Yep. It’s hard to resist the appeal of the VW Scirocco. And someday, I would really like to have another one. But I sure as hell won’t pay twelve grand for it. Let’s get back to some reasonably-priced fare, shall we? Doing that, of course, means giving something up, because you can’t have it all if you’re shopping at the bottom end of the market. So which do you choose: a clean, low-mileage example of a fundamentally undesirable car, or a desirable one that has been ridden hard and put away wet?
1981 Oldsmobile Omega – $3,250
Engine/drivetrain: 2.8 liver overhead-valve V6, three-speed automatic, FWD Location: Pittsburgh, PA Odometer reading: 28,000 miles Runs/drives? Sure does The “malaise era” – a term coined by the celebrated Murilee Martin – is difficult to define, but the characteristics of the cars from that era are well-known: low power, poor build quality, gaudy trim, and utterly miserable driving characteristics. Generally, these traits can be found in cars from the mid-1970s, when emissions, safety, and fuel economy standards caught the American auto industry off-guard, to the mid-1980s, when technology finally started to catch up to the new regulations. All these cars were awful, but arguably the worst of the bunch were the early examples of the new breed of American cars: front-wheel-drive platforms still relying on old complicated carburetors, built in plants that didn’t know how to assemble the new designs, and put into production on a shoestring budget. Cars, for example, like the 1981 Oldsmobile Omega.
Oldsmobile’s version of the ill-fated X-platform featured slightly different bodywork, shared with the Buick Skylark, but was mechanically identical to the notorious Chevy Citation. This Omega is powered by the dreaded 2.8 liter V6, rather than the gutless but more reliable “Iron Duke” four. It powers the front wheels through – what else? – a three-speed automatic.
This car has only 28,000 miles on it, which accounts for its condition, and really, its existence in 2023 at all. Quality, reliability, and longevity were not words often associated with any domestic brands in 1981. The seller says it runs fine, and you can drive it home, and I guess what happens after that is your own problem. It’s not perfect; the bumper filler panels seem to have all disintegrated, and there is a minor dent behind the passenger-side door, but there is a very real possibility that this is the nicest ’81 Omega coupe left on the planet.
Whether that is reason enough to spend money on it today is a question I leave up to you.
1989 Honda CRX Si – $3,900
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter single overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD Location: Monroe, WA Odometer reading: 218,000 miles Runs/drives? Yep In sharp contrast to GM’s X-body fiasco, Honda’s second-generation CRX might just be the perfect small car. It’s lightweight, nimble, efficient, reasonably comfortable, rock-solid reliable, and wasn’t all that expensive when it was new. The Si model in particular was celebrated – it added just enough horsepower to wake up the chassis without sacrificing any of the CRX’s good qualities, and became a legend.
CRXs were built in sufficient numbers that they were available as cheap used cars for a long time, so they rode the import-tuner wave of the 1990s-2000s in the hands of their second or third owners, and all sorts of horrible things happened to them. Engines and suspensions were often haphazardly modified, body kits were slapped on, interiors were stripped out or hacked up, and the remaining CRXs that escaped such torture command some truly silly prices. Those that remain affordable are, well, like this.
The seller of this CRX at least appears to know a thing or two about cars, judging by the collection of classic Volkswagens visible in the photos. [Editor’s Note: Holy Shit a Type 3 Ghia! – JT] But this screaming yellow zonker lived a hard life before it came to this garage of wonders, and although they say it runs and drives well, one can only imagine the hard driving it has endured in its 34 years on the road. The misaligned body kit pieces and mismatched paint are disheartening enough, but look at the state of this interior plastic:
Granted, you could strip all that out and turn this car into a track toy, if it runs and drives as well as they claim. But it takes the right sort of person to want to do that to a car. Are you that sort? So that’s our question for this Monday morning: Do you go for something empirically awful but well-preserved, or something once-wonderful but beaten half to death?
(Image credits: Olds – Facebook seller, Honda – Craigslist seller)
As for this CRX, getting it right would just be so much of a pain. I suppose that’s what makes this a contest because if that was just a tired but stock CRX, it’s a no-brainer.
Interesting. I thought only the Integra shared a platform with the Civic?
I had a drunk in a CRX crash into me, writing off the CRX. I felt sorry for the loss of the CRX.
This car was probably used primarily for displaying a huge stereo setup or dB drag racing. The CRX trunk space, with it’s tall back glass section, is particularly well suited to a ‘subs up, ports back’ speakerbox design, to the extent that a ‘CRX box’ is shorthand for that design and alignment in (older) car audio circles. I know CRX’s were a staple of 90s-00s custom car audio generally, too.
The spottiness on the panels is probably glue residue from felt or carpet for sound deadening. The MDF mount behind the speaker hole in the panel also supports this theory, as MDF is the preferred material for speaker boxes and mounts – it’s heavy and isolates well.
Of course they’re crap by today’s standards. But for that time, they were quite good. But yeah, the quality, durability and the overall design was crap.
The FWD A-body cars that came after were apparently based off the fwd X… but with one key difference is that GM fixed most of the problems.
Now having said that, I voted for the CRX as it was/is a great car compared to any GM X-body. And thus, this molested CRX deserves to be saved and restored.
CRX, even if trashed, for me, please.
Oh, and because it’s the better car.
Neither.
I did vote for the crx…. but I feel dirty for doing it.
This car is like a partner from your past that you just want to never ever hear from ever again
I hope you keep coming back!
Obvious Honda choice is obvious. The good news is that they are easy to wrench on and parts are readily available. Heck, my son just repaired the ECM on his Civic this past week when it fried during a rainstorm. If a second-gen CRX hadn’t failed a PPI I would probably be driving one today instead of a Fiesta ST.
The saddest part is that $3900 is something close to fair market value on the CRX, even in the shape it’s in.
The CRX still looks pretty solid for something that’s been likely used hard for the past 20 years. Plus that front bumper hits that early 2000s sport compact nostalgia sweet spot from when I was a kid. It even has one of the more tasteful bumpers from that era.
The Omega has been driven less than 750 miles a year. You rarely get a look at a time capsule auto that was actually used as an automobile, and never actually intended to be a time capsule.
I get it. CRX is a lot more fun. I think I’d take the Olds and drive it back and forth to work on sunny days as if it were incapable of going over 45 mph. There’ll be other CRXes and CRX-like cars available pretty much all the time, because Miata.
There was an article here about an old Toyota truck. In the comments, a repository for 3D car part designs was either mentioned or proposed, I don’t recall which, and I don’t know what, if anything, has come of it.
