FIRE up Honda’s hi-tech CR-Z and your mood will colour your driving experience – literally.

The most eye-catching element of the stylish, if not dazzling, interior is the instrument panel, with its array of hi-tech 3D glowing gauges and displays.

Electric blue is the calming default colour. Drive exceptionally carefully and you are rewarded with a gentle green glow surrounding the large digital speedometer. Press the Sport button and put your foot down, and the screen turns a fiery red.

The sophisticated display is what you might expect from a firm that is happy to not only tear up the rule book, but to put it through the shredder.

In the 1950s, Honda saw the global sales potential for small motorcycles, when the concept was pooh-poohed by a blinkered British bike industry.

Now the Japanese car maker has set its sights on future power sources to keep the world on the move. Long-term, that means innovative technology like the hydrogen-powered fuel cell, where Honda is at the cutting edge.

The company’s FCX Clarity fuel cell car is a real world, albeit hugely expensive, model, and not a practical proposition for everyone just yet. In the shorter term, the focus is on hybrid power – combining a traditional efficient internal combustion engine with an electric motor.

The worldwide hybrid scene-stealer has been the Toyota Prius, a worthy contender, but lacking the one element that comes as standard with every Honda – sheer style.

Enter the CR-Z, the world’s first sporty hybrid, with an agile chassis, direct steering, a low driving position and useful squirts of torque from the petrol-electric drivetrain.

With its deeply-scalloped panels, and LED running lights, it looks like nothing else on the road and because it’s a stop-start hybrid it comes with low exhaust emissions, cheaper road tax, and is exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

The dramatic exterior, with strongly-flared rear arches and a split-level glass hatch, a concept shared with the second generation CR-X, 1999 Insight and FCX Clarity models, is more than matched by the interior.

The most eye-catching element is the instrument panel, with its all-singing, all-dancing ‘Multi-Information Display’ which displays everything you could possibly want to know – elapsed journey time, current fuel economy, average fuel economy and average speed – and much more about what is going on under the bonnet.

Priced from about £17,000, the CR-Z is designed to stand out in the city. But this is no urban goody-goody.

Based on the US market Jazz engine, the 1.5-litre, 114 horsepower petrol unit is zippy enough in itself. But it gets a 14 horsepower boost from the electric power plant, giving the six-speed manual car 124mph capability.

A three-button system also alters the behaviour of the hybrid drivetrain and the power steering assistance, as well as the throttle mapping between the three modes. The Econ setting delivers highest fuel efficiency. Norm provides a balance between performance, economy and emissions and Sport does what you might expect, sharpening the throttle response, giving more electric motor assistance and increasing the weight of the electric power steering.

The CR-Z has a 2+2 layout, which gives the option of carrying two children in the rear, and the rear seats have been designed to fold with one touch to significantly increase luggage space.

Equipment levels on the CR-Z are generous, with all models fitted with six airbags, active headrests, an electronic stability programme and Hill Start Assist, that holds the car for about a second on steep hills, temporarily preventing the vehicle from rolling backwards.

The top-grade GT test model came with leather upholstery and heated front seats, panoramic glass roof, xenon headlights, Bluetooth telephone connection and automatic headlights and wipers, and optional metallic paint and voice-activated DVD sat-nav system.

Price: £22,179 as tested Insurance group: 17 (1-50) Fuel consumption (Combined): 56.5mpg Top speed: 124mph Length: 408cm/160.6in Width: 201cm/79.1in Luggage capacity: 7.6 cu ft Fuel tank capacity: 8.8 gallons/40 litres CO2 emissions: 117g/km Warranty: 3 years/90,000 miles