The Honda Del Sol, launched as a direct rival to the Miata, has seen a resurgence in popularity. These were the 10 coolest features of the Honda Del Sol.
The 1990s were something of a boom decade for sports cars, with so many excellent models launching that it’s easy to forget some of them. The Honda Del Sol, or Civic Del Sol as it was also known, is one such car, as it can sometimes be overlooked in favor of the ever-popular Mazda MX-5 Miata. The Del Sol was launched as a direct rival to the Miata, but rather than being built from the ground up as a sports car, it was based on the bones of the regular Honda Civic hatchback (via Motor1).
It was far from a perfect car, with Motor1 noting that some models suffered from build quality issues, and there were complaints about the interior fit and finish and the relative lack of gadgetry compared to its competition. These complaints dampened enthusiasm for the Del Sol, and it was retired in the U.S. in 1997 due to low sales. It looked set to be consigned to the history books, but a recent resurgence in interest in Japanese cars from the ’80s and ’90s has brought the Del Sol back into the spotlight and kept interest in Honda’s plucky little sports car going strong. There’s plenty to like about the Del Sol, even if it never achieved the same level of recognition as its arch-rival, the Miata.
The name «Del Sol» literally translates from Spanish as «of the sun,» which alludes to its removable targa top (via Lane Motor Museum). All American-market Del Sols featured the same targa top, which Honda paired with a retractable rear window to give the feeling of driving a convertible. The roof had to be removed by hand and then stored in the trunk, meaning drivers had to pull over to get the roof back out if the weather turned while they were driving.
The «targa» name began in 1966 with the Porsche 911 Targa, and Porsche still retains the trademark to the word. Mazda eventually released a targa top Miata in 2016, but back when the Del Sol first hit the market, the Miata was still only available as a roadster. Targas were just hitting peak popularity when the Del Sol was released, with the Chevrolet Corvette, Ferrari F355, and Nissan 300ZX also offering the unusual roof layout (via The Verge and Garage Dreams).
American Del Sol buyers were stuck with the targa top whether they liked it or not, but in Europe and Japan, another option was available: the TransTop. This strange mechanized contraption has been called «the most baffling convertible top ever made,» due to its unique way of attaching and removing the roof. To take the top off, a box rises from the trunk to the level of the roof. Then, two robotic grabbing arms reach out and take the targa-like section of the roof and drag it back into the box. The whole contraption then descends back into the trunk, with the lid of the trunk closing behind it.
It’s a tricky process to visualize, but seeing it in action really demonstrates how odd this whole process is. It’s not clear why Honda chose not to bring the TransTop Del Sol to America, but now that earlier model year cars have become old enough to be imported under the 25-year rule, a few have made it Stateside anyway.
The Del Sol shared its engine options with the regular Civic, with base-spec S trims getting a 106 horsepower, 1.6-liter engine. Mid-spec Si trims used the same engine, but with a slight power bump to 127 horsepower, and top-spec VTEC trims gained an extra 33 horses on top of that (via Honda). Honda’s VTEC technology was cutting-edge at the time, and it helped give the top-spec Del Sol’s engine the highest horsepower-per-liter rating of any naturally aspirated engine on sale (via Cars). This is also where one of the Del Sol’s biggest marketing flaws came in: Despite the top-spec trim being called the VTEC, mid-spec Si trims also got an engine with VTEC technology, albeit a less powerful one.
