This is it.

Sitting here. In this bus ride. Right now as I'm heading back to Hanoi. Listening to the mix I've done, so many things running through my head, maybe I've kept it in long enough. I'm letting it all out.

Hey P, don't know if you're reading this. But if you did, I'm really sorry. For months, and nights, I lay awake under the ceiling of my room, wondering what went wrong so fast. What went to hell in just a split second.

I tried reasoning with myself. Tried understanding it from your point of view, it always comes back to the same answer: it's better if I leave. I didn't know what to do. I tried saving us. I pleaded myself to make it work. But deep down inside I knew it wouldn't.

I cannot bring myself to keep explaining myself to you. To keep assuring you my love to you was real. It made me felt like you kept thinking I was just trying to fool you. That was never my intention. I fell for you hard. Meteor killing dinosaurs, hard.

But yet, like the raging inferno, the love went away like ashes. Was it a mistake going into the relationship so fast? Were we rushing into things? I didn't think so, I thought it was going just fine.

I wanted to do so many things with you. So many things for you. I was even able to see a path for the both of us with you. My love for you wasn't a rebound. I didn't even fell for someone else. It was who you want me to be which I couldn't do.

I should have been honest with you. Asking me to change something I'm so used to doing with the justification of cause "I don't like it', killed it. There was no reasoning, no exchange. I changed so much for a person I couldn't even recognize myself. I wasn't prepared to do it again.

My heart kicked into overdrive, when it felt like being hurt again, it pulled me out. I ran. I didn't look back. I really do love you. I'll always do. But when it comes down to it, I've learn to save myself. Always.

Paint You Wings

The pride and joy of all that I love about my CRZ. The HPD inspired wing. It is by far, the most beautiful thing I've ever done to it.

I love GT wings on cars. I dont know why. I think its preposterous, absurd, ridiculous, outrageous! But if designed and fitted properly, its the most beautiful thing ever to grace the car.

It totally transform how the car looks. Good or bad it is all subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder right? I was determined to make this wing. I told myself, that no matter what, this wing is a must. I dont care if the person has to custom it or source it from somewhere.

As long as it fits my budget. By heaven or hell, I will have it done! As far as i can remember, i started asking around bodykit vendors, car accessory shop and even FRP custom builders if they have a mold of the wing. No luck. Custom was too expensive, and pre-made ones are too small.

I even found out the wing that was used by Honda HPD in US, its from APR and a carbon fiber wing which costs more than $USD2000. So yeah. No.

My members tried to persuade me to go for the J's Racing GT wing for the CRZ. Meh. That's too small bro! I WANTED THIS!

Look at that beauty. The CRZ's width is 1740mm not including the side mirrors. To get this exact size means i can only custom make it. No way, those pre-made or aftermarket ones has this exact size or i was fed up looking.

Finally i found it. Someone who's willing to do it for me. Coming from a shop who specializes in making custom FRP kits for cars, the man told me he's willing to do it for me for just RM800 including paint. The holders will be using aluminium stands to support the wing. RM800? WTF AM I WAITING FOR? I immediately said ok.

This guy was very detailed and thorough with the work. Everything was measured to the millimeter.

Both the stand and support leg was using standard aluminium stands. Strong and solid. I'm gonna regret saying this.

Then the wing itself was using a generic GT wing and being extended at 3 different place to the exact width i wanted. It was fucking fabulous!

Even had to see if it has the proper height. Not over the roofline as exactly in the picure above.

He even got the size of the side blades down to perfection. Finishing touch to honor the wing? HPD's very own logo. Took him 5 days in total from measuring to installing. He was the master. He wasn't the man I wanted. He was the hero I needed.

B-O-O-M!

Bubble Butt

While doing my build, I didn't have a specific order or process of completing my build. I was just going around looking at things which I can get my hands on. Well in other words. Afford.

I was almost there, there's no way of getting the HPD diffuser except from HPD themselves from the US. With the shipment cost and fragility, its a risk I didn't wanna take.

So i went with AMS Terra, the Noblesse was so underwhelming, its borderline sad. No way I was going to pair the HPD wing, with the Noblesse diffuser, have you seen that wing? Its a statement, and the AMS Terra diffuser goes well with it just so perfectly.

I saw the AMS Terra diffuser awhile back, during the ZF1 days when a few members were using it back then. I. Fell. In. Love. Immediately. I knew, this was the diffuser I need for mine. It was something special. It was different. I never knew I love center exit exhausts.
Its an acquired taste, some likes it, some thinks its too much, well, as i said. I love it.

At the time, they were selling the AMS Terra kit as a set, comes with a front grill, front lip, side skirts, a small spoiler and the diffuser. No one was selling it separately. Until one day, a body kit supplier decided to start making replicas, well, i jumped on it. Cost me RM500, got a bloody overweight fiber piece of plastic. With installation and spray costing another RM300.

It was done. It was on. It was, perfect.
Before:

After:

My joy was beyond the sky, over the rainbow, unmeasurable. It was fucking amazing. Even got a pair of LED reflectors to go with it. Only thing missing was the three gaping holes in the middle. It was literally, empty. I was young, I was dumb. So naturally, I decided to create a dummy exhaust to fill that hole. After spending about RM300 there, yeah, two dummy tips and labor, its "complete".

I decided to go with matte black paint instead of gloss. Kinda fits well. Make it more "racecar" look. Gloss finish will be, would you put it.. tacky?

I've been using the AMS Terra diffuser a good 4 years now, it has gone thru so much with the car. So many tragedies, so many repaints, so many funny occurrences. I'll update more on that later.

That's all for now, its a step by step process. Lets hope i can keep this progress till the end.

Trial and Error

The next step. Was lowering the car. I couldn't stand the wheel gap. Look at it. The back is lifted up so high, you can see its undercarriage from normal eye level. There was a four. FOUR finger gap at the back wheel. Even my ex doesn't have a four finger gap. Geddit?

The stock suspension is comfortable, but i think it was too soft, the body roll on those stock springs are fucking ridiculous! Its like riding on a boat, wait no, like riding a fucking dinghy. Rolls left and right at every turn.

So i got these springs, it was recommended by a fellow member. These Eibach sport springs are quite famous and quite a number of other members were using it as well, I picked it up for rm800,

After installing the springs, the wheel gap dropped significantly, the front was a 1 1/2 finger gap, while the back is a two finger gap. She had a two finger rule btw.

It was low, but not low enough,but at the time it was good enough. Adjustable suspension was out of my budget. But the springs will do. So after changing the springs, the changes are very noticeable.

Ride was harder, every bump and dip on the road can be felt up the ass! More ever that was the only negative. On the positive side, the body roll has lessen, and because the car is much lower to the ground, less air is going under the car thus making the car accelerate better and also improves fuel consumption.

So at the time, the springs was enough. Till i get the budget i have, i'll switch to full adjustable suspensions.

Stage 1

My build begins. So 1st stage of my HPD build was changing the rims and tires. The CRZ comes stock from the factory with Enkei rims, wrapped with Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires. 16 inches. Its a stupid size considering most markets got the 17 inch tires and rims. Took me awhile to decide to change the rims and tires. Couldn't get the appropriate design I wanted.

I will say it now. Its doesn't look that good with this rim. Lol. Another thing i hated. THAT WHEEL GAP. I ABSOLUTELY HATEEEEED IT. So after 3 months of using the car, I went to klang one day, and I found the shop which gives the highest trade in value, and changed my rims and tires.

Most of the shops offered me RM1k for my rims and tires, but this shop, Js Tires, offered me for RM1.5k, it was a no brainer, the moment i parked at the shop and walk in, the staff which I assume was the manager turned and asked me, "are you part of the club?" then straight away offered my RM1.5k for my rims and tires. I took it.

Looked around the shop and and set my eyes on the rims called Advan Racing RGII rims. It was 17 inches which i think its a better size all around, the boss suggested me to use either Continental or Falken tires, well for a bit more, I chose the Continental Max Contact MC5 215/45/17 tires. Here are the comparison photos.

Due to the inward curve of the rims, it made it look smaller as if it was 16 inches. But somehow i fell love with this design. I still hate that wheel gap though. The rims are lighter that the stock ones, it only weights 6.9kg each. Not sure how heavy was the stock rims and there wasn't much change in power delivery and fuel consumption.

Had to fork out an extra of RM1.5k for the tires as the trade in only covered the cost for the rims, oh well. It was well so far, at that time, worth it.

Build

I went on the internet and I found this. Its pornography basically..

Introducing the ONE and ONLY, Honda CRZ Hybrid R from Honda USA's motorsports division. HPD - Honda Performance Development.

LOOK AT THAT SPOILER!!, I feel in love in this car the moment i saw it. Well not the car itself, but this special designed edition of the car. The front bumper, the rear diffuser, the rims, and THAT SPOILER!

This HPD CRZ is the real deal, its turbocharged with almost full custom parts. Pushing almost 200 horsepowers. Even though this car is built on the base of the ZF1, i think it has better potential if it was built on the ZF2 platform. Safe to say, this car would be a real hot hatch if it can achieve 300 horsepower.

After seeing this particular car, it became my inspiration. I wanna build my car just like this. This is too amazing to be left as a one-off. Thus sealing my decision to buy a red CRZ instead of white. I'll keep you guys posted on the build. It starts, NOW.

Cockpit

The place of control. The place of comfort. The place of dominance.

This is where the relationship between man and machine develops. Envelops. Foundations of trust and reliability begins here.
The cockpit of the CRZ is a special and truly unique place. Every button and function is properly thought out and planned meticulously with one mission in mind - the driver. Less than an arm-lengths away, most of the buttons can be reached for a quick control and response.

The dashboard of the CRZ is a unique setup in all of Honda's lineup of cars. Even though the rev counter is analogue, the speedometer is right in the middle of the rev counter and its digital. More details of the dashboard to follow. Surrounding the digital speedometer is a ring of light. It has three colours, each corresponds to the mode of driving the driver prefers.
On each side of the dashboard, there are these flaps, the one on the left houses the climate control such as temperature, fan speed and the heated windows. On the right which is more important, has the controls for the driving modes, traction control and the powered wing mirrors controls.

Starting up the CRZ, is like lighting up a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. No car has, well at this price range or performance range, has a start-up like this. AMAZING! I'll post a video soon on the car start-up. So most of the components in the dashboard is fully digital, except the rev counter. The green ring of light is when the car is in ECON mode.

In this driving mode, the car becomes extremely. DUMB. Engine responsive becomes retarded. LOL. Well this mode is only actually usable while cruising on the highway. Using this on city driving will definitely piss you off. You can push the pedal halfway and nothing. From what I have experienced, here the engine works at 30% performance while the electric motor works at 80% power.

Put it in normal mode, and the right of light turns blue. Engine is well, at normal, nothing special coming out here. Moving on...

Press SPORT, and the cat becomes a lion! The car now really comes alive. As if Mr Hyde has comes out to play. Throttle response is sharpened, flex your big toe and there it goes!! Everything is louder, exhaust sounds amazing. The steering becomes a little heavier to give a better weighted feel.

Then there is the steering. Radio controls is integrated on the left side of the steering and the right side houses the cruise control system. At the bottom right there is the special button. The S+ button.

Well that's about it. For the interior on the driver's side. I'll get into the other parts later.

Impressions

Driving this car is a whole new experience. The car itself is low and the seating position is low slung giving the driver a psuedo-supercar like seating arrangement.

When I first got the car, driving it around town is like driving a piece of meat down the street of Sudan. Thanks to the design and look of the car, its is a head turner. Everywhere you go, people will stop and look. They will turn back to see the car.
It makes you feel special. Driving this car, will make u look like this;

Driving impressions, well prior to getting this car, I was driving a Perodua Kelisa, it has a 1.0 litre engine mated to a 5 speed manual. It was light and nippy. I abused that car. Out running every Myvi in sight. LOL. The change to this car was quite difference, even thought the CRZ has just a 1.5 litre engine, the change from a 63hp to 136hp car with wider and lower in size is quite hard to get used to.

Even now i'm still trying to get used to the size of the car. I still scrape the underside of the car and the front bumper. But no matter, driving this car is absolute fun. Even though its a mere 136hp, with the electric motor providing acceleration, it is a blast! Throw it in corners and it feels so good. It turns so well as the chassis is rigid and stable.

Few problems I have with this car. First, is the blind spots. If you parked into a spot head first, reversing out would be a bitch. Because the rear side windows are so small, you cant see shit until its too late. So all you have to do is reverse out slowly and pray for the best. LOL. Then there is the stock suspensions. Its like riding on a sponge cake. Even though its nippy through the corners, the body roll is outrageous. Took a hard turn at high speed, it felt like I was gonna get thrown out of the car. -.-

Then there is this problem. Engine sluggishness. It really pisses me off. On a hot weather, accelerating this car, is like getting kids to pull your car forwards. Put your foot down at the first gear from stand still, you can feel the car's engine struggling to accelerate. This only happens when the weather is hot. I mean 35 degrees Celsius and above. Other than that, i love this car. I LOVE IT TO BITS. Besides the shitty rear visibility and the back seat and the annoying rattling sound from somewhere. it is one amazing car.

I found the problem to the sluggishness during the hot weather. Engine oil. Fucking engine oil. Using Honda's 0w-20 was shit! Switched over to Torco SR-1R 10w-40 solved this issue. Rae runs like a champ now. When the engine reaches optimum temperature, the power delivery is like a punch from the Rock to a wall!

All being said and done, I love this car, I look forward to drive her everyday. One day not sitting inside holding the steering wheel, my day feels incomplete. She's my gateway. When I'm sad, I drive. When I'm happy, I drive. She's my cure, she's my medicine. My CRZ.

Still doesn't stop turning heads.

Homecoming

Car is here!

Well the showroom car was. I was called up by the salesperson that the 2013 model showroom car is now available for preview. So off I went to look at it. There sitting on a elevated stage so majestic was the 2013 Honda CRZ ZF2. In the new colour. Purple. I was attracted to the car and the thought of taking that colour even went through my mind.

I was hyped. 

Excited.

After viewing the car, I put down my booking fee of RM1000 and filled out the car booking form. Also made my mind up. Milano Red. Something about this colour just makes the car goes, WHOOP!

Leading up to the arrival of my car, it was nothing but patience and frustration. When I put down the order booking for the car, Honda Malaysia said that the cars will be delivered by end of January 2013. As time goes by, I received a call that the car is further delayed till mid February due to some issues. Issues that was not disclosed.

At the end of February, I was told that it will be delayed again. No news on when. At that time it was more as troublesome than frustration. I sold my car, and was using the Honda Insight instead. With one car short at home, that means someone will not be able to drive.
Enough is enough.

I called Honda Malaysia directly. They verified my booking and told me the truth. When Honda Malaysia imported the new models, there was an error with the AP(Approved Permit). The error being the performance figures of the car. The AP that was used to import the new models were based on the previous model. This led to a mismatch of the cars' performance figures and what was applied on the AP. Simply put, the AP for the car stated 125hp but the car itself has 136hp.

That is why the cars which was brought in late December, early January was held at port. Customs will not release the cars to Honda Malaysia until this problem has been sorted out. Yeap. How stupid right? How can a mistake like that can be made? Don't they do a research? Oh well, the Honda Malaysia rep told me the issue will be resolved by at least early April and I'll get my car by end of April. Dear lord. Another 2 months to wait.

March 18th. LIGHT! I woke up to this picture.

With a comment. "Your car at Puspakom inspection" WHOOOHOOO!!!! I've never been so excited in my life. Literally the best news ever. Within an hour of the photo sent to me, the inspection is done and all is well. The car will be sent to Llumar to be tinted. After 4 days, my car was ready. Its done. Ready for pickup. But, there was one more delay left. My road tax. LOL. Because I wanted the Perlis plates, my documents had to be couriered to Perlis to be registered. 

This takes at least one week.

BOOM!

On March 28th 2013. ON A THURSDAY! 11am! My car was ready for pickup! I couldn't sleep the entire night. I was up. I was so happy and excited I couldn't contain myself. OMG ITS HERE!!!!!!!! So my parents took me to get the car. As I walked into the showroom. THERE IT IS! Sitting there. Waiting and smiling at me.

Hello, Chelle Rae Zyon.

Genesis

March 28th 2013.

One day that will be forever etched in my head.

The date i brought Rae Zyon back.

The word excited couldn't even begin to describe my feelings on that day. You see, it all began back in 2010 when I saw the concept car of the Honda CRZ. I've never fallen in love so fast and so hard. Headsmacked!

2009 Honda CRZ Concept

I was always in to cars. Well not as much as I was into fighter jets, but yeah cars was the closest to any machine I can get my hands on. Did I also mentioned I like Hondas? Yes I did. The time that I fell in love with cars is when I played Gran Turismo 2 on my PlayStation and the car I used was the Honda NSX. That moment on, my love for cars began.

Final Production Model ZF1

After seeing the concept, I didn't pay attention much on the car until the final production model was released. Then I knew, it was something I wanted. Something I needed. This gave me the motivation. I was still studying in Monash at that time, flunking around and dragging through my subjects. From then, I knew to get that car I needed to graduate, to get that degree to get a proper paying job. And I did. Passed all my subjects and graduated in September 2012, within a month, I found a job at CBSA in Sunway.

In Malaysia, the Honda CRZ was launched at the end of 2011, so it was kind of a rare car. Even though the price was very attractive at RM115,000.00, Honda Malaysia only offered the six speed manual transmission and it only comes in white. Thus seeing this car on the road is equivalent to seeing a supercar. Its an eye catcher, it turns heads, it got people talking. Seeing it on the road gave me even more motivation to get it. It was like a slow poison, killing me softly.

About four months upon release, Honda Malaysia soon introduced 3 new colours which is Red, Black and Silver. The CVT transmission is also introduced as an alternative to the 6MT. This boost sales up by the hundreds. Orders started flowing in as Malaysians typically don't drive a manual transmission anymore. For me, red was the one, the 6MT is also the only way to drive this car.

2013 Honda CRZ ZF2

In October 2012, the updated model of the CRZ was announced in Japan, higher horsepower, restyled bodykits, lithium-ion batteries and still look oh so sexy! I called every Honda dealership in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Asking when will the new model be here, and no definitive answer was given. By December, a shed of light, Honda Malaysia updated that the new model ZF2, will be in Malaysia by January or February, I got a call one day while working, a Honda Sales person from the Roda BB dealership called Agnes called me and informing me about this, and that they are taking in bookings for the car. The weekend itself, i went to book the car. Booking fee was RM1000.

The waiting began.

Compact Renaissance Zero

Why hello there. To the world out there, this is my 2013 Honda CRZ. Five years I have owned this car. My first car nonetheless. Properly and only owned by me. Paying it all by myself with no help from who or whatsoever.

My daily driven. My love. My heart and soul. It is more than a car to me. Its love and passion that not only takes me from point A to point B, it is a cure to sorrows and joy to my soul. Let me get some technical terms about it.

The Honda CRZ is a hybrid which combines a 1.5 i-VTEC LEA engine and Honda's IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) electric motor which puts out a combine output of 136hp and 190nm of torque mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox. 120ps from the engine and 20ps from the electric motor. Also at the back of the car is a pack of lithium-ion batteries to store electric for the electric motor. It has three driving modes; ECON, Normal and Sports.

The model I'm having is the updated model from the first production model. Codenamed the ZF2, what changed from the exterior is the restyled front bumper which features a bigger foglight housing and a honeycomb grilled and a built in splitter. At the rear, the diffuser has also been restyled with now adding a solid paint strip at the bottom of the diffuser. On the inside, the seats and door panels now has red fabrics. The engine and electric motor has been updated as well, uprated to a combined 136hp and 190nm over the previous ZF1 which has 125hp and 174nm. A positive change of the ZF2 over the ZF1 is that the previous battery pack which is nickel batteries is now replaced with lithium-ion batteries which produces more power and stores more electricity. Even regenerates electricity faster than the nickel batteries.

A defining feature of the ZF2 is the introduction of the S+ button located on the steering wheel. Glowing blue on the wheel, the S+ button can only be activated when certain conditions are met. I will deliberate more on this later. Basically this is like the KERS system on an F1 car or the nitrous button on, well NOS equipped car. Once pushed, the electric motor will give a 100% boost of electricity into the petrol engine for 10 seconds. Honda claims it will give the driver the acceleration of a 3.0 V6! Nonetheless, once used this will drain 50% of the battery power. I haven't been using this feature very much, for the two years I've owned this car, I can be very certain to say that I have used this feature for less than 10 times. Didn't see the need of me using it.

The Malaysian CRZ comes with six airbags as standard. Two in the front, two on each door and two side curtain, one on each side. ABS and VSA (traction control), hill-start assist, and auto-stop-start comes as standard. It also has automated headlamps, automated air-conditioning and windscreen wipers. The car comes with 16 inch twin spoke alloys from Enkei wrapped with 195/55 Bridgestone Potenza RE050A ultra high performance tires.
The car is marketed as a 2+2 seater hatchback coupe. While in other countries there are no backseat, the Malaysian model has the backseat. Probably for people without legs and head because there is absolutely no legroom and headroom thanks to the lowslung design of the roof.

The CRZ was launched in Malaysia back in 2012 and its available to buy at RM115,000.00 for 6MT and RM119,000.00 for the CVT. The facelifted ZF2 model was launched a year later and the price was updated to RM119,000.00 for the 6MT and RM123,000.00 for CVT. All prices are inclusive of insurance.