You're transported back to Honda's R&D HQ in the year 2000, what do you tell them?

The Del Sol was the third gen CRX, but the price and packaging put it in an entirely different market segment from the earlier CRX. The CRX was like a more compact Civic hatchback. The Del Sol was a FWD Miata. Today, a well-maintained Del Sol VTEC would likely draw more attention at Cars & Coffee than a clean NA Miata. It's a great little car and I suspect is loved by the small group that continues to drive them. But car fanatics love the odd and have never driven the sale of new cars. At the end of the run, a CRX Si had an MSRP around $11,000. Del Sol Si was over $15,000 and the top spec VTEC was close to $20,000. In addition to the significant price jump, the CRX was a very practical small runabout that happened to be engaging to drive (particularly the Si). Moving from a hatchback to targa made it a less practical car, with much less usable interior space for both cargo and passengers. The Del Sol also suffered from the "chick car" perception. Unsupported speculation but seems that Honda was influenced by the success of the Miata, against which the Del Sol competed. That was not so for the CRX. The Miata was just about the same price as a Del Sol Si and significantly cheaper than the VTEC. The Honda was certainly more sophisticated, particularly the VTEC. In fact, it was the better *vehicle* in just about every way. But unlike the CRX, it was competing in a market segment that particularly subjective. I don't mean that in terms of handling feel and vehicle dynamics beyond the numbers, but how ownership makes the owner feel. If you'll forgive the wordplay, the Del Sol lacked soul. My view is that FWD v. RWD had relatively little to do with it. The number of new car buyers for either of these vehicles who would ever drive them in a way that made a difference was small. But the Miata was, and is, cool and you felt cool driving it and probably owning it. Consensus was that the NA is a British roadster that didn't break. Del Sol? Another well-engineered, fun-to-drive Japanese transportation appliance. Honda went from a market segment where the CRX was compelling to a different segment where the Del Sol was not.