I Can’t Wait

to see a CR-Z in person

Thank You Freddy

Hatch Life pal and blogging superstar RA64 Freddy answered my prayers, I’ve been dying to see a black CR-Z and he turned one up and posted it last week. For my personal taste, I think I was right, black is definately the color for these, it just ties it all together for me. I stopped in the lodal Honda dealer today to pick up some over priced plastic clips and asked about the CR-Z ans was told they expect the first ones to arrive next month. I WANT!

Spoon CR-Z

I guess I’m in the minority for liking the CR-Z and wanting one. You’ve seen the Mugen concept, now Spoon is taking a crack at the the love it or hate it hybrid. Parts in the works include an ECU upgrade, 15″ disks with upgraded calipers, front coil over, rear shock/spring combo, and N1 style exhaust. Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever heard an aftermarket exhaust on a hyrid, I’m curious. Spoon’s test mule/demo car is wearing thier CR93 wheels in Spoon blue. I still can’t wait to see a black CR-Z

Exclusive Zeus Honda Insight

You’ll want to click that last one to read the hod rod-esque lettering on the rear bumper lol! Exclusive Zeus

Mugen CRZ

I can’t wait to see a CRZ in person, I know I’m going to end up wanting one so bad I’ll be shopping one of my kidneys around to black market organ traffickers. All the renders and concepts I’ve seen have been white, I want to see it in black, I bet it would really smooth out the rear glass and mouth. Set it down on some bronze MF10s….shyeeiiit

Let’s Go Rallying!

By BFF Duke has caught the rally bug and has been wanting to do some TSD (time/speed/distance) rallies. Maybe even as a stepping stone to actual RALLY rallies. I did a TSD event with the local organization CORC about 10 years ago and I can tell you two things; it’s much harder on the car than you think it’s going to be, and without a rally computer it’s pretty much impossible to be competitive. But it was definately fun despite my ex wife being more dead weight than navigator. In preparation for this Duke has decided that when his ’98 hatch gets put into winter mode it will include some big oversized mudflaps and a four pot light pod out front. It’s sounds crazy, but you should know by now I like crazy. So yada yada I’ve been looking around at some rally stuff today, first up I found this DA Integra with some (imo) really nicely incorporated rally lights.

Next I found this Insight campaigned by Oaktek in the UK. It’s a former class champion despite being a 1000cc car in a 1300cc class and they have done a lot of work to get more power out of the hybrid setup. The kicker is next season they plan on running it purely on cow manure. Oh yea, shit. From cows. And not just any old manure, fermented manure. Seriously, don’t believe me, read the article.

S2000 Rumors

Given the current state of affairs in the automotive industry it probably didn’t come as a shock a few months ago that Honda has abandoned the NSX replacement and retired the S2000. The CRZ however is still on track for a 2010 launch. I posted a while ago that if it came out I would seriously look into selling both my hatches to get into one so it might be time to stop dumping money into them. But from the ashes and for better or worse Japan’s Best Car Magazine is reporting that Honda is moving ahead with development of an S2000 replacement, although for the purists it may only be an S2000 by name, not spirit. It’s said to be a 2+2 coupe, hybrid powered, and using Honda’s SH-AWD system. None of this however is confirmed by Honda.

Showdown

I’ve posted before that I can’t wait to see the the Honda CR-Z released, but now it looks like Toyota has thier own hybrid hatch ready to do head to head battle with it. It will reintroduce the MR2 name (horrible idea imo) and will be largely based on the Prius drivetrain. 0-60 in under 7 seconds, 60+ MPG, a target price of $24k, and…wait for it..rear wheel drive. I still gotta go with the Honda for looks but it sounds like the Toyota will be a nice little package for a daily driver, plus they’ve got a cult like following of Prius owners who would probably be tempted by something a little sportier when thier Prius lease is up. Call me crazy but I think these two little cars could do some serious damage to an already crippled Detroit if they come to market.

Smarter

I don’t despise Smart cars like most of my car friends. I’m not in a hurry to buy one, but I don’t want to set fire to everyone I see either. I think if I were to buy something like that I would definately take the Toyota iQ over the Smart. Word is the iQ will be sold as a Scion in the US. It just has more of a life size Choro-Q vibe to it than the Smart, which always looks like a car door floating down the street when I see one.

Mugen 2nd gen Insight