Yes, the two hybrid hatchbacks made in Japan, the Honda CR-Z and the Lexus CT 200h. If you were not into Priuses and Insights, consider these two hybrid hatches are an alternative to boring hybrid cars. For a junkie; these can be boring. For a hybrid lover, both the CR-Z and CT 200h are sporty hybrids that possesses fun at the green level. For me, I wonder which of these hybrid hatchbacks is my good pick?
The Honda CR-Z is the world's first hybrid sports car that resembles like the 80's CR-X, henceforth that Honda fans called it the next CR-X, despite the naming is CR-Z, which means Compact Renaissance Zero. This car is made for green-living, fun-loving, people because of its 1.5L engine with Honda's Integrated Motor Assist.
So far, tuners from Japan modified the Honda CR-Z to make it more fun to drive rather than being a normal, boring one. In some countries, there was some tuner miraculously engine swapped the CR-Z's hybrid engine into the engine used from Honda Type R cars.
The fun fact about the CR-Z is the 6-speed Manual Transmission. This transmission is the common amenity of Japanese sports cars and this hybrid has this kind of transmission, making it worthy to be called a fun-to-drive hybrid hatch.
The most disappointing fact about the CR-Z is its performance. Of course, some people think that the CR-Z is boring, others said it was much OK than the Prius. The hybrid engine doesn't satisfy my craving but for fuel efficiency, this is somewhat good, or is it? Boring but it was okay because most tuners are always welcome to tune the CR-Z further.
About Lexus' first hatchback, the CT 200h, this is somewhat their first entry to the premium hatchback segment. The CT naming in the CT 200h stands for Creative Touring. If I came close to its numbers; all I cay say is the CT 200h has more fuel economy than the CR-Z because the CT 200h has a fuel economy of 34.0km/L while the CR-Z gets 25.0km/L (CVT variants). However, the maximum output of the CR-Z is higher than the CT 200h because the CR-Z is 114 PS while the CT 200h is 99 PS. That was for the maximum output, but in terms of system output, the CT 200h has greater numbers than the CR-Z because 124 PS of system output of the CR-Z is not enough against the CT 200h's system output of 136 PS.
The CT 200h wins in terms of system output and fuel economy. In pricing, the CR-Z wins because the CT 200h costs about 3,380,952 Japanese Yen (about 2,650,000 Pesos) while the CR-Z costs about 2,160,000 Japanese Yen (about 1,960,000 Pesos). Consider the CR-Z cheaper than the CT 200h.
In the inside, I think the CT 200h has a better interior than the CR-Z. I believe the interior of the CT 200h is somewhat high-tech while the CR-Z is just ordinary and borrowed from the second-generation Insight.
There you have it folks. For me, I think the CR-Z is my pick because, this was last year's Japan Car of the Year. No wait, not only that, it still looks more fun to drive for a green-living driver. The CT 200h is somewhat an executives' choice with a price tag higher than the CR-Z. I just hope both of these hybrid hatchbacks will come to the Philippines soon.
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