Honda CR-Z Sport
Road Test

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory & delivery charges): $34,990
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Metallic Paint $475
Crash rating: Five-star (EuroNCAP)
Fuel: 91 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 5.0
CO2 emissions (g/km): 118
Also consider: Honda Insight (from $29,990); any proper sports coupe or hatch

Pitched as Honda's first proper sportscar for a generation, I really wanted to love the CR-Z. The Big H's saviour... A return to form for the builder of the best four-stroke engines in the world... Proof positive that hybrid doesn't have to mean ho-hum... I really did... But fact is, I can't.

CR-Z may have won awards but how so is lost on me. Greenwashing? A need for media outlets to standout from the crowd? Your guesses on the back of a self-address email to...

That's not to say it's a bad car – it's not. In fact many aspects are well executed, and it's the best driving hybrid available today -- but it is far from the new breed of sportscar we were 'sold'.

What's more, if we dismiss the 'sports' element for a moment and deem it, say, a small personal coupe, it still struggles to deliver. Sure, it's smart to look at from the outside but its actual packaging is poor and its cabin busy.

The switchgear will, I fear, date very quickly and some smart black chrome highlights aside displays only small-car class-average level of fit and finish. Priced around $35K (without satnav, audio streaming or leather) it's up against models that deliver more upmarket cabins and badges.

Some better news when it comes to how the car interacts with it driver. The CR-Z's steering is precise, is better weighted and delivers more communication than we've come to expect from electric assisted power steering equipped cars.

Honda's palmares comes to the fore, also, with the manual version's gearchange – it possesses tactile qualities from which plenty of other carmakers can learn. The cliché involving rifle and bolt applies here. Beautifully weighted, it's among the best things about the car. Pity there's not a lot of result for your left arm's toil.

Indeed, in contrast, one of the most disappointing aspects of the CR-Z is its straight line performance. The combination of 91kW/174Nm 1.5-litre petrol engine and 10kW/78Nm electric motor delivers much promise with meaty torque off idle and in traffic, but as speeds and revs rise there seems to be little extra reward. Despite the CR-Z's diminutive size, light weight and sporting pretensions, average hatches seem, and often are, quicker.

And you'd forgive this tardiness if the CR-Z delivered in terms of economy but alas it doesn't. In a week of driving our manual CR-Z Sport – most of the time in urban conditions, using ECON or Normal mode much of the time and keeping things 'real' – our average was 7.3L/100km.

This is significantly higher than the ADR figures for the vehicle -- 5.0L/100km. It also contrasts less than favourably to the high-5.0 and low-6.0L/100km figures we regularly recorded from the torquey Volvo C30 DRIVe we had on fleet a year or so ago.

At least the Honda's auto stop-start systems worked seamlessly and reliably. I seem to remember the Volvo's spent more than its share of time out to lunch.

Yes, the CR-Z feels more nimble than the Volvo, but so it should... It's tiny. With a wheelbase that seems just longer than a roller-skate, it sacrifices any hope of being anything other than a two-seater. In fact, best forget using the rear seats for anyone other than toddlers. They're better folded away to at least deliver some reasonable luggage space – the seats, not the toddlers.

You'll have to pile up your weekend's worth of clothes or shopping, but don't fret. There's very little in the way of rear or over the shoulder vision to lose even with the car empty. I've driven roll-caged racecars with better sightlines.

Am I disappointed with the CR-Z? In a word: absolutely. So if I seem too harsh, I apologise. After reading our own launch review and other plaudits I simply expected more.

If you expect more, then almost any sporting coupe or hatch will deliver. If you're after a Honda hybrid then stick with the Insight.

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