The Honda CR-Z is Honda’s brave attempt to blend fun driving dynamics with fuel efficiency. Two years ago, we were fighting over who got to drive the CR-Z review car in the office. Nevermind that it had slightly wobbly handling and a less-than exhilarating acceleration, it still drove a hell better than the world’s best-selling hybrid from the Big-T.

So, Honda’s tuning arm, Mugen, upped the ante with a limited edition CR-Z Mugen RZ. Which, predictably, never landed on Asian soil thanks to the Japan-exclusive production count of 300 units. Plus, given the draconian laws on vehicle modification here, it is near impossible get the official supercharger kit legalized for road-use locally.

Still, that didn’t stop other Japanese tuners from trying to soup up Honda’s attempt, and that created a vvvery long list of parts that you can bolt into your CR-Z, as long as you live with Japan. And you may wonder, with such difficulties of procuring the right parts, would it dampen the car’s modification potential?

It was a challenge for Alan, who lives across the border to procure the parts for the car of his dreams. To him, the CR-Z is a hybrid that had the right two-door sporty look and most importantly, it was offered with the purist-delighting six speed manual gearbox. Naturally, the stock wheels were quickly swapped for several aftermarket options, until Alan finally settled on the lightweight Enkei RPF1s which helped to reduce the unsprung weight and improve suspension performance.

Having a job in Singapore, Alan’s CR-Z quickly racked up the miles and smiles for his daily commute. However, the car’s shortcomings were quickly realized during its maiden track outing. Being a Johor Circuit addict, Alan was certainly not impressed with the original handling limits of the stock CR-Z suspension.

Remember what we said about aftermarket parts for the CR-Z being scarce in this region? That held true until Alan heard wind of the popular API Racing brand which had ready stock for customised coilovers for his CR-Z. With a 30-way damping adjustment for both rebound and compression, it also pleased Alan with a great value for money proposition, especially when compared to the other options which had to be flown in and lack a local distributor support.

With new-found handling prowess, Alan could finally attack the corners of the tight and twisty Johor Circuit with aplomb. Further handling refinements came in the form of stiffening the chassis with front and rear strut bars to reduce the flex caused by the extra load that the stiffer suspension placed on the frame.

With the CR-Z running Macpherson struts in the front and a rear torsion beam, the stiffer setup of the API Racing coilovers was enough to solve most of the body roll in fast corners. Alan experimented further with anti-roll bar tweaking, installing a thicker front anti-roll bar (25mm vs 18mm) and an additional rear bar.

Then, came the tricky part of power. Opting to go with a readily available bolt-on HKS supercharger kit for peak power output, Alan also ordered a full system exhaust to be installed to compliment the addition of the forced induction system – save for the exhaust manifold, which was a J’s Racing part which features 50mm piping to match the HKS centre pipe diameter for the best possible flow.

To support the supercharger, a new oil feed to the supercharger unit was needed, along with a suction pipe and a blow-off valve. All that forced air now had to pass through more a large front-mount intercooler before reaching the engine – which surprisingly has remained very stock – save for new fuel injectors to feel the engine’s increased appetite for fuel to keep the air/fuel ratio in check.

With the supercharger installed, temperatures inevitably started to rise, thus was the main factor behind the racing thermostat that fully opens at a lower temperature to get the coolant flow going faster than the stock thermostat. Other cooling aids include a thicker radiator with more fin density as well as a new front bumper which directed more air into the radiator and intercooler.

Keeping the engine start-stop system from interfering, is a handy digital idle stop. With all the modifications in place, turning took place on the FlashPro which is capable of real time programming for all parameters, plus huge datalogging capabilities

During the tuning process, the stock clutch began to buckle under the increased torque output from the engine and was changed for a beefier, yet daily-friendly single racing clutch. Another issue soon surfaced during the tuning session. In stock form, the CR-Z’s gears were nicely matched to wring out the best of the engine… in N/A mode.

A new final gear ratio of 4.687 was chosen over the stock 4.11 ratio for a faster serving of torque oomph – a small mod which found very good use on the circuit a few days later, allowing the CR-Z to be able to lay down more torque between the short straights between corners of the Johor Circuit.

However, he later found out that the additional stiffness in the rear, coupled with the increased power output, was causing his ride to handle much more nervously in fast corners and was much more suspect to snap oversteer in the case of mid-corner throttle inputs.

Thus, Alan settled for a much more predictable, understeer-bias setting by removing an earlier mod, the rear anti-roll bar. The final piece in the whole jigsaw? To handle the constant slowing down from the increased ferocity of corner exits and entries, are the dependable API Super Six brakes with enlarged two-piece rotors to calm the beast!

With the suspension, brakes and power – this is what the Honda CR-Z should had been from the start. In the hands of Alan, posting a personal best time of 2’03” around the Johor Circuit may sound “meh” to the sub 2-minute track warrior, but this CR-Z still manages to sip fuel at 17km/l.

Now think about that the next time you re-fuel your track-bred daily drive.

Engine
HKS supercharger kit stage 2
HKS kansai dry Carbon fiber air box filter
HKS kansai dry Carbon fiber ratiator shroud
Spoon sports racing thermostat
HKS super silent muffler and HKS exhaust piping
JS racing extractor
Works engineering racing oil cap
Works engineering oil catch tank
Works engineering oil cooler
HKS super racing engine oil with HKS oil filter
Forged racing radiator
Ogura super single racing clutch
MFactory 4.687 final gear
Buddy club short shifter
KAAZ performance gear oil
Hondata FlashPro
Pivot idle stop canceller

Undercarriage
API Racing RS coilovers
API Racing Super 6 brake calipers
Cusco front strut bar
Cusco rear strut bar
Spoon front anti roll bar
Motul RBF660 racing brake fluid
Enkei RPF1 17 inch wheels
Yokohama Advan AD08R

Exterior
Cwest front bumper
Modulo rear diffuser

Interior
JS racing titan
ium gear knob
Bride zeta racing full bucket seat
Defi advanced ZD
Defi advanced BF turbo
meter
Defi link indicator