New car news

03 September 2010 - 11:00

Honda CR-Z: hard ’charging

We like the Honda CR-Z. In fact, if this isn't damning with faint praise, which it probably is, we'll happily proclaim it our favourite hybrid on sale today.

Trouble is, for the sportiest car in Honda's line-up - following the recent demise of the S2000 and Civic Type R - the CR-Z isn't very... sporty.

Fear not. The tuners are here to help. November's SEMA show - the massive modified meet held in Las Vegas each year - will be packed with hopped-up, slammed, kustomized and all-round badddd CR-Zs.

This is the first of them, the 'Type F' concept from Californian modifiers Wraptivo.

Despite ourselves, we love it. The Type F gets the all-you-can-eat buffet bar tuning treatment, with stiffer suspension, race wheels, an ECU chip, carbon fibre wrap and - this one's our personal favourite - a supercharger.

A supercharger! On a hybrid! This is brilliant thinking: the CR-Z already has an electric motor to boost low end torque, so clearly what it needed was a supercharger... to boost low end torque.

We can only wonder what surprises the rest of the tuning fraternity has planned for the CR-Z. Surely a supercharger is but the first step? Why not a supercharger and a turbocharger? And some sort of KERS device? And some rockets? SEMA demands nothing less...