An '85 CRX will have a carb on it, it won't be fuel injected so keep that in mind. Carbs can work fine, but they are more work to maintain and they never seem to run as well or reliably as a fuel injected car does. That's one of the things I use as a cutoff point for whether or not I pick up an eco-car that I find somewhere - is it fuel injected? Generally with Hondas you want 1988 or newer as they will all be F.I. (except for Preludes) at that point. Some earlier CRXs had F.I. but only the Si models, and I think that didn't start until '86.
You might want to look at a Toyota Tercel, '91 or newer. They have a 1.5L with fuel injection. I have found them to be good little cars, super easy to work on, with parts cheap and plentiful. One problem they all have is bad valve seals, so when you go to look at one it will blow blue smoke when you start it (if the engine is cold at least). They pretty much all do this, and it's not worth fixing, but it does make a good bargaining point when you are trying to get a better price.
Another car to consider is an early Ford Focus. The first few years they carried over the same engine that was in the Escort, you want to avoid those ones. But I think in '02 they went to the ZTec motor, and those ones aren't bad, you can get them in a station wagon, and they are dirt cheap (around here anyway). My friend has a 2003 wagon with 180k KMs (111k miles) and he can't get $1000 for it. Good luck in your search.
