Built on a slightly shorter, but wider, Insight platform, the CR-Z's wheelbase has been clipped 4.5 in compared with the Insight. It's also 1.2 in lower, and 97 lbs lighter. It seems much more low-slung when you slip into the driver's seat, because the H-point is closer to the floor. There's plenty of headroom for driver's up to 6 ft 5 in, but forget the rear seats, which would struggle to accommodate a 12 year old. Flatten the rear seats and you create 14.1 cubic feet of luggage space, enough for a couple of suitcases, or two golf bags.
Under the hood is the 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine from the Fit, and mated to a revised 6-speed manual transmission lifted out of the European-spec 1.8-liter Civic. The internal combustion engine delivers 112 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 107 pound-feet of torque at 4800 rpm; the CR-Z's brushless DC electric motor -- positioned in place of the flywheel, and powered by nickel metal hydride batteries -- generates 14 horsepower at 1500 rpm and 57 pound-feet at 1000 rpm. Through a complex calculation, which we won't go into here, Honda claims the combined power output of the CR-Z's hybrid system is 122 horsepower at 6000 rpm while combined torque is 128 pound-feet at 1500 rpm.
Given the 1.5-liter's greater torque we had to redesign the IMA system and gearbox to cope," explains Tomobe. But to experience the full force of this beefy bottom end grunt, Tomobe suggests we first select 'sports mode' from the car's new dash-mounted, 3-mode drive system switches. In sports mode, throttle response mapping is changed, and the electric motor acts as a kind of mild supercharger when accelerating, Tomobe says. The other modes -- 'Normal' and 'Econ' modes -- retard throttle response to reduce fuel consumption and lower emissions.
Read entire article here.
For more information on Honda's energy-efficient vehicles, contact Tyrrell-Doyle Honda.
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