drives as good as it looks; hybrid drivetrain is right for today’s environment; great value;
Tyre noise at speed; restricted rear three-quarter visibility
Honda was quick to call Car Showroom offering a zippy Honda CR-Z sports car for a week just a few months after launch. We leapt at the opportunity to spend seven days in the range-topping Honda CR-Z Luxury.
Why? Well certainly our first brief acquaintance on roads around the Yarra Valley was impressive, but moreover we’re intrigued by the hybrid Honda CR-Z.
Fact one: Honda is back in the sports car business and that’s good. Hot on the heels of the CR-Z launch came news from the Detroit Auto Show that there’s a new Honda NSX supercar under development.
Fact two: Sports car fans need to get used to hybrid power. The Honda CR-Z we’re driving now is a hybrid, the new NSX will be hybrid, Infiniti is developing a mid-engine hybrid sports car and so are the European super brands.
So you might conclude Honda CR-Z Café Racer (starting price $34,990) is ahead of the game – a precursor to sports cars of the future.
Honda CR-Z Overview
Technically a four-seat sports coupe, most Honda CR-Zs will spend their life with the rear seat folded to maximize cargo space. The rear seat is best left to very occasional use by friends or to inconvenience the in-laws when you have to transport them.
With funky styling and a 1.5-litre petrol hybrid drivetrain, the Honda CR-Z is a sports car for the city – it’s planet-friendly for sure, but still delivers fun driving dynamics on demand when you hit the country.
For this week, Car Showroom tested the range-topping CR-Z ‘Luxury’ which gains extras like satellite navigation, a sun-roof, leather seats and a reversing camera. The Honda CR-Z Luxury CVT automatic as tested retails for $40,790.
Honda CR-Z Engine
The 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol hybrid engine in the Honda CR-Z is a ‘do-over’ of the 1.3-litre unit fitted to the Insight Hybrid hatchback. Changes to the intake manifold and air cleaner were required for the CR-Z installation (smaller under-bonnet area and lower mounting for better sports car weight distribution and also to provide pedestrian impact protection).
The extra capacity brings extra ‘zip’ – in automatic form as tested, 91kW at 6000rpm and 167Nm from 1000-1500rpm (174Nm for the six-speed manual).
As usual with Honda, it’s a parallel hybrid system (three modes ‘Normal’, ‘Eco’ and ‘Sport’) with the electric motor powered by a 100-volt Nickel Metal Hydride battery unit.
Fuel consumption for our Honda CR-Z automatic is rated at 4.7l/100kms and exhaust C02 emissions score 118g/km.
Like all Honda engines (hybrid or conventional) there’s a racy edge to the CR-Z – it loves to rev, sounds great and delivers a nice shove when worked hard.
And like all Honda engines, there’s plenty of technology including a clever de-activation of one inlet valve per cylinder at low speeds to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Honda CR-Z The Interior
Likewise inside. Honda does great interiors regardless of the market segment – in this case the sporty touches for the CR-Z are top-notch and will be appreciated by sports car enthusiasts.
For starters the seats are bolstered in just the right places and combine with the usual Honda sports steering wheel (adjustable for rake and reach) and low mounting to deliver a genuine sports car feel.
And we still like Honda’s two-tier dashboard layouts. In the case of the CR-Z there is a curved binnacle in front of the driver with the speedo which changes colour according to the drive mode (switches to red when you select ‘Sport’).
Graphics are crisp, modern and colourful even for the secondary information (battery charge etc).
Audio is six-speaker CD/MP3 system and the Luxury model adds a DVD player, satellite navigation and a reversing camera (all displayed on a centre console screen).
As we said the rear seat is really just for emergency use and will most likely be permanently folded flat to deliver 401-litres of luggage space (225-litres when in place) in a luggage area which is surprisingly deep.
Honda CR-Z Exterior & Styling
Big picture, there’s more than a whiff of the much-loved Honda CRX sports car from the 1980s when you look at the CR-Z. Of course this is an all-new design and it’s certainly pleasing to the eye – Honda calls it a ‘one motion wedge’.
And, like the CRX, the all-new Honda CR-Z is compact – just 4080mm in length and 1740mm wide. But despite the small dimensions, Honda has incorporated a sophisticated design highlighted by a low bonnet leading edge, sporty front air-intake and aero splitter, prominently curved windscreen, rising beltline for the side glass and lots of sculpturing in the sides.
The rear is another execution of Honda’s split tail-gate design as used in the racy Civic Type R. Both the Honda CR-Z Sport and Luxury model (as tested) run nice five twin-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels with 195/55R16 rubber.
Honda CR-Z On The Road
Our week in the Honda CR-Z allowed as to run the full range of Car Showroom test roads.
Unlike the launch route in the Yarra Valley, this time we included city driving where the hybrid CR-Z surprised with its lively response for freeway merging etc – very ‘un-hybrid’ you might say. But of course the silent operation when using solely electric power reminded all this is a sports car for this generation.
Once again, we loved the Honda CR-Z out in the open. Over our high-speed mountain roads loop the sporty attributes were top-shelf – dynamic ride and handling and nice response from the 1.5-litre made for great fun…reminding us again of the CRX.
In a nutshell Honda has succeeded in delivering a hybrid-powered sports car which is fun to drive.
Honda CR-Z Challenges
To be super-critical, we did find road noise (tyres mostly) a little intrusive when we were at speed over our mountain roads test loop.
Otherwise our only points deduction from the CRZ was the miniscule rear-side windows which made reverse parking in streets a tad difficult. Of course those small windows are crucial in the overall design and in any case it’s always smart to use the passenger-side external mirror when parking to avoid ‘curbing’ your alloys.
Honda CR-Z Verdict
Well there’s good news for Honda fans and sports car enthusiasts on two fronts – the snazzy CR-Z is here now and news from the Detroit Auto Show points to an all-new Honda NSX under development. Honda has sports cars in its DNA so it was no surprise the CR-Z rates highly.
We like the looks, we like the driving dynamics and the hybrid drivetrain is spot on for the mindset of today’s new car buyers.
Honda CR-Z The Competition
Our test car was the range-topping Honda CR-Z Luxury with the CVT automatic transmission, priced at $40,790. And at that level, compared to other so-called ‘Café Racers’, the Honda CR-Z is a real bargain.
You’ll need $47,200 to secure a hard-top Mazda MX-5 – admittedly more dedicated sports car than the Honda CR-Z. Of course at 8.1l/100kms to the hybrid Honda CR-Z’s 5.0l/100kms, your ‘green’ friends will look at you more kindly in the Honda.
Audi A1 ($29,900 to $42,500) is in the mix. The A1 is cheeky and cute but doesn’t have the zippy sports car attributes of the Honda CRZ. Same for BMW’s 1 Series Coupe which starts at $47,400.
In the Café Racer league, our standout is the beautiful Peugeot RCZ but French flair costs – the RCZ starts at $54,990.
