It can only be something in the rice because the Japanese are at the forefront of hybrid engineering. Back in 1999, Honda became the first marque to launch a hybrid vehicle (the Insight). Since then, Toyota and Lexus have come to the party but their cars, mainly due to their boring designs, are hardly any fun to drive – or look at for that matter. This brings me to the Honda CR-Z; it doesn’t appear to fit the typical hybrid mould, which is great for the environment as more status-driven buyers will be persuaded to get behind the wheel.
At a glance you can tell that it’s nimble and fun to drive, and its modern styling – complete with daytime running lights and a CRX-imbued derrière – reflects that of a car and not a wedge-shaped eco trundler.
The interesting bit, though, lurks beneath its sheet metal: while it comes equipped with a 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine, it also possesses an electric motor. The lightweight DC brushless electric motor acts as both a generator and starter, and boosts power output by 10kW. The result is combined power figures of 91kW and 174Nm – all of which are available instantly. It’s adept at accelerating, too: 100km/h arrives in ten seconds and fuel consumption is only 5l/100km. You also have no reason to worry about the pollution tax because the CR-Z falls under the emission threshold of 120g/km, excreting just 117g/km.
The CR-Z is called a hybrid sports coupé, however it’s only sporty when dashing around in sport mode. There are three modes to choose from: sport, normal and eco – all of which light up the cluster in colours ranging from red to turquoise and green. I really enjoyed driving it in sport mode, which aggressively manipulates the ECU mapping so I could chuck it around the corners and get the tyres to chirp out loud.
An added bonus is a great little gadget that will change the way you drive the CR-Z. A real-time glyph display measures the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle and by keeping the two at equilibrium with economy mode turned on, you can plant a digital forest on the instrument cluster as a reward for your green driving style. I thought this was pretty cool as it urged me to lower my average fuel consumption from 8.8l/100km to 6.1 and plant two digital trees in the process. Unfortunately, both trees perished when I placed it back into sport mode and hurtled down the road.
PRICE : R290 900
ENGINE : 1.5-litre + IMA motor
POWER : 91kW/174Nm
0-100km/h: 10 seconds
Emissions: 117g/km
Aaron Borrill
Gear Pressure with Aaron Borrill 