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owequitit wrote:
Potenza wrote:
DCR wrote:
That would be about 4 advantages. Not to mention, point 4 would allow you to dislodge the rear window from the tracks on hard cornering due to chassis flex.
Says the guy who has done nothing more than read about them on the internet, obviously. Funny, I would have never guessed you would argue. You also forgot to count my listed advantages, and instead only used Shawn's, who we can often find you suckling at the teet of.

Well like I said, I had mine on track, both driven by and driven with a Honda Challenge driver. Can't say I had any rear window issues. God, I loved that rear window, too. Great on rainy days, when you could leave it open at speed and get a nice breeze.

For the longest time, Honda cars were never what you wanted out of the box, anyhow. (Hell, some could say the same of even the NSX and S2000.) But it was especially true in the 80s and 90s. Honda didn't give you sports cars - barely even sporty cars - they gave you a simple foundation for something more. It was up to the owner to do modifications if they wanted something special.

Miata owners would say the same thing. It's fun stock. But obviously I could say the same thing about my del Sol. But the ones having the real fun aren't driving an off-the-lot 133hp Miata.

Heck, that's what bugged me so much about the EP3 complaints. Look how popular the EK hatch was. Yet in the States it came with the absolute crappiest engines. What made it popular? Good chassis, engine swaps, aftermarket mods, Type R parts. But with the EP3, people seemed to forget all that, and thought Honda was supposed to deliver a winner out of the box. Yet no one seemed to consider how it could easily take an RSX K-swap, aftermarket mods, Type R parts. 15" wheels? Who cares. Who ever kept the stock wheels on an enthusiast Honda? Honda never historically delivered all the goods. It's the aftermarket and modifications that made them truly special.

So the del Sol had chassis flex. I eventually added a few strut bars to it... no big deal. If you put a strut bar on your FR-S - or any modification for that matter - can we call it junk from the factory?

DCR wrote:
Yes Potenza, the Miata IS the better packaged car. That is probably why it has been in production since I was in high school (buddy had a red one new - first gen). Where is the Del Sol?
Where is the CRX? Where is the S2000? Where is the NSX? Add these to the list of cars that are worse than the Miata, I guess.

The basis of your point is so horrendously unfounded that it barely makes any sense at all.

1) Make no mistake about it. The #1 flaw of the Del Sol is that it was NOT a CRX. Deny it or don't, but the CRX was not only one of the most popular enthusiast Hondas, it was also among the most capable. They still dominate certain classes of racing to this day, something the Del Sol can't even begin to claim. In fact, in order to attempt to cash in on the popularity of the CRX, they even called it the CRX Del Sol initially. The problem (as with the ZDX, CRZ, Insight and RL) is that it answered a question that nobody wanted an answer to, and it sold accordingly.

The Del Sol might have found some acceptance if it had been released in addition to a CRX, but since it replaced it, it became a joke. Best case scenario is that it sold at a fraction of the volume the CRX did. To top it off, you talk about how flexible/versatile it was, but compared to a CRX it was cramped, inefficient, heavy, large and could only carry a fraction as much. From an enthusiast standpoint, and a "sporty car" standpoint, the Del Sol was a joke compared to the CRX. And yes, I have dealt with both, although I have had ZERO interest in actually owning a Del Sol.