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Honda is seemingly playing catch up in the sports car department. Awhile ago it launched the Honda CRZ hybrid, a little coupe which I am warming up to and more recently, it has previewed the upcoming Honda/Acura NSX which will play a part in the latest Marvel Comic movie, The Avengers. Better late than never as the last real sporty car in its line-up was the Honda Civic Type-R hatchback. Although it was sporty, it was still based on a hatchback and not something that looked its part. So now we now have the entry level and the supercar level covered but I believe there is a large hole in the mid-sized coupe for Honda to plug. Remember the Honda Integra and the Honda Prelude? Just about two years ago Honda was like the other Japanese car manufacturers, without a proper sports car in its lineup until the CRZ appeared. Now with the upcoming NSX, things are getting better (I am not counting the slightly dull USDM Honda Accord coupe in this case). But remember the the good ol' days when Honda had a while slew of sports cars in its line-up? In the early 1990s it had the Honda CRX as an entry level coupe/roundabout, the Honda Integra as a small sized, Civic based coupe, the Honda Prelude as its mid-sized coupe and then rounded it off with the Honda NSX supercar. Honda also had the Honda Legend coupe for those that wanted luxury over handling. It basically had all the bases covered. I actually miss the Honda Integra and the Honda Prelude. The Integra was based on the Civic but its last iteration, the DC5 Integra Type-R was an incredible track oriented front wheel drive car. It had an engine and a tail so responsive that to me it seemed like they were meant for each other. Some called it slightly twitchy at high speeds, but it was a coupe that actually loved to rev and loved to go round bends. Of course, the Honda Integra has only been out of production for about six years. So I do not miss it too much as there are still a few going around in these parts of the world. However the Honda Prelude was actually Honda's front wheel drive tour de force. This was even though the final, 5th generation Prelude (pictured above) was clothed in one of the most dullest looking bodies that Honda ever made for a coupe. It was like Nissan's rejected design for its Skyline or Sylvia models. But when you drove a Prelude you'd then realise that it was actually a heck of a car. The four wheel steering (mechanical in the 2nd and 3rd generation Preludes and electrical for the 4th and final generation models) actually made the car feel like it was driven by its rear wheels and when pushed hard cornered like no other front wheel drive could have. In the good ol' days of course. Of course these days manufacturers have somehow managed to even tweak a beam axle hatchback to get the car's tail to come into play. But that's besides the point. The point of having a Honda Prelude was to actually try technology on a front wheel drive chassis and see what can be done with it. To me the Prelude was a marvelous car to drive. It wasn't as hard core as the Integra but that was the reason it worked so well on city roads as well as bumpy B-roads. And this is actually why I miss the Prelude from the Honda sporting car line-up. The Prelude, like the Integra was axed from Honda's line-up as it somehow did not confine itself to Honda's marketing strategy at that point of time. Which is why I now feel that I hate marketing people in general. But that should pass. So Honda, if you're reading this, please come up with a replacement for the Prelude. I somewhat miss it (especially the 4th generation pictured below).

[extract] Alright folks. More news on affordable cars for you esteemed readers to digest. Volkswagen has just launched the 140ps Polo BlueGT over at the Geneva Motor Show. The Volkswagen Polo BlueGT is the Polo that sits in between the Volkswagen Polo 1.2TSI (105ps) and the Polo GTI (180ps). It therefore is the middle child in terms of power but one that actually more economical than both its siblings. Volkswagen has basically combined its BlueMotion Technology (Stop/Start & battery regeneration systems) onto the 1.4liter TSI petrol engine found in the Polo GTI albeit with a slightly lower state of tune (140ps instead of 180ps) and the addition of cylinder deactivation system (Active Cylinder Management

[extract] Repsol Honda MotoGP riders Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner have shown their support for the new sporty Honda CR-Z by displaying the logo on their racing leathers. Shuhei Nakamoto- Executive Vice President of Honda Racing Corporation,

[extract] -Mugen Honda CRZ- The Honda CRZ Hybrid sports car has been voted Japan

Yes. Honda has officially launched the CRZ at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show. The specs are as per my earlier posting on the car but one surprising item is the fuel economy of this hybrid vehicle. 31mpg city/38mpg highway are pretty disappointing figures. So if you think you're helping the environment by running one of these babies you're not. A small city car like a Daihatsu Mira or the Perodua Viva would burn less fossil fuel than the admittedly more stylish CRZ. I don't think Honda is trying hard enough. I still have to say that the bad mileage is due to those extra heavy batteries. If you tried lifting the battery of your current petrol powered car you'd see my point. While the current generation of electric hybrid car batteries are smaller, lighter and more efficient than the average battery of a car, you still need dozens of them packed together and that increases the weight in a car. Hence the lame performance figures and even lamer fuel consumption figures you see published. So fun, sporty, low slung coupe the CRZ is, in certain ways, but not in performance and economy. It looks closer in performance to the Honda Insight, not a Honda CRX. Where's that 2.0 liter VTEC engine, Honda? The interior looks pretty Honda to me. The Civic as well as the Hybrid design philosophy is maintained. An interior that would look fresh even after you've owned it for a few years by the looks of it. As for exterior looks, I find it decent looking at most angles but not in its side profile where the CRZ looks unbalanced. This made me look twice at the picture to check whether I was looking at it correctly. Maybe its the angle in the official photos, but I truly think that the front overhang is ridiculously long for the short wheelbase and the rear looks a little chubby and stumpy. But that chin! It's as if this car was made to plow snow during heavy winters in Alaska. David Coulthard must have been an inspiration for the designers. I have to restate that these new pedestrian safety features are making cars look like they have too long a chin. For example, look at the Peugeot 407. If they reined in the chin a little or if the car had a slightly longer rear, it would balance the looks better. At least Peugeot is in the midst of changing their design philosophy. I think the pedestrians should look where they're crossing so that designers can design cars that can look prettier and balanced looking again. Back to the topic at hand, I have to view the car in the flesh before I cast my final judgment on the looks.