Welcome to another edition of Daily, Garage, Sell, JNC‘s version of Bang, Marry, Kill. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, you any glance at the local bookstore magazine shelf was sure to reveal at least one Honda cover car. Not only were they the choice of tuners, they seemed to take whatever horsepower or weight in bodykit bondo thrown at them. And to the normals, they were reliable transportation as well. Whether driven by the neighborhood little old lady or ripping drags down the street near the industrial park, the iconic nameplate of CRX, Civic, and Integra offered something for everyone. Now you must choose, and for the purposes of this game you can choose your trim level, but they must max out at Si or GS-R (sorry, no SiR Type Rs — that’s for a future round). So without further ado:
Daily, Garage, Sell — Honda CR-X Si, Honda Civic Si, or Acura Integra GS-R?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s JNC life like with a baby?”
We received a lot of good advice this week, and the running theme seems to be, don’t sell your beloved JNC because of the baby. Banpei, Luke, Dennis BD, and emuman all cautioned against it, as did our winner, Chase, who gave us the most reassuring words a new father can hear, as well as a good chuckle:
Words of wisdom? Hope you have some STA-BIL and a battery tender! Those will be the next two upgrades to your JNC (if not already).
In all seriousness there’s nothing to be anxious about when bringing a kid into the world as a car guy with an already needy baby on four wheels. First few weeks car will probably sit untouched as you re-calibrate your new daily routine. Get a schedule locked down and find time to slip away into the garage for wrenching, cleaning, or maybe a quick cruise around. It’s good to get away sometimes as you yourself are trying to acclimate to this life change too.
The life balance between the two is different for everyone. Just remember babies don’t stay little forever, and your JNC will be there when you’re ready for it.
Omedetou! Your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop.
For the garage queen, I’d have the CR-X Si, just because of the rare factor and it’s the oldest in the trio.
For my daily, I’d go for the Civic, in VX trim. I did it for the practicality of the hatch, and that the VX trim is a gas sipper. Perfect for rising gas prices and grocery runs.
I’d sell the Teggy, Sinve the former two still packs more practicality and for their age, can still handle themselves against an Integra.
Drive: Integra GS-R 4-door. All the fun of an Integra, but cleverly disguised as a responsible adult. The perfect small sports sedan.
Garage: Honda CRX Si. It’s just too cool and fun to not keep.
Sell: Civic Si: The Integra does the family stuff better, the CRX is more iconic. And it’ll fund plenty of parts and gas for the other two.
Perhaps not the preference of a Honda purist, but I can’t see any other way to do it.
Daily – Civic. Being a daily driver was what it was built for, of course. But I like to think I’d be doing fellow petrolheads a service by mooching around in a car that you really don’t see so often in pristine condition any more. The trim level doesn’t really matter – a clean EG Civic should be a sweet little thing to drive day-to-day.
Garage – CRX. One of Honda’s most iconic designs, but also, the most prone to destruction from the elements of this trio, so it gets to live in shelter.
Sell – Integra. No Type R, no interest in this one I’m afraid.
Drive: GS-R. I never owned any, but had friends that did. Still love when the dash shutters in a hard 1-2 shift.
Sell: CRX Si and Civic Si. You know how much people pay for these things?!?
Garage: Miata, bought with all that Si cash. Oh, wait, this isn’t how the game is played?!? 🙂
OK, this is an easy one:
Drive: The Civic, due to ease of finding parts and the fact that it’s been popular here in my neck of the woods since before I was born. It’s also the hatchback, which allows me to use the Civic for grocery runs if needed or helping out my mates.
Sell: The CR-X, because it’s the least practical and above all, least valuable at current. The CR-X is cool, don’t get me wrong, but just doesn’t have what the Civic has for practicality or what the Integra has for value.
Garage: Integra GSR. I may HATE Integra drivers with a passion, but I have nothing against the cars. Because of the idiots in their white caps, pants slung lower than their knees and their bloody megaphone exhausts, a good example of an Integra is becoming more like a needle in a haystack. The number of the good Integras are dwindling, so this little sports job should grow a bit more value. Just for Good measure, let’s assume the Integra is a Japan-spec model, so that the value already has some boost.
WHY
CAN’T
I
JUST
HAVE
A
CIVIC WAGON
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SELL: All of them.
BUY: S2000.
Those cheeky, front-drivers are fun, but sometimes you need a true death-machine to enjoy life. While the S2000 is just as good in execution as it is on paper…with the other three; it’s kind of the reverse.
What those three platforms do is keep nostalgia alive. However, they also make you resent every Honda produced today! Whereas, an S2000 stands on its own as a buildable platform that’s ambivalent to the traditional Honda ethos. It’s no more like an S800 than it is the new Civic or NSX. It’s essentially Honda’s orphan Annie and due to that it defies the monikers of “Garage Queen”, “Daily” or “Track-Day Toy”. It can be all of them and more because it’s not sacred…it’s not clichéd and (most importantly) it’s not riddled with econobox compromises.
Instead, it remains a damn-good, pure sports car. Timeless.
The other three are just the cremated ashes of a once great company.
Garage: CRX, because it still remain as one of my bucket lists car even today.
Sell: Civic Si, Since we are only allowed to max out at Si. As much as the D series Si can be a blast to drive around, it will never beat the B18C1 95 Civic hatch that I used to daily back in school.
Daily: Integra GS-R sedan, because nothing beat commuting in a high revving B18C1 with the practicality of a 4 door!
Sell all, get a Toyota. Cause I’m a Toyota family man.
Daily: Civic SI since it’s cheap to run, and with a family, you will want the hatch for baby-stuff. Strollers, daiper runs, all that good stuff. Plus, this an transition into your child’s future first car that they can ding up with you being too heart broken, right? Or a future project of sorts that your child can participate in building up.
Sell: Integra GSR. In my neck of the woods, people love the Integra GSRs. They’re a good cheap canvas to throw a JDM front end conversion on, and they output enough power to interest the younger guys as well as those who want to track them. Lots of aftermarket support and less under the radar makes it easier to sell too!
Garage: CRX SI, without a doubt. For me, this car was born in and around the same era I was born, so that’s pretty special to me. 2 seats, so this makes it truly a “parents only” fun car you can take out on Sunday drives or on getaways while your child stays with Grandpa and Grandma. These are also harder to find in decent condition, and quirky enough that their cult following will likely only grow. Plus, Petrolicious did a video on this car a few years back which to this day still tempts me to sell my NA Miata and look for a nice stock CRX. Plus, if you tire of the dress-up parts you accumulate on this car, you can probably pass them to your child who will likely take over the Civic SI, right? Reuse, Reduce, Recycle!
Daily: The Integra. I remember test driving one new back in 2000, it was just great to drive and more solid and refined feeling than any Civic of that vintage.
Sell: This is tough, but I’d have to say CR-X since the values seem so good right now. Could they keep going up? Maybe, then I’d probably regret it.
Garage: The Civic Si. That teal one in the photo just sealed it for me. Heavy nostalgia for me, as I was pretty far along in building up my own many years ago, before it was eventually stolen and stripped down. I didn’t have a garage back then, so this time around I’d vow things go differently, and finally finish the dream!