Honda promises hybrid Jazz, CR-Z next year

Honda has announced it is to put two new hybrids into production alongside its Insight and Civic models. Towards the end of 2010, a hybrid version of the Honda Fit will be launched. That's just a Jazz by another name, and nothing to get too excited about. Honda CRZ Honda's CR-Z: Far more interesting is the news that, come …

[CRX-RULES]

Smells like BS

and i hope it is

These are the same images and details that have been floting about the net for a couple of years now, specs dont sound right at all, CRZ is meant to be the new CRX - i think it will have an engine pushing 200bhp and a more compact/aerodynamic look that that, seeing as the last one in the 90's was about 170BHP and was basically a mini racing car, the predessor to taht was also an awesome sports couple, teh B16a engine made Honda famous and i hope teh replacement would be something along teh same lines - a 1.6 1 6v Twin Cam VTech engine producing nearly 170BHP, yes from a 1.6 with no turbo or supercharger. They shoudl make something like thsi small nasp engine with high bhp output , just more economic and a bit more torque - and if tehy can keep it under 1.5 aswell so it falls under teh higher tax bracket.

Images look very concept still, not like something that should come off the assembly line in a few months !

It might be right for the Jazz with a new hybrid engine, but i doubt that CRZ is anything real, if it s its will be one big failure for Honda and dissapointment for their enthusiasts.

[breakfast]

Great, an electric Jazz

It's the Jazz part of this story that worries me. It seems as though whenever I'm stuck in the endless trail of traffic behind some relentlessly sluggish gimmer or other pedlar of exquisite slowness they are driving a Honda Jazz. The last thing we need is an excuse for them to go even more slowly.

[William Clark]

Trouble with Jeremy Clarkson

is that he and Top Gear, entertaining as it can be (though more often purile) it only seems to assess a car's ability to go as fast as possible around a race track and how good the think it looks. We never hear how good a car is for going on a longer journey with lots of luggage or how good it is for bringing stuff home from the DIY store or other important practical stuff.

I did see last week's with the dogs and small cars which was a bit of an exception and made me laugh uncontrollably.

[Norm DePlume]

Enough of the penis size war

In the bigger picture, the Fit / Jazz is probably going to be the more important car, tell us about that next time, please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Reg Fail?

I really cannot understand how Clarksons comments on the Insight relate to this CR-Z?!??!

Please elaborate a little - maybe you should include his comments on the Gwizz for good measure thats a totally different car too...

[Hermes]

two fewer doors damit!

Mind you anything that pisses off that curly haired long faced tight jeans wearing reactionary wazz is good enough for me. I'll have five plaese.

[Anton Ivanov]

I will buy it if it comes with a proper stick

If it comes with a proper manual gearbox it will be a top candidate on my "next vehicle" list in 3-4 years time (I hope not to have to buy one before that). By that time the tech would be in a shape where it is worth buying for Joe Average user.

Honda delivered a manual gearbox with the original Insight and Civic and both were very reasonable cars to drive around town (especially the Insight).

[Paul 4]

Dose it fly?

No. Come back when it dose... or comes with a robot monkey buttler..

However, I do quight like the CR-Z. Slow, I know, but I gave up on fast cars when I realised they all feal slow next to a sports bike, and expensive.

[Anonymous Coward]

jazzy y-fronts

lol@breakfast. You've obviously not seen the latest zippy Jazz model then. I was left for dead at the traffic lights by a Jazz 1.4, and I drive a Lotus Europa S.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ CRX Rules

Can you put your spell checker on please, that was painful to read....

[Nexox Enigma]

@ Anton Ivanov

"""If it comes with a proper manual gearbox..."""

Unfortunately a manual just doesn't work with the whole hybrid concept, since the car is supposed to be making all the decisions about where the power comes from and when. That sort of thing doesn't mix with external decisions about the gearing. Plus the article specified a CVT, which is distinctly not a manual.

[Antidisestablishmentarianist]

@Nenox Enigma

Umm, you might want to check out the original Honda Insight then. It came in manual and CVT. The manual was the more economical of the two.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Great, an electric Jazz

There are a lot of Jazzes around that are driven slowly, and I gotta say the one I've been using for a while gets driven slowly too.

The Jazz is aimed squarely at the kinda person who gets freaked out by a car having too much acceleration or torque, so it pretty much is lacking in both those departments. There is next to no point trying to get a Jazz to go quick, though they handle pretty well so can carry speed through bends surprisingly well. I didn't know the newer ones had some poke to them though, Europa driver.

But on the upside, I routinely get over 55mpg out of a Jazz. A 1.4 litre petrol at that. Honda say it does 48.5mpg too, but with a few of the safer tricks from the hypermilers it is easy to exceed that. Using the hypermilers' more dodgy techniques I have been able to pull over 70mpg average on a tenner's worth of fuel.

So the next time you are up the chuff of a Jazz who is going slow, bear in mind they will be laughing at what your fuel use is costing you!

And for those who don't like tail gaters, I recommend the following to get them off your arse: When they get too close, slow down by about 3mph, then gradually speed up to 3mph over the limit, then back down to 3mph below.... repeat until the idiot (usually in an Audi or BMW, with Dame Edna-a-like lights) backs off. Do not use your brakes for this trick - it freaks the person out behind much more when they realise you are slowing down!

[Tony Smith]

Re: Great, an electric Jazz

Enough with the Jazz grief, OK.

Two points. First, you're as likely to be stuck behind someone going slow in almost anything, BMWs excepted; do these boys actually go less than 90? If it's available to buy, sooner or later you'll get caught up behind it doing 40mph irrespective if the limit.

I can't answer to the new one, but the original Jazz - the one minus the stupid pointy bits at the outer corners of the bumpers - is more than capable of holding its own tooling up the motorway and is a lot of fun in windy country roads and city streets. I know, I throw mine around both.

And AC is right, you get splendid mileage out of it.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ breakfast

breakfast, is it safe to assume you've never driven a Jazz?

My wife's Jazz is over six years old, has more than 150,000km on the clock and still runs like new. It deals with close to half a metre of flood water, unsurfaced roads, cyclones, overtaking triples* and everything else that the Aussie bush can throw at it. The only failure beyond wiper blades has been the A/C compressor and Honda supplied a replacement free of charge despite being out of warranty. Today it did a seven hour round trip to collect two flat pack metal/glass desks, two office chairs and a filing cabinet and still happily chugged along at 120 km/h (that's about 75 mph in old money) with plenty to spare. Try that in any other car of its size.

* A triple is a roadtrain with three 40ft trailers in tow, usually driven in an impenetrable cloud of red bull dust on narrow bush roads. The following vehicle relies on the truck driver to signal that the road ahead is clear. Passing is carried out with two wheels on the tarmac and the other two in the gravel at the side of the road. A manoeuvre best carried out quickly unless you have a kevlar sphincter.