It seems that after the BRZ and FRS were released the tuner industry exploded. New parts were being made everywhere and these cars have aftermarket support rivaling traditional Japanese sports cars like the 240sx and the 3000GT VR-4, for example. As a result, it's not a surprise that rumors of a new, affordable sports car are spouting from Honda enthusiasts' mouths.
We all know about the CR-Z. It was Honda's attempt at a revolutionary sports car that would combine hybrid power with a fun-to-drive chassis. With a chassis based off of the insight, and with a small weight of about 2,700 pounds this car was supposed to be a success in the tuner community.
If you follow the chassis or if you're an enthusiast you may be familiar with a few upgrades, like the Jackson Racing Supercharger Kit as shown above, or the full Mugen body kit. But other than that, this car hasn't been hyped up all that much in terms of aftermarket support. So what did Honda do? They tried to make it cooler...and they did.
The Mugen CR-Z was released at a price tag of around $35,000 USD, however and that may be a little steep for a fancy body kit on a hybrid sports car if you ask me. Honda also made the Mugen CR-Z RR which was only suppoed to be produced in limited production (about 300 units). This is cool as well, but I'm uncertain as to whether this went into production or not in Japan.
Well, Honda may be trying to remedy ALL of these problems with the NEXT CR-Z. Do you know what this is? It's the new Civic Type-R...er well...we'll talk about that.
It's a chassis based off of the Civic Type-R which will supposedly be used for the new CR-Z. And this would be pretty cool. With 276 horsepower 2.0 L turbocharged engine, the Civic Type-R is being designed to be a serious competitor with high-performance FWD cars on the Nurburgring, and I'm sure the CR-Z will only come slightly short of that.
According to Motortrend Magazine, the new CR-Z which is currently sitting in R&D is sitting on a shortened Type-R platform and is anticipated to come with a turbocharged, 1.5 L engine with a 7-speed dual clutch transmission to transfer the power to the ground. It is anticipated to still be a hybrid, but this will be no mama car. This will be a serious competitor for the BRZ and FRS and the price tag is supposed to be below $30,000.
Let's see what Honda can come up with! The ball's in your court now, Honda of America!
