The Honda CR-Z is, to me at least, a bit of a confusing car. Honda absolutely nailed the sporty hatchback look, and this car can certainly pass for a contemporary cousin of the now-classic CRX. But while it looks sporty, and it even has a six-speed transmission, the engine output is, well… about the same as a 20 year old CRX. So they went and made it a hybrid. But for a hybrid, it gets sub-par gas mileage. So it kinda fails, for me at least, on both fronts, and I feel like I’m not alone on this.
Apparently though, across the Atlantic, British car reviewers are raving about the CR-Z. Did I miss something?
Hybrid Cars snooped through some British reviews of the CR-Z, which goes on sale in England around the same time as it does in the U.S. Reporters like Andrew English of The Telegraph called the CR-Z a “likable little car,” though he wasn’t a fan of the limited luggage room or visibility. Other reviewers were more positive, including Top Gear’s Jason Barlow (who writes for Top Gear magazine). Barlow said “Honda might finally have made eco motoring sexy.” Like other outlets, he was a fan of the handling, though knocked its limited power output. “It’s proper fun to drive,” he said.
A few American publications, like Motor Trend, have test drove the car as well. They found the engine had sufficient low-end grunt for a hot hatch, but taking 10 seconds to reach 60 mph kills any aspirations. They were also disappointed with the expected gas mileage figures for America, getting 37 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway.
Still, I’m not all that giddy about the CR-Z… maybe because I haven’t driven it. I enjoy tossing a car around corners, which is apparently where the CR-Z excels. And while the power output is appalling for a “hot hatch,” Honda has in fact repeatedly said this is not a CRX successor. It is a sporty hybrid that happens to be a hatchback. Of course, if they didn’t want people drawing that distinction, why not name the car something other than CR-Z? There are already rumors about a 200 horsepower version of the CR-Z though, which should placate some of those clamoring for more power. Honda also has over 10,000 pre-orders for the CR-Z… so I guess people are really hot for this hatchback.
Are you looking forward to the CR-Z? Or could you care less?
Source: Hybrid Cars | Image: Honda
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About Christopher DeMorro
I feel the same way. It looks really good, but when the numbers came out, they were actually incredibly disappointing for me. Then someone called it an Insight coupe, which makes me like it even less since the Insight is an awful vehicle. I don’t know… I’ll test drive it when it comes out, but at this point, I am severely unimpressed.
I feel the same way. It looks really good, but when the numbers came out, they were actually incredibly disappointing for me. Then someone called it an Insight coupe, which makes me like it even less since the Insight is an awful vehicle. I don’t know… I’ll test drive it when it comes out, but at this point, I am severely unimpressed.
Up the power and economy – Just drop a diesel in it. Dear Honda, you have been doing it EVERYWHERE but the gtood old USA. Take the plung. You already have the no how! You have them in every country but mine! Still pissed you have not given me the CRV in diesel form. Will be buying a VW this fall.
I agree with you–this car is so disappointing–I expected much better from the makers of the NXS. This car is just too slow and even people who like this car would never call it fast. To make matters worse as it clearly does not excel in the powertrain it apparently may not be the “benchmark” for handling either as the Popular Mechanics review states … but the CR-Z is far from the most agile small coupe–a Mini or a BMW 1 Series would leave it dead on a twisting road”. One review also notes that after a few hot runs up and down the hills the brakes were smoking. It also has very poor rear visibility–this is pretty much the consensus among the many reviews I have read. All in all, a slow hybrid that is barely faster than a 4 cylinder Sienna minivan, that gets not that great gas mileage, doesn’t even handle as well as a much cheaper Mini and will likely cost well over $25,000 would seem to me to be rather poor choice for someone looking for an affordable sporty coupe.
I agree with you–this car is so disappointing–I expected much better from the makers of the NXS. This car is just too slow and even people who like this car would never call it fast. To make matters worse as it clearly does not excel in the powertrain it apparently may not be the “benchmark” for handling either as the Popular Mechanics review states … but the CR-Z is far from the most agile small coupe–a Mini or a BMW 1 Series would leave it dead on a twisting road”. One review also notes that after a few hot runs up and down the hills the brakes were smoking. It also has very poor rear visibility–this is pretty much the consensus among the many reviews I have read. All in all, a slow hybrid that is barely faster than a 4 cylinder Sienna minivan, that gets not that great gas mileage, doesn’t even handle as well as a much cheaper Mini and will likely cost well over $25,000 would seem to me to be rather poor choice for someone looking for an affordable sporty coupe.
I agree with you–this car is so disappointing–I expected much better from the makers of the NXS. This car is just too slow and even people who like this car would never call it fast. To make matters worse as it clearly does not excel in the powertrain it apparently may not be the “benchmark” for handling either as the Popular Mechanics review states … but the CR-Z is far from the most agile small coupe–a Mini or a BMW 1 Series would leave it dead on a twisting road”. One review also notes that after a few hot runs up and down the hills the brakes were smoking. It also has very poor rear visibility–this is pretty much the consensus among the many reviews I have read. All in all, a slow hybrid that is barely faster than a 4 cylinder Sienna minivan, that gets not that great gas mileage, doesn’t even handle as well as a much cheaper Mini and will likely cost well over $25,000 would seem to me to be rather poor choice for someone looking for an affordable sporty coupe.
Another consideration that is curioiusly absent from the reviews abroad is Honda’s decision to give this car a hybrid powertrain. I mean what real advantage does the hybrid system give to this car (I mean its power output is anemic and it’s gas mileage is not that impressive (especially when you consider larger hybrids like the Fusion get better gas mileage and are as fast if not faster than the CR-Z) It seems to me if Ford could achieve similar (if not better) performance both in mpg and 0-60 times, and sporty handling in a $13,000 Fiesta without going the hybrid route–one would think Honda could have produced a non-hybrid CR-Z for thousands of dollars cheaper with hardly if any penalty to the CR-Z’s performance. Actually, since it would have been a lighter car, the gasoline version likely would have handled better and would have been a bit faster. Since the CR-Z will never ever be even close to being a sports car–why not offer the Civic SI engine in the CR-Z?
Another consideration that is curioiusly absent from the reviews abroad is Honda’s decision to give this car a hybrid powertrain. I mean what real advantage does the hybrid system give to this car (I mean its power output is anemic and it’s gas mileage is not that impressive (especially when you consider larger hybrids like the Fusion get better gas mileage and are as fast if not faster than the CR-Z) It seems to me if Ford could achieve similar (if not better) performance both in mpg and 0-60 times, and sporty handling in a $13,000 Fiesta without going the hybrid route–one would think Honda could have produced a non-hybrid CR-Z for thousands of dollars cheaper with hardly if any penalty to the CR-Z’s performance. Actually, since it would have been a lighter car, the gasoline version likely would have handled better and would have been a bit faster. Since the CR-Z will never ever be even close to being a sports car–why not offer the Civic SI engine in the CR-Z?