Winding Road Blog: Honda CR-Z

[cord77]

Blog: Honda CR-Z—The Second, Purpose-Built Greenformance Car Arrives

The Honda CR-Z arrives at dealers this week, which seemed a fitting time to give another perspective on this interesting car. Having driven the CR-Z in and around San Francisco, we opted this time to try it in the Midwest on the flatter and more pockmarked roads between Chicago and central Wisconsin (the American Le Mans series was visiting Road America, so we chose that as a suitable destination).

My conclusion was that this is a pretty special car, but like everything in our hyper-segmented world, that specialness applies under certain conditions that won’t appeal to everyone. There is no doubt that many consumers would prefer a car like the CR-Z if it, a) had 300 horsepower, b) had a body by Pininfarina, c) got 100 mpg and/or, d) had a back seat to rival the Mercedes S550. Oh, but keep the price where it is, please, at just over $19,000. There being no free lunch (or engineering), this isn’t going to happen, so I thought it might be more useful to talk in the context of the real world and focus on what the CR-Z does well, and what it doesn’t do so well. You can decide if that fits your needs.

First Win: the handling of the CR-Z is genuinely fun. The steering is quick and turn-in is good, so the CR-Z is a very willing partner in whipping through city traffic or carving up back roads. Seyth seemed to think the suspension was a little soft and roll-prone, but I found the roll control to be very good at rational street speeds. There are many, many cars out there with more body roll, certainly.

Another way to put this in context is to say the CR-Z feels a lot like a Mini Cooper, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Honda revealed that their engineers had studied the Mini extensively. Both the Mini and the CR-Z feel balanced, willing to rotate, and grippy to a point. They don’t feel biased toward understeer below the limit that many front-drivers do. I’d give the Mini the edge in steering feel and entertainment value (in part because of the small yaw moment that Mini builds into turn entry). But when it comes to light, responsive, quick, flat, directional changes—sometimes called go-kart handling—you should consider that the Mini gets high marks on these items, so saying that the CR-Z is in the same league places it well above most cars.

Second Win: the ride/handling balance is almost in BMW territory. The softness Seyth felt at the launch in my experience comes across mostly as usable compliance rather than sloppy handling, resulting in a very good secondary (pothole, frost heave) ride. Unlike the Mini, the CR-Z is not brittle over these bumps; the CR-Z takes the edge off, though the firm springing lets you know that every bump is there. The price for this gain in ride quality is that the CR-Z’s somewhat compliant shocks and bushings reduce the communication level from the road a bit compared with the Mini.

Read Full Article At: Winding Road | Blog: Honda CR-Z

[JnC]

Brilliant article. Well written and really puts the car in a good light.

Be sure to check out the original here.

[fireballer44]

Nice article. Glad to see some that take the car for the fun it is rather than whine and moan about how their CRX Si was better because it weighed less.

[bizzybear]

great review...

[human668]

Winding Road Magazine | Issue 61

In this issue of web magazine, they are comparing CR-Z with Mini Cooper S and MX-5. I do wonder why they don't comparing it with Mini Cooper (non-S).

[VTEC Mini]

Great review, I am sceptical on comparing handling to a MINI though. I haven't driven a CR-Z yet but I will certainly will know if it is or not when I do. I just hope the car dealer that goes with a ride with me has a good hold of the "holy **** bar"..

[JnC]

Originally Posted by VTEC Mini

Great review, I am sceptical on comparing handling to a MINI though. I haven't driven a CR-Z yet but I will certainly will know if it is or not when I do. I just hope the car dealer that goes with a ride with me has a good hold of the "holy **** bar"..

I have a Mini Cooper S as a daily driver. Just going by the 4 test drives I've had in the CRZ, I would say the CRZ is definitely softer. But a lot of that is due to normal tires vs run flats. I did sense a bit more roll, and if I did a cone weave, the CRZ I test drove seemed to have a bit of softness in the right rear suspension.

Subjectively, if I had to give it a number, I'd say the CRZ has about 75-80% of the Mini's handling. Part of that is just due to how the Mini is more stiffly damped than the CRZ. But a good portion of that is the multilink rear suspension vs torsion bars.

As noted in the articles the CRZ can go from understeer to oversteer. That can be entertaining but it can also get you into trouble if you upset the balance of the car.

I'll have a better feel once the CRZ arrives.

[Jakecrxsi]

Well put.

[TCroly]

Having owned 2 Minis (non S models) I would have to agree with the reviewer's comments about the CRZ's handling being similar to, but softer than, the Mini. In the short test drive I took, I definitely could feel a better ride, but more body roll in the CRZ compared to the Mini, but it still maintains that go-cart like feel.

Now I don't think there is any point comparing the ultimate handling of a CRZ to a Mini Cooper S. The S models have a punishingly hard ride but the reward is razor sharp turn in and responsiveness which I doubt the CRZ will ever approach, even with aftermarket tuning. As an autocross or track toy the Mini Cooper S is in another league.

But handling means different things to different people and as a small car the CRZ seems to have made some reasonable compromises between ride and handling.

[bizzybear]

i'm not sure about the part where you said the CR-Z won't ever approach the Mini-S handling... the CR-Z has a better base than the current Si's, and those are quite a competitor for the Mini-S in terms of handling...