Honda CR-Z, Amsterdam presentation (part I)

Amsterdam was the city chosen by the Japanese brand to present its latest hybrid model, aimed at a different audience than the Honda Insight. For young motoring enthusiasts, Honda has designed this car, a blend of reality and the future. The values of the Dutch city and of the car fully coincide: cosmopolitan, technological and modern.

The Honda CR-Z has also been designed for female executives and modern men, seeking to attract new customers to the brand and increase its share of the hybrid market, clearly dominated by Toyota and its Prius. This adds another segment, the sporty one, which together with segment C (Insight) and segment B with the upcoming Jazz, aims to win customers from its most direct rival in the environmental race. Will it succeed with this model? Let’s look at its features.

Exterior design

Very pronounced and aggressive lines, blending sportiness with aerodynamic efficiency for very low consumption and lower emissions: this is the fundamental premise the brand has focused on. We saw the concept with our own eyes at the Madrid Motor Show in 2008, and little has changed since then.

Its elongated aesthetic line, which may recall some earlier Honda model, is present throughout. It barely exceeds 4 metres in length, while its height is just under 1.4 metres and its width 2.01 metres. It is a small, short car, but with a wheelbase of almost 2.5 metres, which gives it a very sporty character.

The front features a grille that allows air to enter to cool the engine, in the form of a mouth, with a front spoiler that almost all brands now include on their sportier models. What is different is that it ends in a point, aided by the angled shapes of the headlights, although it does not allow a drag coefficient below 0.30. Not bad for a 4-metre car. Less would be excellent. The roof is panoramic; it cannot be opened, and it is only fitted on the top version, the GT Plus.

When viewed from the front, the windscreen pillars blend perfectly into the door frames. The mirrors do not stem directly from the bodywork, but have an auxiliary support that improves aerodynamics. As across the brand’s range, they include indicators. The door handle recalls highly sporty cars. Although the wheels are 16 inches as standard, 17-inch ones are available as an option, though not more, for aesthetic and driving efficiency reasons. Even so, the tyres it fits are not efficient.

The profile is very aerodynamic, ending in a cut-off rear to improve airflow. The shape doesn’t change anything; hybrids are like this. At the rear, no exhaust pipes are visible, although in Sport mode (we’ll discuss this in the second part) the sound is purely sporty.

Interior design

Getting into the cabin means entering a futuristic car, with blue-coloured controls, similar to the Honda Civic, although, to its credit, the instrumentation sits in front of the driver rather than in the centre of the dashboard. The leather seats are excellent: they hold the body quite well and are comfortable both to the touch and when driving. When folded to access the rear seats, they do not return to their position; instead, they must be reset using the three levers for height, backrest and distance from the steering wheel. It is a coupé with 2+2 seats, and an adult of 1.70 metres cannot fit in the back. It is intended for children only.

The driving position is pleasant, a fairly low position but uncomfortable for the arms. On the left, the edge of the glass sits very high for resting your elbow, and on the right there is no central armrest, not even as an option. The controls are easy to reach to avoid distraction. It has plenty of storage spaces, both covered and uncovered: dashboard, under the centre console, glovebox, doors…

Something we notice in the lower range is the absence of a two-zone air conditioning on any version (logical for a car aiming at efficiency and lower consumption). In addition, there are two air vents out of the four at the front of the cabin, which cannot be closed, one for the driver and one for the passenger, so you need to agree on the climate settings, which won’t be easy.

The boot has a capacity of 225 litres in the Sport version and 215 litres in the others. It is sufficient for two normal adults, who are ultimately the ones who will travel in the car, although it may be limited on occasion. If we fold down the seats, we get a boot comparable to a mid-size saloon, around 400 litres. Moreover, the cover that hides the load does not fit perfectly, leaving gaps at the sides through which the contents can be seen. It is not a notable aspect of the car by any means.

The version we tested is the GT Plus, which among other things includes the panoramic roof and leather front seats compared with the GT, and the latter compared with the Sport version, which comes as standard with, among other things, cruise control, automatic headlights and wipers, xenon headlights, a subwoofer and high-quality radio, Bluetooth with steering wheel controls, heated seats, rear parking sensor and electrically folding exterior mirrors. The price difference compared with the Sport version is an extra €1,500 for the GT and €3,300 for the GT Plus.

Tomorrow we will look at its behaviour on the road, and provide engine data and prices. Second part of the presentation.