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VTEC's first road trip in the CR-Z in So Cal.

5K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  VTEC Mini 
#1 ·
Yesterday I had to go to a funeral for a long time friend. I had to go from the south central valley to Riverside which is on the east side of Los Angela's. In order to do this I had to cross a mountain range called the Grape Vine. It where the coastal mountains meet the Sierra Nevada's in So Cal. It is pretty steep up to 7%+ grades in some places. Going from north to south is one of the steepest grades of them all. I had to put Quorra in fourth and in SPORT to maintain speed and the battery was absolutely spent 3/4's of the way up (Probably about fifteen miles). On the down hill side which goes up and down for forty miles was uneventful. The battery charged back up and I noticed when I was heading down the steep grades with the cruise control set at 70 MPH occasionally the engine would shut off for no more the 15 seconds at a time and give a little charge to the battery even when the battery indicator said it was full. Going back it was the same way.

When I arrived in L.A. it was bumper to bumper traffic from Castaic to the 60 (about maybe 20 miles) This is where the "Auto Stop" became really, really annoying. Once on the 60 it was open traffic so it was all good. After driving all over Riverside, northern L.A. and San Bernardino and my 9 hours of driving yesterday I did not see on other CR-Z anywhere!

Overall, it was a good trip considering the circumstances. I think the biggest achilles heal of the CR-Z is power. If Honda could get this worked out it would be the bee's knee's.
 
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#2 ·
Hi,

Sorry to hear about your friend. I believe your friend is in a better place.


Here in Fl. it is mostly flat terrain and I never have spent the battery at any time. Yes, there is no doubt the Achilles heal is power.

"Honda is for sure monitoring these forums, give us more... I think you know what we mean, "GT".

Hopefully an old friend of mine is reading this. I would like to say to him, "HI Jandean and hope you and your family made it through the earthquake and tsunami." The future is bright and the good Lord loves all of us.

VTEC Mini...

Glad you're safe and and no accidents happened on the road with Quorra and you.

You are the greatest.

As for me I'm driving in First Class :)

-Roger aka Oasis
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the kind words. My friend was someone of very rare character. Didn't have one enemy and made it a point to make everyone feel comfortable and made sure they had a good time. He had the gift of gab and made friends everywhere he went. It was standing room only at his service and funeral and people stretched out into the street to pay there last respects. He was 65 but had the heart and soul of an outgoing teenager.
I went to Las Vegas from Denver in my CR-Z about two weeks ago.... I70 to I15 route. Lots of mountains, altitude (11,158 ft), and steep grades (7 and 8 %). I had it in third on some of the grades just to keep up speed. But it does it.. just have to keep it in the sweet spot. Trip was right at 1500 miles.... avg speed was 79, avg mpg was around 37... which considering the hills, was excellent. Most of the roads are 75 and 80 mp.. and I usually try do to about 5 over.... so that worked out well. Best mpg was around 41... in the Utah flat areas leading to Vegas. A little more power would be nice.. as would battery longevity.. but those would also come at a cost too.
Next time you are out this way look me up!

From this experience I would advise someone considering a CRZ that if their regular driving involves climbing long grades of more than 2000 feet of elevation rise, the CRZ may prove unsatifying.
That is good advice!:hi5:
 
#3 ·
yep - the grapevine is extreme for any 4 cyl. Because of the grade I usually rent a 6 cyl car or van. To the CRZ's credit it does the Sacramento to Reno run wonderfully! It's wound up in the 4's (sport) but good power band for that stretch of highway. I had other $$ cars and big trucks on my tail and I've done that drive many times in my old 03' 330 BMW. I have to say, she felt good and fast on the road and did really well on the grades. More power would be fun but it would be give and take on the gas miles and with $4+ gallon, my CRZ is quick enough for me.
 
#4 ·
I went to Las Vegas from Denver in my CR-Z about two weeks ago.... I70 to I15 route. Lots of mountains, altitude (11,158 ft), and steep grades (7 and 8 %). I had it in third on some of the grades just to keep up speed. But it does it.. just have to keep it in the sweet spot. Trip was right at 1500 miles.... avg speed was 79, avg mpg was around 37... which considering the hills, was excellent. Most of the roads are 75 and 80 mp.. and I usually try do to about 5 over.... so that worked out well. Best mpg was around 41... in the Utah flat areas leading to Vegas. A little more power would be nice.. as would battery longevity.. but those would also come at a cost too.
 
#5 ·
I experienced a similar loss of battery power about 7 miles into a 7% grade at 55 mph. Once the battery level hit 3 bars, it gave no more IMA assist and I found I had the acellerator on the floor and had to downshift from 5th to 4th in order to maintain 55 mph.

It is interesting to note that the power, while climbing the grade, felt smilar to that of my Fit while the IMA boost was at full assist. However, once the battery was exhausted, the CRZ felt dead, without even enough power to continue the 55 mph climb until I downshifted to 4th gear. At that point, the climb was manageable, but the car was most definitely lacking power to manage such a grade at highway speed.

Coming back down, the battery was fully charged to a full 8 bars, less than half the way down the mountain and I noted that it did stop charging at this point. At the bottom of the mountain I stopped at a light and immediately upon accelerating away from that light I lost the 8th bar and since that time, the car continued it's normal routine of varying state of charge between 3 and 7 bars without ever running out of boost while driving between sea level and 1000 feet elevations.

From this experience I would advise someone considering a CRZ that if their regular driving involves climbing long grades of more than 2000 feet of elevation rise, the CRZ may prove unsatifying.
 
#9 ·
Cool! If I get down that way again.. will do! We actually went for a cat show in Vegas. Met a lot of online Savannah Cat friends.. had a good time! Loni actually rode the NYNY Roller Coaster.. lost her voice screaming! lol! I would love to meet up... HELL YES!! :)
 
#10 ·
You could always try the Cajon pass next time! I drive Bakersfield to Riverside several times a year and Cajon is a slightly longer but not quite as steep choice (vs Tejon pass/Grapevine for those not in So. Cal). I like the Tehachapi/Mormon Rocks/Cajon route for something different and it's only a few miles longer. As a bonus, it takes less time if it helps you miss the LA commuter traffic although not a good route heading back to the central valley from Riverside if it's a holiday weekend with Cajon jammed with cars trying to get to Vegas.

I'll be there in 2 weeks but using a rental car. I wish I had time to take my CRZ so I could give it a try but that would add at least two days to either end of the trip. No real hills around this area even though I'm on the edge of the Texas "hill country"! I am planning to take the CRZ to Colorado at the end of May to the Iron Horse bike ride if I can get away, and so I'll see how it does in some climbing then.
 
#12 ·
Don't have a map in front of me but there are several ways to do the route. Quickest is to take 58 over to old 395 down and that route is prob. easiest grade alhtough that stretch on 395 is a bit monotonous except for watching the dune buggies churning up the sand. The turn is just after Boron and then drive down through Adelanto to 15 and then down over the Cajon. I also use the 58/14/138 route but haven't taken that for maybe 18 months. It goes thru Lancaster and down to what they now call something like the pearblossom highway. That was my preferred route 10 years ago when I was living in Bakersfield and making the drive down to Riverside prob. 2xmonth on average although it's a lot busier now and the road can be slow as usually there are RV's and trailers on it. I've used that route when driving classic cars down as there used to be an "unofficial" scenic turnout in Mormon Rocks to stop and get some awesome backdrop for car pics.

I used to haul a trailer over the mountains and Cajon seemed much easier plus less traffic. Anything to avoid getting stuck in those two truck lanes trailers are required to stay in over the grapevine.
 
#15 ·
I know what grade you are talking about. That is pretty steep. To me the CR-Z is "almost capable" of taking such grades and if it had a little more battery and HP it could. I think when they do come out with the "Si" it should just be the standard.
 
#20 ·
"Auto stop" is when your vehicle slow down below a certain mph you vehicle engine shuts off. I believed on the CVT it shut off below 10 mph and on the 6MT it can be shut off below 19 mph. Once you accelerate the engine automatically start up. The purpose is to shut off your engine at red lights thereby saving on fuel consumption. It works rather seamlessly. Can be unnerving at first but you get used to it.
 
#23 ·
Hi gang!

This is the first time owning a hybrid. I plan to drive down to LA from Oakland (SF Bay Area) next month using I5. Not looking forward to the grapevine based on VTEC's trip. I have the CVT version. You think it'll handle the inclines better on its own in normal or would I have to switch to sport and downshift with the paddles?

I plan to use Highway 1 and 101 going back to enjoy some coastal driving.
 
#25 ·
I am interested and seeing how you did. Please post after your trip:thumbup:.
there's not much of an incline on I5, you can survive even on econ mode.
Have you ever travelled south bound going over the Grape Vine from the central valley? The incline starts about 5 to 6 miles before you even get to the mountain its self and in ECON doing 75 MPH by the time you do hit the mountain the battery is done. Then you immediately hit the steep incline all the way up to Gorman.

It is quiet the challenging task for our beloved CR-Z.
 
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