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Honda CR-Z Doing Well In Japan
Posted on March 17th, 2010 No comments
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.
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This is More Like It, Chrysler
Posted on February 11th, 2010 No comments
Instead of pushing pink Challengers, this is the type of product you should be investing your time in if you really want to get your brand out of the gutter.The adorable little Fiat 500 is reported to be coming to Canadian shores at the end of this year as a 2011 model, though it could be badged as a Chrysler, or more likely as a Dodge. That’s okay though, whatever it takes to get it here.
This car is immensely popular in Europe as it is fun to drive, cheap to own and buy and great on gas. With Ford’s Fiesta, the Mazda2 and King of the Hill Honda Fit, Chrysler is going to need a product like the 500 to truly be competitive in one of the fastest growing segments in our market.
It’s unlikely that the Abarth version (pictured above) will make it to our shores, sadly enough. But again, we’ll take whatever iteration of the 500 we can get at this point.
Hit the jump to watch the 500 Abarth SS review by our idol Jeremy Clarkson