The Bid is Right

How high for this Honda CRX Si?

by Grady Eger
6 January 2022 3 min read
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Photo by Courtesy Bring a Trailer/The_Dude_Abides

**Congratulations to contest winner Jay Kerr, who guessed the winning bid on the nose. A Hagerty member since 2019, Kerr presently owns a Porsche 944, a JDM Suzuki Cappuccino, and an Alfa 4C. “I am a car enthusiast who enjoys finding a nice ride and then putting it through a mini cosmetic restoration.”

Click here to find the latest contest.**

If you’ve been following the auction scene of late, then you’re aware things are kind of nuts right now. Thanks to the continued growth of online selling platforms, classic cars are being bid on at an unprecedented pace. Insider has lots of thoughts about this phenomenon—you can find some here and herebut perhaps the most important one is that it’s fun. Who doesn’t like seeing amazing classics trotted out day in and day out, and who doesn’t like guessing just how much they’ll go for?

In the spirit of fun, we present, The Bid is Right. The premise is simple and should be familiar to anyone who has watched daytime TV in the last few decades: The person who guesses closest to the final bid—without going over—wins.

Oh, and did we mention we give out $500 to the winner? Yes, we take fun pretty seriously.

With no further ado, we present this week’s contest. Submit your guess in the comments section below no later than January 9, 2022 at 5:10 pm EST (24 hours before the auction officially closes—that’s right, no sniping!).

The vehicle: 1989 Honda CRX Si, for sale on Bring a Trailer

Our take: It’s no secret, but new cars just keep packing on the pounds with prolonged, year-after-year weight gain. There’s more tech and more safety features, plus the drive for ever more horsepower, acceleration, grip, and of course space. There are a few holdouts like the Miata or the Toyota GR 86, but the ever-fatter new automobiles dominate. And they lead us to reminisce about the old relics that stood for light weight and simplicity but were still fun and still practical. One in particular comes to mind. It had an engine displacing just 1.6 liters, a curb weight of just 1900 pounds, and three pedals to shift. It had two seats but plenty of room, plus the fuel efficiency of an economy car. It’s the Honda CRX Si we’re talking about, and a shockingly clean, low-mile example is currently up on Bring a Trailer.

The Honda CRX was introduced in 1983. As a fun, smaller alternative Civic, its funky wedge shape and two-seater configuration was a hit. In 1985, Honda introduced a sportier top-level trim called the Si (“sport injected”). For 1988, a second-gen model arrived with improved four-wheel double-wishbone suspension and revised styling. Nimble handling, telepathic steering, and a smooth high-revving engine were its focus. No matter the model, though, CRXs were a blast to drive, affordable to buy, and easy to own. Plenty of car fans in the early ’90s cut their teeth on one of these hot Hondas, and it helped kick off the popular hot hatch segment of the car market. Unfortunately, there just aren’t a lot of clean, unmolested, never-crashed examples left out there to enjoy.

That's why this 1989 CRX Si caught our attention. With just 28,037 clicks on the odometer, it's one of those ultra-rare, unbelievably clean low-mile cars that so rarely comes to market. It remained with the original owner until 2017, and has recently gotten its timing belt and water pump replaced. It sold for $28,875 back in 2019, but where it ends up this time is anybody's guess.

And by anybody's we mean yours. Where do you think the hammer will fall on this one? Put your guess in the comments, below.

More ground rules:

  • The commenter who guesses closest to the hammer price—without going over—wins. (Hammer price excludes auction house fees).
  • Guesses must be formatted with commas and decimal points (ie: $00,000.00).
  • One guess per commenter.
  • If two people guess the same amount (within a dollar) the earlier guess wins.
  • Commenters must provide first and last name in addition to email address.
  • We will close the guessing on Sunday, January 9 at 5:10 pm.
  • Your privacy is important to us, and we'll never sell your information.  By providing your email you will receive the weekly Insider newsletter, and you can opt out at any time.
  • You can read the full rules here.

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