Honda CR-Z 2012 review

It takes a lot to spark up the zombie shuffle of late night travellers in an airport arrivals zone. So when they come alive at the sight of the CR-Z pulling up, you know it's got truly attention-grabbing looks.

Loading four small suitcases into the rear hatch proved that it also can take a fair arount of cargo -- as long as you only have one extra passenger.

And that will always be the practical limit of this car, even when the laughable excuse for a rear seat is not folded down to increase luggage space.

And don't be fooled by the Sport monicker. The manual Honda CR-Z is zippier than the automatic version, and it's a stylish, light city car with hybrid technology and good fuel economy. But a sports car it is not.

Design

The sharp tapers of the CR-Z body are those of a concept sketch come to life, and the lines deceptively hint at performance. It won't live up to that promise, but the futuristic style is head-turning.

There are echoes of that in the interior -- when the three-dimensional instrument cluster lights up at night amid the black-on-black trim, the cabin could double as a spacepod cockpit. But daylight brings the reality of hard plastics that bounce glare back at you.

The fronts seats are comfortable, but the rear ones almost non-existent -- which is just as well, because there's no leg or headroom back there either.

Front seat storage is scant, but despite the luggage area floor being high to cover the spare tyre and battery pack, you get 225 litres of  capacity that grows to 400 with the back seat down.

Technology

The 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine combines with the electric assist motor to deliver a total of 91kW/167Nm with the CVT automatic (which gets paddle shifters on the steering wheel) and 91kW/174Nm with the six-speed manual -- the first to arrive here on a hybrid system. 

The battery pack is the old tech nickel-metal hydride -- we'll hopefully start seeing the more efficient and lighter lithium-ion batteries soon, but both mainstream brands here, Honda and Toyota, say it won't be until the technology's price comes down.

The three-mode drive system lets you toggle between fuel miser and touch of fun with Economy, Normal and Sport settings, which range from shutting down the petrol-sucking aircon to adjusting throttle reponse, while a stop-start system tips in to help muzzle the bowser bite.

The Eco mode tries to encourage frugal driving by 'growing' little trees on the fuel-watch meter, and Honda says this sparked a spate of greener-than-thou rivalry on Facebook. Drivers of the CVT would have won, with fuel economy of 4.7L/100km and emissions of 11g/km CO2, while the manual comes in at 5L/100km and 118g/km.

Value

The manual CR-Z is $34,990 with climate-control aircon, six-speaker iPod/USB/MP3-compatible audio system, Bluetooth phone connection, cruise control, LED daytime running lamps, foglights and 16-in alloys. Adding $2300 more gets you the CVT automatic.

Jump to $40,790 and you get the CVT drivetrain in Luxury spec. adding a panoramic glass roof, heated leather front seats, satnav with live traffic updates, reversing camera and audio streaming to the Bluetooth.

The CR-Z's closest rivals for the elusive hybrid hatch buyer -- yet to appear in the numbers predicted by any brands -- have been the Toyota Prius and Lexus CT200h, both of them more expensive. And roomier. So is Honda's own hybrid Insight that comes in at $29,990.

Now there's the newly-launched Prius C, which is considerably cheaper at $23,990 but again with more usable room despite being in the smaller car class.

For buyers wanting to weigh up the CR-Z, it could come down to how much they're prepard to pay for style -- and in that category only the Lexus CT200h comes close as a hybrid.

However the CR-Z also has to be positioned with other small city cars, so for buyers wanting a combination of style and economy at around that price, there's also the  Mini diesel, and the Audi A1 in both petrol and diesel.

Safety

A solidly-built body is fitted with an equally solid equipment list: six airbags, stability and traction control, anti-skid brakes with brake assist for extra effort and brakeforce distribution to counter uneven loading, active front head restraints and hill-start assist (creep control in the auto). So a five-star ANCAP crash rating is no surprise.

Driving

Like most hybrid systems, the electric motor tips in from the start and gives the engine extra low-rev kick off the line. But that flattens out once you get going and the engine takes over completely.

The initial promise of performance fades, and you're left to mine spirit out of the system by digging in with the manual transmission. If you have the CVT, you just have to relax and manage your expectations.

The stop-start system is impressive – smooth and unobtrusive, with no sign of the jerky reawakening other versions suffer. You can feel a green-tinged smugness every time it stops using fuel in faltering city traffic, but we’re not sure how much difference it makes to your fuel bill. The manual CR-Z has an official fuel figure of 5.0L/100km but we came home after extended mixed drives with 6.7L.

While it gives a fairly compliant ride, the suspension is firm, and the steering is responsive and well-weighted – both of which added a sense of fun, but fell short of it feeling like a true sports car.

Verdict

The manual version is nippy enough to add some appeal to the style, and the automatic version is relaxed and comfortable enough to ungrit your teeth in traffic snarls. And both are good-looking enough to turn heads in traffic.