There are a lot of misconceptions about this new Honda product, and it’s easy to dump on a car that isn’t extraordinary in any one obvious way. With 122-hp it won’t deliver the thrills of a K24 in an EK (yea, we know Honda codes too), nor does it get the fuel economy of a Fiesta or a Prius, with a 35/39-mpg fuel economy rating. And it’s not a sports car – although it certainly handles like one. Nor is it a hybrid in the way people expect, meaning that it doesn’t and isn’t intended to deliver a revolutionary change to the way we drive.
Forget all that; the CR-Z isn’t competing with the Fiesta, nor is it up against the Prius, or any other hybrids on the market for that matter. Pigeonholed into a single segment, the CR-Z is the catastrophic failure any Honda fanboy with a modified CRX will tell you it is. But when looked at as a whole it represents a vehicle that’s more than the sum of its parts and so much more than these other cars, delivering a package that’s good on fuel, great on the eyes, a blast to drive and an urban status symbol.
