<p>The impact resistance and energy absorption characteristics of the existing traditional honeycomb composite structures have not been fully explored, and in order to improve its mechanical performance under low-velocity impact loading, reasonable improvement is needed. In this study, an improved honeycomb composite structure is proposed by introducing a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) elastomer interlayer between the CFRP skin of the traditional composite structure and replacing the traditional hexagonal aluminum honeycomb core with a bio-inspired pomelo peel-like aluminum honeycomb core (Hg). First, drop-weight impact tests were conducted at 10&#xa0;J impact energy to compare the impact resistance and energy absorption characteristics between traditional and improved honeycomb composite structures. Second, finite element models of the improved structure with five varying thickness configurations were established to analyze the influence of CFRP and SBR thickness on the impact resistance. Additionally, numerical simulations were performed by replacing the original hexagonal honeycomb core with Hg cores of varying aperture-to-wall thickness ratios (<i>β</i>) to analyze the influence of <i>β</i> on the energy absorption characteristics. The results demonstrated that the honeycomb composite structure exhibited significantly enhanced mechanical performance after the improvements and core replacement. Specifically, the impact resistance showed a strong dependence on the thickness of both the SBR interlayer and CFRP skin, while the energy absorption characteristics were closely related to the <i>β</i> of the Hg core.</p>