Oh Hi: 2012 Hyundai Veloster

Look out Honda CR-Z, the Hyundai Veloster is hot on your tail!

The Veloster was officially unveiled in Detroit today, and I must admit, it looks damned good! The design keeps Hyundai’s attractive design nature of late going with a an aggressive front  facia, a swoopy side profile and a wide sporty stance from the rear completed with two tailpipes in the centre.

The Veloster also features a unique third door on the driver’s side for added versatility and easy ingress. It worked for the Mini Clubman, so Hyundai is betting it will work for them too.

Power comes from a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder which produces 138 horsepower and 122 pound feet of torque mated through either a six speed manual or a six speed dual clutch automatic. No 0-100 times available yet, but the Veloster’s 5.8L/ 100 kms highway rating easily beats the Honda CR-Z. And Hyundai was able to do it without hybrid technology. Although we must remember that, traditionally, hybrids get better mileage in the city than on the highway.

No interior shots are available yet, but Hyundai says the Veloster will come with astandard multi-function seven-inch touch-screen display with Pandora internet radio, Gracenote music display, video playback, video game console connectivity. So, I guess you can play video games.

Check out more pics of the Veloster after the jump.

[Hyundai]

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This Is Pretty Lame, Honda

Most manufacturers usually make special editions or anniversary editions of models to keep them looking fresh before the mid-cycle refresh or a complete redesign. They usually entail special paint jobs, unique alloy wheels, no charge spoilers etc.

Honda has just announced a special edition of the CR-Z. This is a bit strange considering the CR-Z is brand new and really is not in any sort of need of a refresh (at least not physically). But we’ll ignore that fact for now because the real reason Honda is introducing a special version of the CR-Z is because it won the coveted Japanese Car of the Year award.

So then Honda went and gave it the typical additional perks such as the “Pearl Dipusafaiaburu” paint job you see in the pic above and exclusive 16 inch alloys. That’s all fine and good but what the picture doesn’t show is Honda’s decision to put a sticker on the rear window that says “Japan Car of the Year”. How tacky is that?

Go ahead and be proud of your accolade, Honda, by all means. Especially since they are few and far between here in North America these days. But don’t get all douchy about it and start bragging. You don’t wanna turn into certain other car companies that brag just to get publicity.

As you might have guessed, this special CR-Z edition is, thankfully, just for the Japanese market.

[Honda]

Non-Hybrid Honda CR-Z in the Works?

When Honda announced it would be reviving a successor to the CRX, many CRX fans pretty much wet their pants. It had been decades since the hot hatch was around and the only thing that Honda made since the CRX that was even close was the Civic SI hatch.

However excitement turned to dismay and disappointment when Honda announced that the CRX replacement, the CR-Z, would be a hybrid. Honda marketed it as being the best of both worlds matching performance and efficiency in perfect harmony, but it seems most of the world (except for Japan) disagreed as sales for the CR-Z have been quite disappointing.

Well apparently in order to fix that, Honda is giving CRX fans what they should’ve gotten in the first place: a true CRX successor. If Autocar is to be believed, Honda will either replace the hybrid technology all together in favour of a regular gas engine, or at the very least make a gas only version optional.

No word yet on engine or power details, but this is very welcomed news. One of the many things the original CRX did well was achieve excellent performance with good efficiency – without the help of hybrid technology (which adds weight).

Thanks for the tip, Chris!

[Autocar]

And The Cheapest Hybrid Award Goes to…

The Honda CR-Z.

Previously Honda themselves held the honour with the very unimpressive and underwhelming Insight which starts at $24,900. Honda even scared Toyota with that price and had them scrambling to make a hybrid version of their Toyota Yaris so that they could take the cheapest hybrid crown. But I’m sure that idea took the back burner when the results were in on the Insight. Just terrible.

Well Honda has just released Canadian pricing and the supposed successor to the CR-X will start at $23,460 for the six speed manual or $24,290 for the automatic making it the cheapest hybrid available in our market. The CR-Z is also the first ever hybrid available with a manual transmission. Sweet!

But the numbers don’t seem so sweet on paper. I mean, being the successor to the CR-X means that you gotta hold your own in the performance department. And with a 1.5 litre four cylinder engine making 126 horsepower and 136 pound foot torque, well, it just doesn’t seem possible to be fun to drive.

But at least it will be really efficient, right? Nope. While its 5.6 L/100 kms city (6.5 for the automatic) is nothing to sneeze at, this is a hybrid! There are regular gasoline cars that can do those numbers.

So, basically the new CR-Z is going to be nothing special in either performance or efficiency. Way to go, Honda. Let’s just hope it’s better than the Insight.

Oh and by the way, I’m fully aware that the pic above is not the production version of the CR-Z. It’s just I think the concept looked so much better.

[Honda Canada]

Honda CR-Z Doing Well In Japan

The supposed successor to the peppy CRX hatchback of the early 90′s is apparently doing well in its home country.

Honda has taken 8,000 orders of the new hybrid after only 3 weeks of it being available for order. Not bad.

What is bad is the lackluster efficiency the car gets considering its size and its hybrid set up. The CR-Z gets 6.5 l/100 kms city and 6.1 l/100 kms highway. Comparitively A Honda Fit can get 7.1 l/100 kms city and 5.5 l/100 kms highway with just a regular gasoline engine. It also has a much cheaper starting price.

Still, the CR-Z promises to be performance oriented as it is one of the few hybrids (perhaps only hybrid) to offer a 6-speed manual transmission. 40% of Japanese who ordered a CR-Z so far have checked the 6-speed manual box in the option list.

But then you look at the horsepower numbers: 122 horsepower and 128 pound foot of torque. Extremely weak numbers on paper for a so-called performance oriented vehicle, despite the hybrid technology. The CR-Z better be extremely light like its CRX predecesor if it wishes to retain any credibility.

Although if the 8,000 number of CR-Z’s already ordered is any indication, credibility won’t really even matter.