AutoblogGreen

I'm not sure what you find so exciting about these vehicles. Honda already tried the two-seat hybrid route, and I can't believe there is more of a market for a hybrid sports car than there was for their earlier effort. No info at all about what it's fuel economy might be, but a lot of glitz inside. It will probably join it's electric twin, the Tesla, and rack up a few thousand sales before Honda realizes just how incredibly impractical it is and drops it like a hot potato.

Toyota's Crown is at least capable of carrying more than a pint-sized driver and passenger. But just how it is an improvement over the Prius is anybody's guess. Oh, yeah, it has 10 airbags...

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"Honda already tried the two-seat hybrid route..."

I'm assuming that you think the CR-Z is a two-seater. It's not. If you watch the videos (3rd one), you can see the seatbelt for the rear seats.

I'm a six-year owner of an Insight, and I am actually disappointed that the CR-Z is a four-seater. I'd love to see the Insight equip with the latest Honda IMA system, which I'm sure could push the Insight close to the 100-mpg mark.

The problem with the original "sporty" hybrid, the Honda Accord, is that it targeted the wrong audience. Those who cared about mileage figures wouldn't care about performance, and those who cared about performance wouldn't care about fuel efficiency.

With the CR-Z, Honda is going for the younger market, those who would trade in a Civic-class for something in the same class, but nicer, rather than the traditional trading "up" from a compact to a full-size sedan. I think this is Honda's attempt to get into Scion's market.

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You're right, Charles, I did miss that rear seatbelt in the video. Looks awful close to the front seat, though, there can't be a lot of room in that back seat.

Your statement about Honda targeting the wrong audience with the Accord hybrid is dead on, also. But I fear they haven't learned the lesson yet. I care about fuel economy, I could care less whether I can go from 0 to 60 in .5 second. As a grandfather, I'm not crazy about two-door cars (last one I owned was a '61 Ford)and since I have small grandkids to carry, I'd like a backseat that is useful.

I could be tempted by a two-seater, just as an around-town car, BUT the only "performance" I'd be interested in is its MPG, not its MPH.

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