CIVIC 3RD GEN
Total Revs
14
Global Rank
#186
Gen Rank
1 MORE REVS TO REACH #185 IN OVERALL GEN
Ranked Categories
About the Civic 3rd Gen
The third-gen Civic showed up in 1983 and Honda started making cars that felt like they were engineered by people who cared about more than just getting from A to B. The CVCC technology gave way to fuel injection on the Si, and the 1.5-liter made 76 hp in base form, which in a car weighing 800 kg was perfectly adequate. The CRX variant was the revelation. Shorter wheelbase, lighter weight, and a personality that launched a thousand autocross careers. Three body styles — sedan, hatch, and CRX — and all of them drove with a precision that nothing else in the price range could touch. The third gen was Honda proving that economy cars didn't have to feel economical. Everything after it built on this lesson.