Revealed to the public for the first time in production trim at last week's Detroit motor show, the Honda CR-Z hybrid sports coupe is one of the most anticipated new cars of the year.
In this first official film, the CR-Z's project leader, Norio Tomobe, and one of its chief engineers, Terukazu Torikai, provide an insight into the development process behind the new model focusing primarily on the car's handling qualities.
"During the development if the CR-Z we drove many cars and also bought several models for comparison and benchmarking including the MINI, the VW Scirocco coupe and also a Lotus Elise. The target of this car was to realize enhanced handling." says Terukazu Torikai.
Then again, with a mere 122-horsepower from its 1.5-liter gasoline-electric hybrid powerplant, the CR-Z had better handle well...
13 Comments:
Lotus 'Elise' So, is this a rear wheel drive car?
I have driven several Elise on track days and I don't see how they can compare a any FWD too one of the best RWD performers out there.
Hope it handles and gets great mileage at a decent price point, but this old road warrior would never consider a FWD for fun or serious road & track work.
3Deuce27
"Then again, with a mere 122-horsepower from its 1.5-liter gasoline-electric hybrid powerplant, the CR-Z had better handle well..."
Amen,but then again,all modern cars handle pretty well below 60 mph,and since the average CRZ is likely to never see that number expect on a straight freeway,or a twisty backroad,or at the rate it's going,a car enthusiast who's even gonna drive like the handling engineers intended,does it even matter?
Talk about a bunch of corporate propaganda ! they knew damn well the insight handles like a pinto and ruff ride, so this is a way of easing us consumers into thinking the crz will be better than its platform mate !
"the target of this car was to realize enhanced handling" hey Honda if ur gonna put the word hybrid in a car name the target better be MPGs !!! and currently my piece of crap kia gets better highway mpgs than this car, without all the worries of batteries and enhanced very complex electronics that the crz has !
Do yourself and me a favor and bring out a crz without all the hybrid crap on it and all that extra weight and complexity and it will prob get better mpgs ! drop the price of it the amount the hybrid crap costs, and ill buy one !
@3Deuce27
I couldn't agree more with you, what the F$%$ are they thinking to compare this to an Elise??
There is absolutely no way to can justify themselves by compairing an Elise to ANY of their products.
Honda should've done what the industry has been rattling on about for a while with concept hybrids and gifted it with powerful electric motors that would supplement the frugal petrol engine and add to its sportiness.
OR...
Just offer the freaking thing in a lighter package (i.e., sans the hybrid system and heavy batteries) and give it an economical yet sporty V-TEC 1.6, 1.8, 2.0. Offer an HF version and an Si + an ultra-light version with high-tec-ish light materials to make it even more fuel efficient.
--JORGE
@ Sergio
Was just an excuse to accounting to get a new toy for the product development/engineering dept. Bet they are still laughing. They will have so much fun hammering the Elise it will wear out quick.
3Deuce27
i guess since they realized that the goal of enhanced gas mileage couldn't be achieved, then they would focus on handling...seems like Honda has developed a great car for their engineers to buy.
JOHN, could you do a little research and put out a little piece on the CR-Z vs 1st Gen Insight vs CR-X with pics and performance stats to include weight, speed, and MPGs all side by side?
Wasn't there a CRX model that was really economical?
Wasn't there a Civic in the 90s that exceeded 50 MPGs?
--JORGE
JORGE: When Honda releases an official spec sheet on the CR-Z, I'll check it out
excellent
thanks!
jorge
Pretty much agree with all the comments-- the car is extremely disappointing--heavy, slow (0-60 9.4 seconds) and will sell for around $25,500 for the base model. Since the performance is so poor--apparently Honda is hoping everyone will overlook the dismal performance specs and buy this unimpressive car because its a hybrid and green. All Honda has really done is reinforce my belief that hyb hybrid means slow, dull, boring and expensive. Hopefully this car will be a flop and Honda will do the smart thing stop making anymore hybrids.
122 horsepower?very slow.No sport car
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