While Honda may have been marketing its sporty-looking CR-Z hybrid as a genuinely sporty offering, it always fell short of keen drivers’ expectations, despite having a pokey 1.5-liter engine with 115 hp, which was aided by a 14 hp electric motor. Now, the Japanese manufacturer has given it more power, though not a lot more.
The same 1.5-liter engine, along with the same electric motor, have now been tuned to produce a combined total of 137 hp, while maintaining the exact same economy and emissions standards. It also features a lithium-ion battery for the first time, which can now be drained even quicker, with the addition of a ‘Sport +’ mode (selectable via a button on the steering wheel), which makes the most of both engines at the same time.
The CR-Z is still a very niche product, but for a rather small group of people, it is really the ideal hybrid city car, with a bit of sporty flair thrown into the mix, as well as its excellent styling (one of Honda’s best, in recent years, we say).
The CR-Z is still a very niche product, but for a rather small group of people, it is really the ideal hybrid city car, with a bit of sporty flair thrown into the mix, as well as its excellent styling (one of Honda’s best, in recent years, we say).