What’s The Catch? 1987 Honda CRX vs 1997 Infiniti Q45

If you look at as many automotive classified ads as I do, you start to get a feeling for when something is too good to be true. Outright scams are usually easy to spot, but cars that are good deals except for that one little thing require you to click on the ad and read it. If you’re actually looking for a car to buy, those catches are usually enough to make you look elsewhere, but this week, I’m seeking out those ads intentionally, trying to find cars that are still worth it despite that one little thing.

On Friday, I asked you to choose one of our ridiculous project vehicles from the week and assign it to an Autopian writer to fix up. It was no contest: the old REO Speed Wagon ran away with this one. I had a feeling you all were gonna keep on lovin’ that one. (Last REO lyrics joke, I promise.) And most of you wanted to give it to either David or Stephen to fix up. I did lke the idea that a few of you had of shipping the T-bucket over to Adrian, too.

Regular commenter Shop-Teacher wanted to give me the T1000, and I guess I’d take it – but that dumb V6 has to go. I like that engine in my old Chevy pickup, but it doesn’t belong in a flimsy little hatchback. I bet a 2200 OHV four-cylinder and five-speed stick from an S-10 would work pretty well, though. And that would still just about double the output of the stock engine.

There’s always a certain amount of – I won’t say dishonesty – but emphasizing the good points and downplaying the problems when writing a classified ad for a car. You choose the photo of the good side as your lead image. You don’t mention that the power windows don’t work until after you point out how well it runs. Everybody does it. And it means that you have to read ads carefully to make sure you aren’t wasting your time going to look at something that ends up being junk. Both of these cars seem like great deals at first glance, but like always, you have to read the fine print. Let’s check them out.

1987 Honda Civic CRX HF – $1,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter OHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Odometer reading: 231,000 miles

Operational status: Starts, but won’t idle

The Honda CRX, like the Pontiac Fiero introduced the same year, was billed as a stripped-down two-seater commuter car, but one look at either of them and you knew they weren’t fooling anyone. The CRX may have gotten excellent fuel economy, especially in this ultra-lightweight HF form, but it has the soul of a sports car. The sportier Si version may have gotten all the attention from enthusiasts, but the HF handles almost as well and will still put a smile on your face.

This one, unfortunately, needs a little help; its 1.5-liter carbureted engine will start, but it won’t stay running at idle. The seller makes no mention of how it runs if you keep your foot on the gas, so it’s hard to diagnose what the problem might be. My first guess, however, would be a vacuum leak. Carburetors in the last days before fuel injection took over were a nightmare of sensors and actuators, many of which were vacuum-controlled, and all it takes is one little pinhole in a rubber hose or a little crack in a gasket to cause all sorts of weirdness. The first thing I’d do to this one is replace all the vacuum lines, as well as the gasket at the base of the carburetor, and see if it starts behaving properly. If that’s not it, the next thing to check would be the choke, or something else on the carb itself.

Whether they were bought for economy or for fun, CRXs were not expensive cars, and as such, they got used hard. I’m not surprised that the interior of this one needs a little love. The driver’s seat needs at least a cover, or maybe reupholstering or replacement. And the Honda logo is missing from the steering wheel, if you care about such things. The rest of the interior looks pretty good, and it does appear to have air conditioning, though there’s no telling if it works.

The photos in the ad aren’t great, but it looks like it’s in good condition outside. This is a rare car these days in a lot of parts of the country, due to Honda’s propensity towards rust; you almost have to come to a climate like California to find a clean one anymore. It’s registered as non-operational, and the seller doesn’t say how long it has been sitting.  It also has a salvage title, but it really doesn’t matter; if you want a good first-generation CRX, grab a U-Haul trailer and head west.

1997 Infiniti Q45 – $1,450

Engine/drivetrain: 4.1-liter DOHC V8, four-speed automatic, RWD

Location: San Jose, CA

Odometer reading: 117,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives well

I mentioned that the CRX is on non-operational registration. That’s a quirk of California law that a lot of people outside the state aren’t aware of. If you let the registration on a car lapse, and don’t tell the state it’s not being driven, you (or whoever buys it from you) still owe the DMV all the registration fees for that period of time. Let a car sit long enough, and those fees can add up. In the case of this Infiniti Q45, they add up to $1,200, which you will need to pay before you can register it in the state of California. I think that’s the reason why it is priced so low.

It’s a damn nice car, though; the Q45 was designed to compete with the Lexus LS, as well as the big German sedans. It has a V8 engine displacing 4.1 liters (earlier versions had a 4.5-liter engine, hence the name, but I guess they thought Q41 didn’t sound as good) and a four-speed automatic. This is a one-owner car, with only 117,000 miles on it, and according to the seller, there’s nothing wrong with it. Low mileage plus long-term lapsed registration points to an elderly owner who passed away, and the car was probably bought from an estate auction for next to nothing.

It’s as loaded inside as you would expect, with leather, wood, and power everything. There’s a little wear on the driver’s seat, but otherwise it looks really nice. The seller says that everything works in there, too, including the air conditioning.

The original Q45 was a wild design for its time; a little too wild, as it turns out. For this second generation, Infiniti toned down the styling and made it more Lexus-like, or rather, more Mercedes-like, which is what Lexus was aiming for. The result is nowhere near as cool-looking as the original, but it’s a handsome enough car. This one looks good, except for some scuffs on the bumpers here and there.

Fifteen hundred bucks isn’t a lot for a car these days, and you have to expect to spend some more to whip a car that cheap into shape. For one of these, that means towing it home and turning some wrenches, and for the other, it means giving the bureaucrats almost as much as you paid for the car. Still, even with all that, they could both end up being good deals. Which one are you willing to spend the extra money on?