2012 Honda CR-V Breaks Cover

The first image of the all-new 2012 Honda CR-V has been released showcasing a daring yet fresh look over its predecessor.

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A Mugen-Tuned Ariel Atom Versus… A Tuned Honda CRZ?

Car shows like putting together eclectic comparisons. Take Top Gear for example, who once compared a Mitsubishi Evo against a main battle tank, and routinely pits sports cars against extreme sport athletes. Still, I’m not sure any comparison I’ve seen to date is as odd as the one in the Auto Express video below, which compares a Mugen-tuned Ariel Atom to a Mugen-tuned Honda CR-Z. In fairness, they’re not running the cars side-by-side on a track, nor are they using both for a rush-hour commute. Still, comparing the Atom to the CR-Z is akin to comparing an ax to a crate of dynamite: both will take down a tree, but in very, very different fashion. Read more…

InsideLine Tests The New Honda Civic Si

I have a confession to make: the outgoing Civic Si was one of my favorite cars, especially in its price point. The performance was reasonable and the handling halfway decent, but the driving experience was always greater than the sum of the parts. The car felt faster and more nimble than it really was, and the six speed gearbox used by Honda was among the smoothest on the market, in any price range. If Honda can put a smooth and precise gearbox in a $23,000 car, why can Porsche do the same in a car that stickers for five times the price? When Honda announced that they were dropping the 2.4-liter engine from the Acura TSX into the 2012 Civic Si, I thought it would make a good car noticeably better. Since I haven’t driven the new Civic Si yet, for now we’ll have to go with the opinions of Edmund’s InsideLine, so watch their video review below. Read more…

Honda Shows Their Mugen Tuned CR-Z

If you like the looks of the Mugen-tuned CR-Z in the picture above, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that the car has legitimate performance gains over the stock CR-Z, yet still delivers reasonable fuel economy. The bad news is that the car is a work in progress, and is still officially described as a “concept vehicle”. The translation of that is that it may or may not see production, and that production may or may not be sold in the United States. Honda isn’t releasing a lot of performance data just yet, since the car won’t be “officially” unveiled until July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Read more…

Honda Confirms Work On NSX Successor. Sort Of.

During a press conference at the Shanghai Auto Show, Honda’s president, Takanobu Ito, confirmed what car enthusiasts the world over have hoped for: Honda will build a successor to the legendary NSX. Depending upon your perspective, that’s where the good news ends. While Ito insists that Honda is “working very hard on it”, he gave no indication of what “it” is, where “it” will be sold, when “it” will be released or even what price segment Honda is targeting for “it”. Worse, another Honda representative said the car would be positioned as a high performance counterpart to the CR-Z, a car which only Honda bills as a “sports hybrid”. The NSX replacement is believed to be a parallel hybrid, but Ito would only say that the car would be both exhilarating to drive and environmentally friendly. Read more…

Mazda, Honda Suspend Dealer Orders

The economic effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami will begin to hit U.S. auto dealerships in April and May. Last week, both Mazda and Honda temporarily suspended U.S. dealership orders for all vehicles built in Japan. For Mazda, this includes the Mazda 2, Mazda 3, Mazda 5, MX-5, RX-8, CX-7 and CX-9; for Honda, the vehicles impacted include the Fit, CR-V, Insight, CR-Z, Civic Hybrid, Acura TSX and Acura RL. Nissan will reduce U.S. vehicle allocation for May by 50%, while neither Toyota nor Mitsubishi have announced any changes to dealer ordering procedures. Neither Mazda nor Honda will speculate on when orders will resume, but it’s reasonable to expect inventory shortages of popular models heading into the summer months. Read more…

Consumer Reports Names New Cars That Are De-Evolving

Ever since Henry Ford began cranking out Model Ts, the auto industry has followed one simple rule: improve or die. Sometimes these improvements come in style, other times they come in performance or handling. With the exception of government mandated pollution control devices of the early 1970s, I can’t think of many cases where a new car was a step backwards from the car it replaced. Consumer Reports would beg to differ, and they’ve recently named six cars that don’t score as well as the vehicles they’ve replaced. I’ve driven four of them, so I’ll tell you whether or not Consumer Reports is on the money. Read more…

Comparison Review: 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE V6 vs. 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring

Recently minivan sales have been on the decline overall which is understandable considering how many new SUV and crossover offerings are available for families. Two Japanese minivans that help keep the American ‘van’ segment alive, (alongside of American minivans), are the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey.

In the parking lots of shopping centers, schools and even amusement parks, you see an abundance of minivans intertwined with the dominating numbers of SUVs and crossovers. The minivan still remains to be a viable alternative for large families that do not want to shell out 50 grand or more for a large gas guzzling SUV. Even if it’s only for the sake of comfortable and reliable transportation and this is where vehicles like the new 2011 Toyota Sienna and 2011 Honda Odyssey fill the gaps.

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