2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi road test car review: it is what it is and that's good

The 2011 Honda CR-Z sport coupe is NOT your old Honda CR-X. Isn't, wasn't and never will be. Nor was it meant to be.

The new Honda CR-Z may occupy some of the same cosmic cerebral continuum as the old CR-X, but the Honda CR-Z is its own car with its own mission. According to Honda, the 2011 Honda CR-Z was "(d)eveloped as a stylish, driver-focused vehicle with an emphasis on efficient 'green' performance...a sleek, two-passenger coupe design with quick, sporty handling (in the) gasoline-electric hybrid segment."

In other words, it's a hybrid. Just not a boring one. It's the glass half full.

More than half full  Actually, there's more to it than that. The 2011 Honda CR-Z is distinctively styled, particularly the "notched" rear end with its dual rear windows, one vertical across the tailgate and the other almost horizontal with the standard-equipment rear wiper.

The side panels of the CR-Z have a pair of creases that emphasize the cars wedge-shaped profile while the front sports a large radiator grille with an opening actually only half the size it seems. The top half with the three horizontal bars is blocked off. Only the lower half is open to the radiator. Headlights are fashionably huge and 16-inch alloy wheels/tires live under haunch-like flared fender . A short overhang, wide track and the chopped rear end gives the Honda CR-Z a bob-tailed race car look.

The CR-Z is what a sporty coupe should be inside as well. In its home market the 2011 Honda CR-Z has tiny rear seats; two seaters are officially considered antisocial. Honda is more realistic for the North American market, replacing bucket seats with just plain buckets for whatever will fit.

The CR-Z has true sport seats up front, well-bolstered with a durable feeling cloth for an industrial chic. Someone spent a lot of time styling the inside door panels with more curves than a bucket of eels. Our test 2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi had a crisp two-tone interior color scheme on the doors, dash and seats.

The 2011 Honda CR-Z yields practicality to fashion with a high cowl and a rising shoulder line. Combined with rear side windows that shrink to a tiny triangle plus wide C-pillars, rear three-quarter vision is almost blind. Vision out the back is split horizontally. It blocks the headlights of a following car but the driver of the CR-Z can see whether the following car has a lightbar on its roof. A CR-Z driver will have to learn to keep track of traffic behind the car.

The 2011 Honda CR-Z offers as an option a continuously-variable  transmission with paddle-shifters to imitate a manual transmission. The CR-Z, however, has something no other hybrid has: a manual transmission, a regular three-pedal row-your-own six-speed gearbox. A heavy-duty machined-from-the-metal shift lever resides on the center console.

IMA hybrid, how about you?  The Honda isn't a full hybrid but a partial or parallel hybrid, like other Hondas, with Honda's "Integrated Motor Assist." Honda's IMA uses an electric motor on the transmission that boosts performance when the driver's right foot asks for it. It allows Honda to downsize the engine-- smaller engines get better gas mileage--while maintaining bigger engine performance.

In this case, the 2011 Honda CR-Z has a 112-hp 1.5-liter four cylinder engine. The electric motor adds 13 horsepower, which doesn't sound like very much. But the electric motor contributes 58 lb-ft of torque at 1000 rpm, and the extra horsepower from the electric motor has the most effect at 1500 rpm. The CR-Z's gasoline engine, by contrast, reaches max horsepower at 6000 rpm while maximum torque--128 lb-ft with the manual transmission--at 1000 to 1750 rpm.

The result is very un-Honda-like. Instead of the usual peaky spin-to-win sports car engine, the Honda CR-Z's power train puts out a solid band of performance across the rev range. It's not particularly fast in a straight line--think 0-60 mph in around ten seconds, depending on tester--but it's gutsy on winding road with ready torque across the rev range. Hills don't faze the CR-Z like they do other small-engined cars. Add a slick-shifting six-speed manual transmission and the power train while not overpowering is an entertaining combination--if it's on the right road.

In suspense  The 2011 Honda CR-Z's suspension isn't exotic. It has MacPherson struts up front and a twist beam rear axle at the rear. Overall handling is good, the CR-Z easy to place on the road, though we suspect the CR-Z would be more that much sharper with tires designed more for performance than fuel economy. Honda CR-Z may be a hybrid, but it's a sporty hybrid, with an emphasis on sporty. The tires should match the objective.

The engine/drivetrain management does meet its objective, or perhaps three objectives with three modes of operation, including normal, Sport and Econ. The normal mode is, well, normal and the default setting.  In Econ mode, engine and motor setting dial back engine responsiveness in favor of economy and as a result the gas pedal feels soggy. In Sport mode, however, the system dials in the electric motor much sooner, making the engine's response crisp and eager, and tightens up the steering.

The instrument panel knows what mode the car is in and how it is being driven. The i.p. has a large central tachometer with a black center on which a digital speed readout  is projected. Around the center is a halo of light which changes color based on how the CR-Z is being driven. In normal or econ mode, the ring is blue unless one is driving particularly economically, in which case it turns green. But put the CR-S in Sport and the ring glows red, you naughty boy.

Isn't that special?  The instrument panel has several special readouts, including a charge indicator for the Nickel-Metal Hydride propulsion batteries, a charge/assist meter, an instantaneous fuel mileage bar graph and a trip computer readout where the car's fuel economy can be displayed in Very Large Numbers. The dash also has modes for monitoring power/recharge flows and other cryptic fuel/power graphs. It's in black and white so it's not as dramatic as that of the Toyota Prius, but it's there for those who want it.

However, faulting the 2011 Honda CR-Z for a lack of straight-line performance misses the objective of the vehicle. The CR-Z is designed to provide the green car enthusiast with guilt-free--or at least reduced guilt--driving. That it can do with a CARB emissions rating of AT-PZEV--Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle, a high rating for that sort of thing--and an EPA fuel economy estimate of 31 mpg city and 37 mpg highway (compared to 35/39 mpg for the CR-Z with the CVT transmission). We drove our test CR-Z normally, or at least as normally as one does a sports coupe, and considering that, our overall fuel economy of 37.2 mpg with an intermediate recording of 40.2 mpg is quite impressive.

The price for our test 2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi was $23,310 including destination, and that includes brake assist, electronic brake distribution and stability control, navigation with voice recognition, seven-speaker premium audio with MP3 and USB capability, Bluetooth, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter knob, steering wheel-mounted controls, heated door mirror, HID headlights and LED brake lights, rear wiper and much more.

The 2011 Honda CR-Z is not the Honda CR-X. But it's a heck of a deal for the money, and on the right road with the right attitude, the Honda CR-Z fulfills that often made but seldom kept promise of "fun to drive." And there's the overlap between the CR-X and the CR-Z. The hybrid stuff, good gas mileage and low emissions are a welcome plus but if it weren't for the fun factor, the Honda CR-Z would not only not be the Honda CR-X, but it wouldn't be the 2011 Honda CR-Z either. Fortunately it is.

Essential specifications: 2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi

Dimensions:

• Wheelbase, in.:  95.9
• Length, in.: 160.6
• Width, in.: 68.5
• Height, in.: 54.9
• Weight, lbs.: 2,654
• Turning circle, ft: 35.4

Engine

• Type: sohc I-4
• Displacement: 1497 cc
• Compression: 10.4:1
• Fuel delivery: electronic fuel injection
• Horsepower/torque @ rpm:  122 @ 6000 / 128 @ 1000-1750

Electric Motor/Generator/Batteries

• DC Brushless Motor
• Horsepower/torque @ rpm:  13 @ 1500 / 58 @ 1000
• Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries

Chassis and Drivetrain

• Layout, engine/drive: front/front
• Frame/body: unit body
• Transmissions: 6-speed manual (tested), continuously variable
• Final drive ratio: 4.11:1
• Suspension: MacPherson strut with anti-roll bar/torsion-beam with anti-roll bar
• Tires: 195/55R16 all-season
• Brakes: ventilated disc/disc

Performance

• 0-60 mph, sec.: 10.0±
• Fuel mileage: 31/34 mpg (EPA); 37.2 mpg (observed)

Warranty

• Bumper-to-bumper: 3/36,000; Powertrain: 5/60,000; Corrosion: 5/unlimited

Price

• 2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi: $22,560 base
• Destination: $750
• 2011 Honda CR-Z EX Navi: $23,310 total

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