooling down just a little, you could slide in a 2.0-liter engine and maybe 4-wheel steering...
As has become obvious in the progression of models over the last 10 years, there's no limit to the distance Honda can travel in the years ahead. But in which directions? We've been wondering what our reader expect to see, when they want to see, from Honda. Here is a survey form, similar to that we used in the June 1986 issue to sample readers' opinions on the paths the Corvette might take. Here's your chance to become a Honda engineering/styling/marketing advisor. Is the company right on target? Or a little wide of the mark? Are the cars still commendably simple? Or getting a bit complex? How does the Acura label fit into all this? Please tell us.
---Jonathan Thompson

BASIC FEEDBACK

Help project the next Hondas

Please complete this form (or a copy) and mail to:
CRX/R & T, 1499 Monrovia Ave., Newport Beach, CA 92663

Honda should

--Keep it simple
--Add sophisticated equipment to basically simple layouts
--Go all-out high-tech

Relationship of Honda and Acura should

--Be completely separate
--Overlap, sharing image and some components
--Be one entity, with Acura merely top of the line

New mid-engine CRX should

--Be kept simple, light and inexpensive
--Gradually add more expensive power and chassis components
--Come in two vesions, one basic, one expensive high-tech

Mid-engine CRX equipment should include (check more than one)

--Turbocharger for 1.6-liter engine
--2.0-liter engine
--2.5-liter V-6 engine from Acura
--ABS
--4-wheel steering
--4-wheel drive
--Active suspension
--Slide back (up-and-out) roof panel
--Removable one-piece roof panel
--T-bar roof with removable panels
--Additional areodynamic body pieces

Mid-engine CRX chassis tuning should go for

--Nimble, real-world maneuberability
--Balance of handling ease and grip
--High numbers, with maximum adhesion

New CRX interior should be

--Spartan and efficient
--Contemporary GT, mixing driving and comfort
--Complete with all possible luxury and convenience equipment

Honda should price mid-engine CRX at

--$10,000, no frills
--$13,500, ith high-level interior
--$17,000, luxurious and high-tech throughout

Current front-drive CRX 2-seater should

--Be kept as inexpensive commuter
--Continue to be developed for performance
--Be dropped when mid-engine car is available in quantity




Modified by Doctor Zagato at 6:39 AM 2/21/2005

steronz

PICS!

also, it's kinda funny that he suggests honda drop a 2.0 in it. imagine telling him in 1987 that it would take another 14 years for honda to sell a civic with more than 1.6 liters.

drdisco69

HA, I think I have that copy sitting around at the house, I remember that article.

streetlegal gocart

heh, didn't think anyone read this, let alone reply...

rendition drawings are ok, lookss like an 87 mr2 mixed with a 87 supra.

Someone posted in appearance with a badass link to Honda's original ef,ee concepts.
let me see if i can find it...

KFBhonda

I can't help it....But I
Don't wanna be a fool wondering......
......What might have been.

But I still love my 2nd-Gen FWD.