With my car in the garage for routine maintenance I was at the service desk filling out the necessary forms for the hire car. £250 excess, check the condition of the car, check licence, you know the usual stuff. The customer service manager then escorted me to the car park where a gleaming white Honda CR-Z was waiting - my car for the day. Excellent. Having hired many cars, this by far the most unique and not the usual hum-drum standard hatchback or saloon car. I'm interested in the little Honda as it's rumoured (largely started by Honda) to be the world's first Sports Coupe Hybrid. It boast a 1.5ltr IMA (Petrol Hybrid) engine with battery assist in a car smaller than the Jazz. Having handed over the keys to my sports car, I was not expecting the little CR-Z to be a match and I was not surprised. It isn't.
I was however impressed with the little CR-Z, it's a pretty cool looking car and gets plenty of attention out on the roads, although in its GT spec, costing £1 short of £20k it's no bargain! I think you are paying for the kudos that comes with driving a Hybrid - you'll have noticed that many a celebrity have a Toyota Prius or similar to play the green card, no doubt with the air-conditioned garage at bursting point with Italian supercars! So the CR-Z is not the quickest car in the world, but in sport mode, it does boast a decent slug of torque that other V-Tech Honda's lack. It sounds fruity too when you rev it round near its 7k rpm limit. In Economy setting it claims 70mpg and in its sport setting nearer 40mpg, whilst normal you should see it return 50mpg.
My issue with cars such as the CR-Z is that whilst the manufacturer would have you believe you are saving the planet by driving one, a modern small diesel engine emits less gCO2/km and often has a superior MPG. More bad news is the carbon footprint of the battery units that supply the 'free' fuel via the electric motors (charged under breaking / coasting etc). As a small coupe however, in Sport mode the CR-Z is an attractive proposition particularly to fleet sales and hire cars. Given the choice, I would plump for a hybrid or similar if it was offered by car hire companies and the CR-Z delivers on the sporty coupe promised.