Sporty and Fuel Efficient?!
The Honda CR-Z tries to blend both worlds together with interesting results.
The CR-Z is a small, 2 seat hatchback from Honda that was introduced in 2010 for the 2011 year. It has many styling cues from Honda's old 80's CR-X hatchback that was a small 2 or 2+2 seat sporty car. It is an interesting car that is sort of in its own category of "sport hybrid". It promises to deliver both sporty performance and handling as well as great fuel economy. Has Honda succeeded with this experiment?
Take a look:
Different Styles:
The Honda CR-Z Hybrid is only available as a 2 seat, 2 door hatchback. It has a 1.5L, 4 cylinder gas engine with a small electric motor as well. You can have either a CVT or a 6-speed manual transmission.
Styling and Comfort Impressions:
It's nice to see a cool looking Honda again! The CR-Z has a lot of styling ques from the old CR-X which was also a small 2 seat, 2 door hatchback that was known for its sporty handling and performance but also stellar fuel efficiency. This car looks like a little mouse that should just be sprinting across the floor away from the larger cats. No matter what angle you look at this car, it looks like it should be going fast. The curves, the wheels, the lights and the big open grill all look great together. If you like the look of small hatchbacks but also like the car to not look boring, this is definitely for you (sounds sorta like the Hyundai Veloster...).
The rear hatch has 2 portions to it. A top sloping part with a wiper blade and a smaller vertical part at the end. The rear lights are large triangles that wrap around the edges; very sporty looking.
Going inside, the views are nice, but it could be nicer. While the layout with the large buttons and nicely separated air from radio controls looks good and logical, it's not really what one would call "sporty". The materials and colours used look a bit plain and to put it into perspective, the Honda Insight hybrid (which is in no way a sporty car) has the same interior layout and almost the same materials. Even the navigation unit is the same. But this is not all bad, even with the touch screen system, it still has plenty of buttons for very easy and quick use, as well as wheel mounted controls.
Take a look:
The seats are quite low, typical of a small sports car. They are quite nice to sit in, very well supported, good material, and a good amount of travel in all directions. Because the CR-Z is essentially just a 2 seat vehicle you have plenty of leg room and good head room. Instead of like Honda's Civic and Insight, the CR-Z does not have a 2 zone dash; it looks closer to the Fit's layout.
The sound system is pretty good, to be expected in a sports car with 6 standard speakers and the upgraded EX trim adds a sub-woofer, which in a small car like this just fills it with sound.
The cargo space is a bit odd, but usable. While the short sloped roof means that tall items won't fit well, there is a decent length to the space. The portion right behind the front seats also folds up and backward to reveal what looks like 2 extremely small seats, which they can be in Europe and Asia. Apparently people in Europe and Asia don't have legs because there is no way a person with them could fit in that space unless the front seats were all the way forward, making them useless. But in most configurations the area is covered in plastic with two shallow bins that allows you to put small items back there with out them sliding around a lot and be somewhat out of sight.
Driving Impressions:
Has Honda done it? Successfully mixed sporty driving with good fuel economy? Sort of. Let's start with sound. Due to the set up of Honda's hybrid power-train, called Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) the car can go through some phases. At start-up the engine turns over and starts (unlike most other hybrids where its just electric at start-up) but once it sits and idles for a bit it will turn off and the car will try to use just electricity from the battery pack, unless its very cold. When the engine does turn off at a stop light or something, it is sometimes pretty noticeable when it turns back on as the car shutters for a second and the acceleration has a little surge. Even though it is a small engine, when idling it is almost unnoticeable. However, once you get underway you start to feel it a bit, and hear it.
Under hard acceleration the engine is pretty rough and loud but there is a pretty nice sound coming from the exhaust that makes it feel like a larger car. The acceleration is pretty fast as the electric motor provides extra torque and HP instantly. It being a small and relatively light car, with tight steering means that handling around corners and potholes is very good and fast. It is a very fun car to drive. However, due to its short wheelbase and its sport-tuned suspension, even on normal 16-inch wheels the ride is very stiff and bumpy. This would be expected from a small sports car, but the fact that this is also a hybrid and can't truly compete with proper sports cars, the ride should be a bit softer. Also, most people expect a hybrid to be quiet or at least somewhat quiet while driving along normally, but there seems to be a lot of tire and road noise that comes into the cabin. There are 3 driving modes that can be selected: "Normal", which is just how it sounds,"Eco", which pulls back acceleration quite a bit, and "Sport", which actually doesn't feel that much different than normal, it lets you rev a bit higher but it doesn't make a big difference in the performance. Due to its small dimensions is it also really easy to drive in tight spots and park.
Visibility is ok in most directions except the rear corners. The rear of the car over the wheels narrows enough that when looking through the side mirrors it actually looks like the wheel humps are sticking out too much when in reality you can see more than a normal car would allow.
Overall:
The Honda CR-Z is an odd little car. It looks good on the outside, decent on the inside. There are only seats 2 but it has a good amount of cargo capacity of a car this small. It tries to blend the performance of a small sports car with the fuel efficiency of a hybrid. However, its doesn't quite perform like a true sports car and for a hybrid it doesn't get that great of fuel economy. It really depends on what you are buying the car for. If you are used to sports cars but would like something more fuel efficient, this may be a good option. If you already have a fuel efficient car that is larger and you are looking for a small little city car to throw around corners with just one other person, this would be good. Should this be your only car? No, unless you live in the middle of a huge city and you essentially expect to never have to drive other people. Should this be your second car? Probably, even if you live in the big city or in the suburbs. As long as you don't have a growing family. It also comes with a pretty long warranty that covers the hybrid power-train.
Facts/ Figures:
Price (for mid trim level): was about $22,000+ USA, $29,000+ Canada
FWD
Max HP: 130
Max Torque lb/ft: 127
MPG (approx*): 35 city; 38 highway.
Cargo room (approx*): 25 CuFt
Length: 161"
Width: 69"
Tank Size (gal): 10.6
Miles on one tank (using combined MPG figures): 392
Average used price with 60,000KM or less: $12,000+
* when I say "approx" I usually am using the numbers given by the actual manufacturer or Consumer Reports, minus 1 to be a bit more realistic.
**No pictures featured are my own, they have been taken either from Google images or the manufacturer's website and their rightful owners should get any credit for them. This review featured all pictures from the manufacturer's websites ( some through Edmunds.com).
Price (for mid trim level): was about $22,000+ USA, $29,000+ Canada
FWD
Max HP: 130
Max Torque lb/ft: 127
MPG (approx*): 35 city; 38 highway.
Cargo room (approx*): 25 CuFt
Length: 161"
Width: 69"
Tank Size (gal): 10.6
Miles on one tank (using combined MPG figures): 392
Average used price with 60,000KM or less: $12,000+
* when I say "approx" I usually am using the numbers given by the actual manufacturer or Consumer Reports, minus 1 to be a bit more realistic.
**No pictures featured are my own, they have been taken either from Google images or the manufacturer's website and their rightful owners should get any credit for them. This review featured all pictures from the manufacturer's websites ( some through Edmunds.com).
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