'89 DX or '92 VX?
 

Well my '88 Civic wagon just cracked 320,000 kms, and a much as I love that car the rust has gotten pretty serious. If I had a dog, and I locked him in the back, he might actually be able to crawl out through the holes. So a few weeks ago I picked up an '89 Civic DX hatch with 207,000 kms. 5 speed, manual steering, one owner, maintained at a Honda dealership since new. Now, just to tempt me, I looked at a '92 Civic VX today. 220,000 kms, maintained at a Honda shop, still has the factory VX wheels, dead stock. It's been painted poorly once, and the rear wheel wells are bubbling up, as well as the drivers door. I'd say the '89 is a nicer car.

I put about 20,000 kms (12000 miles) a year on my car, and I get roughly 35 mpg out of my wagon. A 2 door hatch lighter, so I would hope for a few more mpg out of the DX hatch. After looking through the garage on this site it looks like a VX is good for 45+ mpg without much effort. I think the VX could be had for $2000 or so, but is it worth the extra dough to get 10 mpg more and a rusty car? I was trying to figure out how long it would take to pay for itself over the DX in fuel savings (gas is $1.14 per liter here), but couldn't figure out the formula. I think the VX will sell pretty quick but I just can't decide if it's worth it. Any insight is welcome!

I would go with less rust, $2,000 was a good deal for a vx when gas was even higher and more people had money, but my current vx was on craigs list for 3 weeks at $1,500, I paid $1,100 for it and it has no rust, I think I found a spot the size of a dime and it as well is 100% stock, so if you go with the vx you could talk them down in price, but for the long term, rust is an issue, so is new paint, that meens fenders or hood have been replaced as well.
the DX does well with VX or crx HF rims and narrow tires, tranny swaps are also a good option, the '89 is going to have an engine that is tuned ok from stock, so you have a good starting point there.
with that said, I really like my current and past civic vx and plan to keep it.