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.