The Honda CR-Z should have been a hot-hatch enthusiast’s dream: a modern reinterpretation of the Honda CRX, with two doors, a manual transmission, and the ability to lay down good, useable performance while at the same time returning good fuel economy during normal driving. Small, athletic, and styled decently, things looked promising, but Honda made one serious mis-step with the CR-Z: it wasn’t going to be athletic, it was going to be a hybrid. Admittedly, it’s been a successful hybrid, but even the CR-Z Mugen only came with 178hp stock, versus the base CR-Z’s 122hp. Not exactly setting the world on fire, there, Honda.
With Ford’s absolutely ballistic Focus RS preparing to enter the market with a still-unconfirmed 350 or so horsepower, it’s going to take quite a bit to keep the CR-Z selling at all, let alone in better numbers than it has done recently. According to Autoblog, that’s precisely what Honda is looking at with the next-generation car, ditching the hybrid powertrain altogether in favor of a slightly detuned version of the Civic Type-R’s 306hp turbo four-cylinder. It’s not known just how detuned we’re talking about, but if Honda can keep the 300hp level in a CR-Z package, you’d have a hot two-seater that could give the Focus RS a solid run for it’s money.
I already know what a lot of you are thinking: Who cares? It’s a Honda! I’d normally be in that group, but there’s one key reason I’m rooting for a hot CR-Z to make it to the U.S. market: competition breeds innovation, selection and improves upon quality as everybody tries to one-up the other. Look at the early 2000’s: Honda’s Civic Si was the one to beat, and Dodge and Chevrolet made honest attempts with the Neon SRT-4 and Cobalt SS. Now you have Ford making a serious charge with the Focus RS and Honda is playing catch-up. It’s already rumored that Ford is working on the Fiesta RS (which may be a 250-ish HP AWD screamer according to some sources) and FCA has been on-again-off-again about doing an AWD turbocharged Dart,something that’s been needed since the Dart was introduced. Chevy is racing the Cruze in Touring Car, and there’s Buick, who has been raiding Opel’s parts bin for years now. Let the power wars continue!
The CR-Z had big shoes to fill when it was announced as the successor to the legendary CRX. But making it a sport-hybrid that is neither very sporty or particularly fuel efficient didn’t win it any friends. And then they styled it like an Insight coupe. It could get all the turbo motor it wants, it’s still ugly and it’s still got strut-style suspension and it’s still loaded down with all sorts of unnecessary extras.
I for one would love a lightened/more powerful non-hybrid CR-Z. A true successor to the CRX which was a real blast to drive. I also agree a bosted to the heavens Dart should be near the top of FCA’s to do list (right after a diesel Wrangler, a Jeep truck, and a Hemi/Hellcat Viper)