My new car

After the crash last week, I was of two minds. I was worried that with that amount of damage, it would take them a ton of time to fix it, and it would never drive right again. So, I was kind of hoping that they’d total it. But that lead to another problem – thanks to the earthquake and tsunami, the supply of Priuses (Priuii?) was way down, and thanks to the fact that the US car consumer has the attention span of a goldfish and gas prices are high this year, demand is way up as people who stopped buying hybrids last year when gas went under $3 a gallon are now buying hybrids again. So I started looking at other cars.

And this is what I settled on, a Honda CR-Z “Sport Hybrid”. It’s not as efficient as the Prius and it’s not as big as a Prius. But it’s got a lot more bling. And possibly because it’s aimed at a weird market (not many people looking for “sporty” are looking for hybrids and not many people looking for hybrids are thinking “sporty”), our local Honda dealer had several in stock.

Downsides:

  • Not much room
  • Low to the ground, so hard to get in an out of
  • Really bad visibility over shoulder
  • Worse fuel economy than the Prius
  • Most importantly, the roof might be so short that it won’t provide much support to a kayak rack. I’m definitely going to have to get a V-rack, although Scott Stenberg suggested I get a trailer instead

Upsides:

  • Has Econ, Normal and Sport modes. There is a huge difference in throttle response and even steering tightness in Sport mode
  • Bluetooth
  • GPS
  • USB connector for iPod, displays the track and artist information on the display
  • Voice command for the Bluetooth and the GPS
  • 6 speed manual transmission
  • In Econ mode, it gives you information on how well you’re driving, including little “achievements” to shoot for. It’s like Farmville for cars.
  • In Sport mode, it is seriously fun to drive!

8 thoughts on “My new car”

  1. G-rats for the new car.

    How much fuel does it consume in a standard cycle (pick a standard that suits you)?
    Would it be more efficient to just buy a (for north-amercian values of) small diesel, like a VW Golf? Because that’s what, up to now, all the tests have concluded – if you want to drive economically, buy a small diesel hatchback. 4-5 lt/100km (56-71mpg), in Real Life, are perfectly possible.

  2. The EPA rating for the Prius was around 46 mpg combined. I was getting around 40 mpg, mostly because I had a roof rack and drove a lot with one or two kayaks on top. The EPA rating for the CR-Z is 34 mpg, because I opted for the 6 speed manual instead of the CVT automatic (rated 37 mpg).

    One reason why diesels aren’t as popular in the US as they are in Europe is that diesel fuel is much more expensive than gas here. Also, I don’t know what the reason for the difference is, but the EPA rates the 2011 Golf Diesel at 34 mpg, same as the CR-X. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ is a good source for this info.

  3. I’m always amazed how bad the fuel economy of these hybrids actually is. My 2001 Saturn averages about 5.9L/100km (40mpg) in the summer time, and 6.3L/100km (37mpg) in the winter. My previous Saturn (a 1997 wagon) did the same. This is actual measured fuel economy, not some rating. So yeah, a hybrid is a little better, but not much, and costs way more.

  4. I think that difference comes from the fact that the fueleconomy.gov site only has the largest engine variants for the VW Golf – most of those are sold hereabouts with 1.4 to 1.8 lt petrol engines, whereas the smallest one is a 2.5lt on the fueleconomy site – the german Wikipedia site (the english is very, very much incomplete and doesn’t list fuel consumption) doesn’t even list a 2.5 petrol!

    A Golf VI (current model since 2008), for example, is actually mostly sold with the 1.4 petrol engine, 59 kW, or a 1.6 and 75kW.
    For diesel engines, it’s pretty much the 1.6 turbo with 77kW from 2009 on.
    Have a look at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_Golf_VI#Technische_Daten (“Kraftstoffverbauch).

    And, actually, the VW Golf is a gas guzzler for its size, the Japanese do much better, usually beating the Golf by 15-20%.

  6. Oh, and what’s the price difference per unit (pick gallon or, preferrably 😉 , litre) between regular/premium petrol and diesel where you live?
    Hereabouts diesel is about 10-15% more expensive pre litre than premium (95 Oktan) petrol (but it contains ~ 13% more energy, so that’s ok).

  7. Ah, you confuse me – because there’s lots of “gas” (as in CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or LPG (Liquefied Petroleum/Propane Gas)) cars hereabouts – which’s why I always write “petrol” when I mean “gas”(oline).

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