1989 Honda CRX Si, 1.6

This 1989 Honda CRX Si is finished in yellow over black cloth and is offered from Pinetown by pinetown_crx, about this seller, its second owner, who bought it from the original owner in 2004 and has kept it for twenty one years. It shows 164,700km and drives through the five speed manual.

It was supplied new through the Mercedes-Benz dealer network in Durban in February 1989, which is not a mistake in the paperwork. Honda vehicles were assembled and distributed in South Africa under an arrangement with Mercedes-Benz South Africa in that period, and the supplying dealer stamp in the service book is a Mercedes one. That stamp, and the eleven that follow it, are the start of the most complete file on this site.

Every invoice from 2004 to 2025 is present, in date order, photographed in full. Cam belts at 138,400km in 2016 and again at 164,700km in May this year, both with tensioner and water pump. A clutch and pressure plate in 2022 with the rear main seal checked and reported dry. A full suspension refresh in 2011. The rear arch lips were wire brushed and treated in 2019 and were not cut out, which the seller states plainly rather than describing as rust free.

Every question put at intake was answered. Nothing was declined. The flaws stated are the treated arch corrosion, a perished sunroof seal that whistles above 100km/h, thin original paint on the roof and bonnet, a collapsed driver's seat bolster and a replaced radio, with the factory head unit included in a box. This is the least expensive lot on the site this week and it carries the most paper.

The second generation CRX arrived in 1987 as a two seat coupe built on Civic underpinnings, with double wishbone suspension at all four corners on a car weighing under 900kg. It was quick because it was light and it handled because Honda spent money where nobody in the class was spending it. The Si carried the 1.6 with the twin carburettor or fuel injection depending on market, and it became the enthusiast's answer to cars costing twice as much.

Its South African history is a footnote worth knowing. Honda had no distribution of its own here in the 1980s, so the cars were handled through Mercedes-Benz South Africa, which is why a 1989 CRX service book carries a Mercedes dealer stamp and why so few people believe it when they see it. The arrangement ran until Honda established itself locally in the 1990s.

Survivors are thin on the ground. These were cheap, light and fast, which is a combination that does not usually produce careful ownership, and most were modified, crashed or rusted. A twenty one year single owner car with a stamped book from the supplying dealer and an unbroken invoice run is a genuinely rare document set on a car this affordable.