1993 Honda Crossroad

CRAZY JDM #14

This is the Honda Crossroad. It doesn't really do anything a Honda would typically do. Instead it is designed to be a big, rugged off roader. The key word is 'designed' as it will always refuse to start and instead leak gallons of fluids all over the owner's driveway, whoever was unfortunate enough to own it in the first place. Might be quite practical when it ever does start though. 7 Seats!


AN UNRELIABLE HONDA? WITCHCRAFT!
No, not witchcraft, rather 'Rover'. Rover was a British car company. Most people who have any idea about the company will know that 'Rover' stands for Rusty Oxidising Vehicles - Excessively Repulsive. Okay, they made a couple of cars that actually quite nice such as the SD1 & 75 etc but they were all made of compressed rust & assembled with toothpicks.
So what does Rover have to do with this whole agenda?
Most British people will know Rover was in a deal with Honda where they would work together. It could have gone so well - note how I just said 'could have' as the companies threw a great big 'that's what they would be expecting' at any positive innovation and instead made genericised Hondas with an added bonus - rust, and lots of Red Diesel too of course. The biggest loss from this was the Rover 800, a Honda Legend that got built by Rover. It was the first and only Rover sold in the US known there as the 'Sterling 827. Most Americans may have forgot it as it was in production for such a short time due to reliabilty issues. Also the Crossroad was, if you haven't figured out already, a rebadged 1st gen Land Rover Discovery with a Honda badge. It's still a JDM though as it was only sold in Japan. Thus I have an excuse to moan about it here. Hooray!

HOW FAST?
Specs for the only engine, the V8i.
182bhp
0-62 in 11.5 seconds - provided the engine doesn't blow.
Just under 106mph

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

Deliciously Purple Promotional Picture

Compare & contrast with the Land Rover equivalent

Read 'Pride of Breaking Down' for true accuracy

The fact that there's more promotional pics than live photographs proves that those who bought it were quite a lonely bunch.

Wait, it still exists in real life! Maybe they weren't so lonely after all. Let's wait for the grand reopening of the Honda Crossroad owner's club.

CAN I BUY ONE?

If you're from the USA then no, it's too new. If you're able to import one expect prices from err... I honestly don't know. This car is not up for sale in decent numbers anywhere so prices are mostly unknown. Buy a Land Rover Discovery instead if you're the sort of person up for this car as its almost exactly the same.

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly size & proportions? NO

Silly styling? NO

Silly engineering? NO (But if sillly = unreliable, then maybe)

Silly idea behind it? YES

●◦◦1/4 A mostly sober car with a couple of cool and different features.

2001 Honda Stepwgn

CRAZY JDM #13

This is the Honda Stepwgn. And no, that was not a typo, this is the Honda Stepwgn - extra emphasis on the 'WGN' required for the sake of authenticity. Though introduced in 1995, the 2001 Stepwgn was where things really got crazy; by that I mean it began to look tacky instead of dreary. Despite all of this, I like the Stepwgn, even if it has sliding doors on only one side for some quirky reason.



DON'T HONDA HAVE A MILLION AND ONE OF THESE TYPES OF CARS ALREADY?
Yes, and that's why it exists! You see, around this time the SUV trend was beginning. You know, the Land Rovers and Jeeps were beginning to being used as picking-the-kids-up-from-school-on-time machines as opposed to the messing-up-the-countryside-leaking-red-diesel-everywhere machines which they were supposed to be. Honda wanted to get some money out of this fad so their solution was the Stepwgn, basically a big boxy van with windows that had been made higher up so you can get the kids out without breaking your spine or something. It has 4 seating arrangements: cargo mode; sleep mode; food mode (don't question it) and play mode where the seats swivel because that's every kid's ultimate epitome of enjoyment. Despite now having many more cars that do the same job, Stepwgn is still being made. Why this is remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time but I reckon it has something to do with Honda's abnormally large fake chrome supply.

HOW FAST?
I''m not sure you would find this useful but it's a VTEC so it should have some grunt.
157.81119485bhp (Very specific figure because maths).
0-60 in 8.5 seconds (not bad at all for a car this size).
118mph (Limited).

MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!

Yes, someone lowered Honda's deliberately raised car - clever.

Remember when I talked about all that fake chrome? ...Yeah.

Because nothing says JDM like a van resembling a (surprisingly classy) kitchen appliance.

It looks like an old Volvo from this view.

Now you can drool over that leather. Not sure if it's real leather or fake leather though.

CAN I BUY ONE?

Too new to be imported to the USA but everywhere else expect to see prices from £2,000 to £6,000 for a 2nd generation car like the on this post (I'll cover the other ones another time). Use a currency converter if you need to covert to a different currency, price excludes importing price (obviously).

CRAZY JDM RATING!

Silly styling? NO

Silly engineering? NO

Silly idea behind it? YES

●◦◦1/3 A mostly sober car with a couple of cool and different features.