Test drove a crz today. Black, manual, standard. I quite liked it. Only been licensed two days!

Firstly, forget about power compared to other cars as an issue. If you want more power you add a turbo. You can have more power then than you know what to do with, if you want it. r you can leave it stock. It's a choice.

Sitting in the car, the driving position is a little compromised. Can't see where the front of the car is at all. I couldn't even see the bonnet. So you'd have to be careful. View in the rear vision mirror was a bit strange - seemed squashed as its a small aperture mirror. The car is quite narrow at the rear. You could see cars behind ok, but reversing would be an art. I'd be adding a moveable camera myself. Side mirrors were also something to get used to. A convex design so distances were further away than real, and the outer third was a different convex shape so you had a wider peripheral vision again. There's this vertical line in the mirror where the curvature changes. The instrument cluster is digital, but more restrained than the civic type R so less in your face. Seat offers nice support. Interior is a lot of black. Didn't really notice it when driving, so that was good. Rear seats are a joke - no leg space. Its a two seater coupe that could do occasional rear seat duty. The sales guy made a point of demonstrating the lack of rear leg space - no hiding at all.

The test car was manual - 6 speed but 6 is highway overdrive. Nice gearbox action. Clutch was good as well. Steering is electric, and this was the first time I'd driven a car with that set-up. Found it quite good, with some weight in the feel. The sport mode settings make it more direct in feel. Liked it better than power assist steering as there was more feel. Note that I normally drive crx's with no power steering.
Suspension was comfortable over car park strips, but also firm enough to provide feedback through the body and seat about what the road was doing. Nice sport setting. Reminded me a bit of the S2000 in the way the body movement felt quite alive on a bumpy road. On smooth sections felt either planted on the road, or heavy - take your pick of descriptions. The crx (g2)definitely feels more skittish, but probably similar to how my G1 feels. Note I don't like the way a standard gen 2 crx feels - almost above the road rather than on it. It's a persaonal preference of mine, and I liked the crz there. Others won't.
Didn't throw it into any corners on Saturday morning commuter roads, so I can't comment on that. Felt capable. The salesman had just come from a test session at a track in Victoria, and had been surprised at how well it had done. Note my crx's have aftermarket springs and struts, so I'm used to a modified suspension.

Power delivery was nice for city use - just let the electric motor provide low down torque. Definitely down on the crx, but still good. As I said, you want power just add it. Didn't try to rev the motor out - red line is about 6800 - and I don't rev out other peoples cars It was enough power to maintain interest.

Batterys are good for 8 tears on warranty and 15 years estimated life. About $2000 to replace at current prices. Thats way less than the petrol saved.

So I was favourably impressed. As a sporty hybrid it does do the job in the honda way. Would I buy one. Certainly possible if I want a new car. Lot of competition for the dollar out there however.