A lot of Pinoys have this affinity with Hondas as sporty car. I remember back in college, I always wanted to own a Civic EG6 hatchback (I still wonder why these cars from the early nineties still hasn’t depreciated quite a lot nearly two decades since). They are, for the purposes of Philippine roads, quite fast.
Honda’s currently on the quest to be the world’s greenest automaker but that’s not stopping them from creating very sporty looking cars. If you’ve seen some of the current crop of Jazz small cars around the Metro lately, you’d know what I’m talking about.
I was disappointed when the CR-Z was announced a couple of years back complete with the picture of a concept. It reminded me of the appeal of the CR-X pocket rocket from way back. It was sporty and stylish. Too bad Honda decided to make it a hybrid.
While the likes of Jeremy Clarkson would frown upon hybrids as something contrary to the dinosaur-burning nature of driving proper cars, in our case, hybrids simply mean it’s going to be a bank-breaking piece of battery-powered machinery. (Ever seen how much the Toyota Prius retails over here? The range-topper costs Php 2,265,000.00.)
Anyway, at least we can all salivate over this hardcore version of the CR-Z – the Mugen version. The car is powered by the CR-Z’s stock 1.5L gasoline engine but gets a supercharger to bring the output to 197 bhp and 181 lb-ft. That, on Philippine roads, is already a handful. With the IMA electric motor, total ponies and max torque are expected to go up.
As for other improvements over the standard, the Mugen version gets a wider rear track, five-step adjustable dampers and larger brakes with four-pot calipers. The image also shows a carbon fiber hood to trim the weight down. Other aero improvements include a huge rear wing.
It’s already scheduled for Japanese production so we can all just wait for word if it will land on Philippine shores (or until we see it being driven around either by a rich teener or some middle-aged manong coming to terms with his bald spots and pot belly).
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