Looking for sports-car kicks, but with the abundance of speed parts and vast modification potential of a Civic? Look no further than Honda’s feisty little CRX.

These pocket-size coupes made their debut for 1984. Essentially a two-seat version of the redesigned Civic also introduced that year, the CRX was initially aimed at people who sought frugal commuting (base 1.3-liter versions had EPA fuel economy ratings of 51 mpg city, 67 highway).

But the real news for enthusiasts came the following year when Honda gave the CRX its sporty Si version, which included upgraded suspension, performance-oriented tires, and a hotter 91-hp version of its 1.5-liter engine — good for sub-nine-second 0-60 mph times in the featherweight car.

For 1988, an all-new CRX bowed, based again on a new Civic platform. CRX’s wheelbase increased, and this second-generation design was somewhat heavier and bigger overall. Fortunately, performance remained in the same league, with the Si’s horsepower rating increasing to 105, then 108 the following year. For 1990, CRX got four-wheel-disc brakes.

As sweet of a car as it was, this generation of CRX was destined to be the last — Honda discontinued the line after 1991, replacing it with the similar but open-roofed Del Sol several years later.

Today, used CRXs are pretty easy to find, but it can sometimes be hard to gauge their true value — completely stock ones are showing up less and less since these cars became immensely popular with sport-compact fans. The price of a particular CRX can often depend on the various upgrades it’s received.

Popular mods include body kits, custom paint, aftermarket wheels, and hotter VTEC engine swaps. As with any modified car, look closely at how well upgrades are executed. In most cases, the work will have been done by the car’s owner, whose talent, budget, and experience are unknowns.

Most CRXs now sell for less than $5000, with many of them below $3000. Those sub-$3k CRXs tend to be unmodified. And unmodified CRXs also tend to be unrestored.

That can be an important point, because all CRXs are at least 14 years old — a lot them are pretty tired. You aren’t likely to find a CRX with less than 100,000 miles at this point. Therefore buyers who want a completely stock example to start with will need to carefully consider how much money and patience they’re willing to devote to basic mechanical repairs.

First-generation CRXs are getting kind of scarce, but if you have your heart set on their lighter weight and trimmer dimensions, those cars can be found with a little patience. And one plus is that they tend to show up in the lower end of the price range.

Regardless of what generation or level of modification, Honda’s little CRXs can offer big-time fun. They’re good performers to start with, there’s plenty of aftermarket stuff available, and prices are about as low as performance cars go. Check ‘em out.

For more on affordable performance cars, along with drive-test articles on today’s hottest sports cars, sport compacts, and muscle cars, go to http://www.autiv.com/.

David Bellm is a seasoned test driver and automotive writer. His work has been featured in a wide variety of online and print publications.

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Bracket Racing which is also known as ET racing is a competitive drag racing sport that allows just about anyone with any kind of vehicle to competitively drag race against each other even if one car is inherently faster than the other and has quicker quarter mile times. Bracket racing tends to favor more consistent and reliable drag racing cars/drivers and doesn’t require fast cars to win.

Before the start of each race series the cars are divided up into classes depending on how the fast the cars are estimated to cover the quarter mile. Each driver is then allowed to race a few practice runs down the track to get an idea on how the car is performing with the given track and weather conditions. Using the practice runs, also know as time trials, each driver will estimate what their car will run in the quarter mile drag race and mark it on their rear window. This estimate is known as the car’s dial-in.

When both cars are staged at the starting line the dial-in numbers are posted to the track’s scoreboard for the drag racing fans to see. The car with the higher dial-in time will get a head start in the race. The amount of the head start is calculated by subtracting the lower dial-in time from the higher one. For example, if two cars are staged with 12.51 and 13.51 dial-in times, the car with the 13.51 dial-in will get the green light 1 second before the other car. This is essentially handicapping the cars to make the race more dependent on the driver and the car’s consistency rather than which car is actually faster.

The winners of bracket drag races are determined by which cars cross the end of the quarter mile finish line first, without running quicker quarter mile times than their dial-in times. If a car ends up running quicker than their dial-in time, it’s known as a breakout and that car automatically loses the race, unless both cars breakout. If both cars breakout then the car with the smallest difference between their actual run and their dial-in wins the race.

Bracket racing is heavily dependent on the driver’s reaction time at the start of the race and how consistent the car is with regards to launching and running down the quarter mile. Each driver is allowed to adjust the car’s dial-in time throughout the series of eliminations depending on the weather and how the car is performing. The bracket races continue until all competitors are eliminated and there is one winner for the each class.

Brooks Weisblat is drag racing/sports car enthusiast and writer for DragTimes.com, an online fast cars drag racing database of 1/4 mile times for cars and motorcycles. To view thousands of 1/4 mile timeslips with videos, pictures and dyno results visit: http://www.dragtimes.com/

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