New York:
When Honda showed the CR-Z concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, it appeared alongside some of the wacky Japanese design exercises that the biannual show is known for. One difference between the CR-Z and the Nissan Pivo 2 (with a pivoting cabin), the Toyota Hi-CT (with styling akin to a shrunken Zamboni) and other flights of fancy is that the CR-Z actually goes on sale Aug. 24, looking pretty much as it did on stage. (
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The CR-Z doesn't resemble anything else in the Honda (or Acura) lineup. A sharp wedge, it has an expansive glass rear hatch that seems to extend half the length of the vehicle, almost as if someone chopped a car into thirds, pulled out the center section and fused the two ends together. A gaping grille makes the car look like a feeding goldfish.
The CR-Z may look even weirder on paper. A two-door hybrid that seats two people, it resembles the original Honda Insight of 2000 but delivers noticeably lower fuel economy -- despite the wide-ranging technology improvements of the last decade.
That original wedge-shaped Insight was rated at 65 miles per gallon in combined city-highway driving (a figure adjusted to 53 mpg after the calculation method was changed in 2008). The new CR-Z gets 34 mpg with a 6-speed manual transmission or 37 with a continuously variable automatic.
By comparison, the combined economy rating for the current four-door Insight is 41 mpg The Ford Fusion Hybrid is rated at 39 and the Toyota Prius at 50. At $19,950, the CR-Z is the least expensive of those models, but not by much. I tested an EX version with a navigation system, which had a sticker price of $23,310. The Insight starts at $20,550, the Prius at $23,560.
It is curious that Honda decided to run with a two-seater, given that a chief complaint about the first-generation Insight was the space taken by its batteries, leaving room for only two people. The current, second-generation Insight seats four. (CR-Zs sold on other continents come with a tiny back seat.)
Honda clearly intended the CR-Z to evoke warm, fuzzy memories of its CRX, a vaguely similar two-seat slice of hatchback that Honda sold in the 1980s and early '90s. The CRX was low-set, peppy and so light that it seemed in danger of flying away to join a bundle of renegade party balloons. Eventually, young hot-rodders discovered they could install bigger engines in the car (from an Acura Integra or a Honda Prelude), and the CRX became one of the best examples of a pocket rocket.
With the CR-Z, Honda is also targeting a young demographic with what it says is a first: a sporty, fun hybrid. At a press briefing in June, Honda said the low, short and wide CR-Z was designed for the "responsibly indulgent" buyer aged 25 to 35 who might also be considering a Mini Cooper.
By hybrid standards, the CR-Z is a fairly zippy ride. Honda says the car can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 10.1 seconds or less.
One has only to get inside to recognize that Honda didn't build it for my dad, who while technologically savvy might not be prepared for the visual assault of lights, buttons and digital displays.
The seat is low. The dashboard display is concentrated on a circle that projects the speed with a 3-D effect. A ring of light behind the digital speedometer ranges from neon green (when the car is in its efficient Eco mode) to bright red (when it's in Sport mode).
There are three modes in total: Eco, Normal and Sport. Essentially, they are presets for the hybrid system. With three buttons on the left flank of the steering wheel, the driver can toggle among the car's three personalities.
The CR-Z combines a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder 16-valve gas engine making 122 horsepower with the automaker's Integrated Motor Assist system -- Honda shorthand for the electric motor and computer control unit.
This is essentially the same mild-hybrid system used in the Insight; unlike the Prius, which has a more capable full-hybrid powertrain, the CR-Z cannot be propelled by its electric motor alone.
In Eco mode, the CR-Z conserves fuel by relying less on the gas engine. As with most hybrids, there is a display that shows your fuel economy level. There is also a guide to help you time your shifts for optimal fuel economy. There is a meter for the battery charge level and a display that shows when the battery is being charged and when it is providing an assist to the engine.
On the road, Eco mode makes for a laborious driving experience. The CR-Z barely registers a pulse, especially on the highway. It doesn't matter if the pedal is to the metal; the car feels as if something has gone wrong.
Fortunately, Normal mode seems, well, more normal. Throttle response is more in line with what you'd expect out of a compact car. During my five days with the CR-Z, I found myself toggling among the three modes, driving highways in Normal, selecting Eco for surface streets and strategically using the Sport mode as a sort of hyperspeed button.
Hyperspeed is an overstatement, of course, but you sense a definite surge of power: with the throttle held steady, switching from Normal to Sport instantaneously increased the speed by 20 m.p.h.
And it is in Sport mode that the CR-Z really captures the thrill of the CRX of yore. With the 6-speed manual, the car accelerates rapidly and smoothly. The engine revs hard and high. At 2,670 pounds (2,720 pounds with the variable transmission), the CR-Z is nimble and engaging. (Fuel-economy meter? What fuel-economy meter?)
And yet, as you experience the mild thrills of Sport mode, guilt creeps in. Because the stated fuel economy numbers are for Normal mode -- the default -- one assumes (correctly) that Sport mode exacts a gas-mileage penalty, especially when zooming past tractor-trailers.
My time with the car was a struggle between the thrill-seeking hellion of my youth and the responsible eco-friendly citizen I thought I'd become.
Good gas mileage or mediocre gas mileage? The two options are ever present, the shoulder-dwelling angel vs. devil incarnated as buttons on a dashboard. Perhaps, during long-term ownership of the CR-Z, the psychoneurotic tug of war between eco and excess would eventually fade away and I'd just drive everywhere in Normal.