Honda are planning a non-hybrid CR-Z with up to 200bhp
Honda is planning to put a new, turbo-charged VTEC-i petrol engine in the CR-Z to produce a non-hybrid CR-Z. Also planned is a Honda CR-Z Type-R with 200bhp.
We understand why Honda has made the CR-Z a hybrid. They need to compete with Toyota, who have managed to carve themselves a seemingly indomitable niche as providor of the world’s hybrid cars. And having let Toyota do the hard work by convincing the car-buying public that hybrids are viable (and whether that’s fact or fiction is for another day) it’s clear there’s a market to chip away at.
And we applaud Honda’s desire to make a hybrid that injects a bit of fun in to the proceedings and returns something back to the driver instead of being just transport. It doesn’t rely on a CVT box to make noise before action and blunt any sense of driver involvement, it handles like a proper little coupe and looks half decent.
The problem is that the Honda CR-Z is just a bit lacking in oomph, and isn’t exactly cheap. Both of which you can put down to the hybrid gubbins. The same hybrid gubbins that does make it possible to achieve some quite impressive economy figures if you drive the CR-Z in a particular way.
But if you do drive in the way needed to squeeze the most out of every gallon of fuel in a hybrid then there’s no joy in the drive. Which leaves the CR-Z somewhere between a rock and a hard place. That – and less than stellar sales – probably explains why Honda are now planning on launching a CR-Z with a proper ICE engine instead of just the hybrid drivetrain option.
Honda has under development an all-new turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine with Honda’s VTEC-i variable camshafts. The plan is to drop this engine in to the CR-Z with the option of either 160bhp in standard guise or 200 bhp in a Honda CR-Z Type R. Far more appealing than the current CR-Z’s rather underwhelming 125bhp.
More when we get it, but we should see the CR-Z with a proper engine and proper performance in 2011.
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