Can a Hybrid be a lot of fun?
The CR-Z is the first Hybrid with a manual transmission. It has 3 drive modes:
ECO, normal and sport.
The 3 modes change the cars behavior a lot. This makes a lot of senses when you get used to it.
I tested the CR-Z on a 25 km track with about 5 km city traffic and the rest winding and a bit hilly country road with speed limit 80 km/h. The many turns made it difficult to stay at 80 km/h all the time.
In ECO and Normal mode the car did exactly the same: 4.3 l/100km
and in sports mode it did 4.6:
In eco mode the accelerator needs to be pressed fare down and the car reacts slow, so I was accelerating slowly. In normal mode the car reacts nicely and I did drive a bit faster. In sports mode the car is fast responding therefore I did accelerate faster, it impossible to drive like in ECO mode.
I did a last run in sports mode and accelerating hard whenever it was possible it gave 5.8 l/100 km which is very fine for that driving style. When the car is in sports mode the hybrid drive assist a lot when accelerating.
The car has very hard suspension making it ideal for winding country roads and in sports mode is just a lot of fun!!!
It is called a 2+2, but having kids in the back only works for very short drives.
The CR-Z has a very nice Start/stop system: when you drive below 30 km/h and set it in neutral and apply the break the motor stops.
Conclusion:
The CR-Z is able to cover both the ECO driving and VERY funny driving in the same car.
The more I drove it the more I loved it. It is the first car that I was really sorry to handle back!!!
The sound system is better than I have ever tried before with 8 speakers.
TRY IT!!!
4 Comments
It looks like the test was done with varying city and highway driving with a max speed of 50mh. If my conversion is correct in ECON and Normal mode you got 55mpg imperial or 45mpg USA and in Sport mode it was 50mpg imperial or 40mpg USA which is better than what I expected it to be. Even the 40mpg imperial or 33mpg USA driving hard in Sport mode, and the fun you had driving in that mode, makes the car what I was looking for. Which is a car that has the ability to be both a hybrid (and the slow reaction time that comes with it) when you want to save gas or a somewhat sport car when you want to just have fun driving. The one problem may be that I’m 6 feet 2 inches so like you said I may have a problem fitting into it, which I was hoping that with the height adjustment the driving side has that this won’t be a problem. As for the 2+2 since I live in the USA they’re not being sold with a back seat, just storage space. So I guess when the car arrives here in the USA at the end of August I’ll see how it goes when I test drive it.
I really appreciate you taking the time testing the car and answering my questions and let me know at the end of the week if you can how you like the car and if you think it is worth the buying, Thanks
Nice test Martin, in a way it seems you get 3 cars for the price of one
Gary, if they have taken out the rear seats and leave you with extra storage, you might be able to adjust the driver seat more to the back and get in normally still. You’ll see when it’s available there then.
It feels like you get 3 cars in one!!!
FYI, Honda CR-Z is not the first hybrid car with manual transmission. The 1st-gen Honda Insight used manual transmission before the CVT gearbox option was offered in 2001.