For a little reference: I sold my 96 Del Sol Si with 95 thousand miles on it for $7,500.00 at the beginning of this year. I had it along with my S2000 for a couple of months, but decided I wasn't driving it enough to justify keeping it around.

I loved my Del Sol's (I had two of them) they are great cars!
And mine seemed to just get stronger and stronger even with 90k miles. The Del Sol is very reliable, and for a two seat targa top sporty car, it is actually very practical: It is good on gas, it has a trunk that is twice the size of the S2000, it is a hard top so you don't have to put up with the convertible issues... etc etc. the list goes on. I say get one.

 

An automatic? Did you slip and hit your head?

The del Sol was a great car, very HONDA and dependable, not as capable in any way as the CRX but the roof and the back window were great concepts. I really believe if the del Sol had a much more rigid structure, a bit more power and much better steering it could have been a huge hit. As a basic daily driver it is a great car and would suggest it! It could be difficult finding one in that price range because the way HONDAs hold their value. Do consider a CRX. There are more and more of them showing up for sale and because they are a bit older, they will be priced a bit lower. My neighbor just bought a '90 CRX HF from the proverbial little old lady, the car has 53,000 miles, looks almost new and he got it for under $3,000.

 

BSMTH
be still my thumping heart


Sondra S2K thank you for that pic! I can see in the background my first love affair with HONDA. I had an '81 blue Accord 3-door. Oh was that car great! 175,000 miles on the car, the odometer showed 75,000 and I traded it in on an '87 CRX-Si. I had to tell the dealer over and over I had not made an error, the car really had 175,000 miles on it not 75,000.

 

Trip H, if I can find one, I'll post a pic of my first car, a turd brown 76 Civic... it was a horrendously unreliable car, but it was a lot of fun when it ran!

 

I remember the turd brown color, nice description, you have captured the color perfectly!

My '81 Accord was called The Lambo, it was short in stature but had the heart of a Lamborghini. The car left me at the side of the road just once after all those miles of being driven very, very hard. The distributor failed on me and I had to call AAA to get home.

 

I can vouch for the del Sol being a great car. My 97 VTEC (B16a) has 85,000 tortured miles on it. The only money I have spent besides oil changes and tires.....$100 twice for recommended valve adjustments and a full set of brake pads at 67,000 miles. It has a good deal of power, yet does very well in snow. I almost traded it on the S2000 but I am glad I came to my senses. I got there and just couldn't let it go. It was my first "cool car" and I plan to keep it for some time.

Not to mention, it is #717 of about 800 (VTEC Models) made in 1997 (final year.)

I would think you could find an early S or Si model for around $4K, but it might have a great deal of miles. Save the money, save the harrassment....and get the 5 speed!

 

Honestly the del Sol is a great car.

Marcus

 

Thanks guys, I went out and looked at a few of them this weekend, going to go older and with more miles. the reason for the automatic, even though I hate them with a passion, is that my brother will be 16 its one less thing that he has to worry about when driving, and If you have been stuck on the 805 5 merge everyday you would want one to, I personally will never get another automatic car even though I get stuck in traffic for over 5 hours a week. just blasting off from a stop light is worth it to me.

I will go look at crx's soon.

 

Not as capable in ANY way as a CRX? I don't know...my Sol came from the factory with far more power than any CRX ever available in the US. I don't think any 116 hp. CRX Si would have a chance against a 160 hp Sol. Not to mention ABS. And what's wrong with the steering? I find it quick and direct, with pretty good feel.

Sondra, the Sol is not a true convertible? Sure, the top may be a bit unconventional, but the car IS a convertible. If you are under the impression that it is a targa, it is not. There is no other targa car on the planet that has a back window that rolls down...it greatly enhances the open-air experience. To me that makes the Sol a convertible with a built-in rollbar.
And Stormbringer: I'm selling my Sol while I wait for my '02 S to arrive. Too bad it's a 5-speed.

 

The del Sol was a very nice car, don't get me wrong! The roof and back window remain one of my favorite concepts that got to production!

However, for how I use my HONDAs it could not handle the work. The structure of the del Sol was very flexible, with the roof out the cowl shake was unbelievable, and with the roof in the flex was still obvious. My CRX-Si is used for high-speed track use, it pulls well over 1.05g in lateral cornering forces and the steering is precise because the body does not flex. The del Sol has an ability to flex so dramatically on the track under extreme g-forces that the steering geometry literally changes because the body is twisting. I honestly don't see how a del Sol could keep up. By the time you added enough weight to take out the body flex, the bhp/weight equation would be reduced dramatically.

As a street car I still believe the del Sol with the 160bhp VTEC was a great car, but as a track weapon it just lacked some of the extreme razor edge qualities of the CRX-Si.