2010 Honda Insight EX - Click above for high-res image gallery
First impressions can be problematic, even more so when reviewing a vehicle. When the media gets its first shot at a new offering, the automaker typically invites journalists to a location of its choosing to drive under conditions that show the car in its best light. Such was the case with the 2010 Honda Insight. After our First Drive, we came away with the impression that Honda's hot new hybrid was an engaging alternative to the Toyota Prius, but we quickly came to realize the Insight's limitations and flaws after a week behind the wheel on our home turf.
Diesel's near-term prospects in America took a huge hit with the revelation that nine diesel-powered 2010 models are on hold. Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have put the kibosh on rolling out more oil burners due to cost and perception issues.
Toyota's obviously on a hybrid run and doesn't want to expel the effort or expense of investing in diesel for the American market -- and having to overcome America's dirty diesel perceptions. The others, as mass market manufacturers, simply need more justification for the cost and complexity of oilburners in order to make the case for consumers to spend more.
Additionally, diesel's benefits are weighted differently according to EPA or CAFE standards. The EPA mileage numbers present diesels well, but CAFE's differing fuel mileage equation makes gas-hybrids look better than diesels, and CAFE is something all automakers are looking at. However, you'll notice that German brands aren't mentioned -- their price premium and European diesel volumes make a worthwhile case for diesels, so those diesel Jetta Sportwagons won't be going away any time soon.
The long-fought battle surrounding Michelin PAX runflat tires on certain 2005-2007 Honda Odyssey and 2006-2007 Acura RL models has finally come to a close. A Maryland judge has awarded $83,000 to those taking part in the class-action lawsuit, netting each plaintiff $5,000, $2,500, or $2,000 for tire replacements.
The suit claimed Honda and Michelin weren't upfront about the cost or durability of the tires, and that they last half as long as standard radials. As part of the settlement, Michelin is offering a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty on the tires to the 94,000 owners of the affected models. Also offered is a $300 rebate on a new Odyssey or Acura RL, or $110 for the purchase of a Honda-approved PAX spare tire kits. Hat tip to FaLex.
2009 Honda Insight - Click above for high-res image gallery
Calling it "the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time," America's most influential product testing magazine has given extremely poor marks to the Japanese automaker's new Insight hybrid.
In a verdict that reminds us of a certain Jeremy Clarkson review (albeit more kindly worded), Consumer Reports blasted the gas-electric hatchback for its "ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, rear-seat, access, and visibility," consigning the hapless Honda to a 21 out of 22 ranking among other small hatchbacks and wagons. Tallying a road test score of 54 points, it was trailed only by the widely panned Dodge Caliber, which managed just 49 points.
Despite the fact that it won't receive a much-coveted CR "Recommended" nod, the Insight still managed to post a "Good" overall road test score (largely on the strength of its 38 miles-per-gallon as-tested fuel economy). Regardless, it was comprehensively beaten by both the Volkswagen Jetta Wagon and the Hyundai Elantra Touring, which scored 80 and 79 points, respectively.
The Insight was the only vehicle in CR's test group to not to be Recommended, save Kia's Soul, which was excluded because the organization hasn't compiled any reliability data on the vehicle yet. Check out the press release after the jump and our new review of the car by clicking here.
You wanted something sporty, but due to additions to the family, a minivan is as athletic as its going to get. But if that minivan is the 2010 Honda Stream, you can still satisfy your sporty urges thanks to Mugen. The practically in-house tuner has developed a full line of interior, exterior, aero, performance, handling and cosmetic parts for the people mover -- from typical Mugen mods like spoilers and wheels to a performance air filter and TypeT touring brake pads. If you add the sport suspension to your minivan, well, maybe you really do need to get a different car.
Late last year at the Intermot show in Germany, Honda pulled the covers off a radical concept motorcycle it promised would soon enter production powered by a powerful new V4 engine. The new bike's introduction is obviously close at hand as a new series of spy photos clearly shows the bike testing on the street.
Shortly before the bike was spied out and about in the real world, Motorcycle News in the U.K. managed to acquire a series of leaked images of the new bike in what appears to be production-ready form. From these shots, we can tell that the new Honda will feature relaxed sportbike geometry with an upright seating position, a single-sided shaft-drive swingarm and a Cylon-like single front headlamp flanked by twin ram air ducts.
Current speculation is that this new bike will be known as the VFR1200 and be equipped a new V4 engine that will put out close to 200 horsepower. That powerplant will supposedly feature Variable Cylinder Management, which will be capable of running on two of the four cylinders in order to save fuel when maximum power isn't necessary. It seems likely that Honda will officially debut the bike later this year with sales planned for early 2010.
Click above for a gallery of the graphtastic images from J.D. Power and Associates
J.D. Power and Associates has released its 2009 Initial Quality Study (IQS) and Lexus has taken the top spot away from Porsche, the initial quality leader for the past three years. The annual J.D. Power study measures IQS based on problems reported per 100 vehicles (PP100) -- a lower score means a lower rate of problem incidences and higher quality.
This year, the industry average is 108 PP100, demonstrating a steady improvement from 118 PP100 in 2008, and 125 PP100 in 2007.
In addition to the marked improvement by the industry overall, many brands continued to perform well in 2009. Following Lexus and Porsche is Cadillac (which moves from 10th rank position in 2008 to third in 2009), Hyundai (jumping from 13th rank position in 2008 to 4th in 2009) and Honda (up from 7th in 2008 to 5th in 2009). Infiniti, second in last year's study, drops to 11th overall, while Suzuki posts the largest improvement in ranking, moving from 32nd place in 2008 to 9th in 2009. The complete J.D. Power press release and charts can be found after the jump and in the gallery below.
Honda's Euro-market Civic Type R hatchback has been called out for being a successor that hasn't exactly succeeded. Seems a bit of the thrill is gone from the new car compared to the old one. Enter tuning firm Mugen, whose modifications to the Type R hatch should make it even better than it once was.
Not much is known about the changes in store. However, based on changes made for Mugen's Japan-spec Civic Type RR 4-door sedan, these pictures, and the fact that this car might take on the Renault R26.R, you can expect much: upgraded suspension and 18-inch wheels, giant front splitter and rear wing, huge exhaust, and a powerplant putting out 237 bhp and 160 lb-ft.
If the pictures don't lie, however, it looks like the bigger Brembo brakes might not appear, and the back seats will remain in place. You can check out the details for yourself in the high-res gallery below. Thanks to Ryan for the video
2010 Honda Insight - Click above for high-res image gallery
We had to wait years for someone to give us a hybrid-only alternative to the Toyota Prius, and Honda finally gave us some choice with born-again Honda Insight. Initial interest in the under $20,000 40+ mpg vehicle has been high, but it's not necessarily translating into as many sales as the automaker would like. Honda was initially hoping for 90,000 sales in North America in its first year, but it looks like the Japanese automaker may not hit its sales goal. American Honda Vice President John Mendel has reportedly told Bloomberg that the Insight isn't going to hit 90,000 units, but that the company "will be just fine" with 50,000 to 60,000 sales. Honda expects global sales of the Insight to hit 200,000 units, and it was hoping for about half of that volume to come from North America.
The revised sales forecast comes as Honda is keeping more Insight units in Japan due to brisk demand and unfavorable exchange rates in the States. Lower gas prices are also likely to be hurting sales of Honda's new hybrid, though the price of petrol has been steadily heading north over the past few weeks. The economic recession is also likely hurting Insight sales, as U.S. sales for almost everything with four wheels has been very poor so far in 2009.
It's official: Honda America is 50 years old. The company actually began its golden jubilee celebration earlier this year with a special float in the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. That was followed by a little ceremony at the company's headquarters in Torrance, California this month - almost a painfully modest way to commemorate going from nothing to market heavyweight in at least five different areas (cars, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, power equipment, and racing). And all of it was done on the back of a 50 cc step-through motorcycle. Perhaps Honda wants its milestones to sing their own tunes, so you can check them out in the gallery of high-res photos below, or read about them and check out a video that spans the ages after the jump.
Driving a small car in the urban environs they're so well suited for can add up in big repair bills, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Low speed incidents in parking lots and on tight city streets are everyday occurrences that seemingly shouldn't cost a lot to set right, but they apparently wind up costing consumers many thousands of dollars each year. The smallest cars on the market also have tiny price tags, making the price of repairs a much larger percentage of what the vehicle cost in the first place. The IIHS recently evaluated the bumpers of some of the tiniest vehicles on the market in low-speed incidents, and the results dovetail with the agency's equally low impressions of vehicle-to-vehicle impact performance of small-segment vehicles. A new damage assessment criteria was used to more closely mirror reality, and the cars underwent four tests: two corner impacts and two full width impacts on the bumpers.
Of the seven cars tested, only the Smart ForTwo earned an "acceptable" rating, with most of the pack scoring "poor." Worst was the Kia Rio's startling $9,380 total damage tally, by far the most expensive showing in the test. The Honda Fit and Mini Cooper may be more highly regarded in the small car segment, but both of those models also score poorly.
In diametric opposition to what anyone might actually enjoy driving, the Smart ForTwo and the Chevrolet Aveo came out best in terms of repair costs, bashing their way to $3,281 and $4,490 in total damage, respectively. It's clear from the IIHS' testing where bumpers often failed to engage or slid under the test barrier, that the way improve on the tests is to pay closer attention to bumper position in all circumstances when designing a car. If the bumper doesn't match up properly, bodywork ends up bearing the brunt of the impact, making even low-speed collisions expensive propositions. Hit the jump to see a video and a chart of the results along with the full release.
Honda North America 50th Birthday car show - Click above for full gallery
It's hard to believe, but it's been 50 years since Americans first saw a Honda on these shores. Way back in 1959, Honda opened its first storefront office in Los Angeles with just six employees, and started selling the Honda 50 motorbike. Skip forward to 2009 and American Honda now employs more than 25,000 workers directly, and some 100,000 indirectly at authorized Honda automobile, motorcycle and power-equipment dealerships throughout the United States. That doesn't even take into account the tens of thousands employed by nearly 600 U.S. Honda parts suppliers.
To help celebrate their golden anniversary stateside, the company had a small car and bike show at their U.S. HQ in Torrance, California. We dropped in for a bit and took a bunch of photos. Although there were far more bikes than cars, it was a still a fun outing. On the car side there were a smattering of S2000s, a couple of first-gen Insights, an NSX, a couple of early CRXes, a bunch of Civics, and even a few show cars. Our favorites had to be the Side-by-Side formula car and the 600 coupe right next to it.
Honda's space-egg Civic Type-R hasn't exactly managed to build the same sort of enthusiast following as its predecessor, but that hasn't stopped U.S. motorheads from fawning over its edgy three-door shape, or from carping about how we don't get one in the States. While that isn't set to change, there may soon be a new model that's really worth crying over, as EVO is reporting that renowned tuner Mugen is fixing to build an even hotter Type-R variant.
According to the UK publication, the Mugen-spec Type-R will build on the success of the Mugen RR sedan (shown), taking some of its key bits (upgraded suspension, perhaps the bigger Brembo brakes, 18-inch wheels). It will likely also inherit that car's lightweight Recaro buckets and ditch the rear seats altogether for weight savings.
EVO notes that the current Mugen RR sedan's 2.0-liter engine makes 237 bhp (versus 198 bhp from the factory), with 160 pound-feet of torque ¬- a 10% increase over a stock Type-R. The mooted three-door liftback would likely receive similar power.
In the UK's typically price-inflated market, EVO reckons the Mugen CTR will probably cost more than £35,000 - a gobsmacking $58,000.
A forum user named "Puttz" at the Temple of VTEC took a picture of a manufacturer-plated CR-V in Dublin, Ohio near Honda's Marysville plant. In addition to a set of wheels that Puttz said were reminiscent of those on an RDX sketch, the grille is bigger and wearing a lot more chrome work. On the left is the spy shot, on the right is the 2009 CR-V. As another forum user noted, the 2-piece center section is somewhat of a return to the previous generation CR-V.
Beyond that, the bumper gets reshaped with a different profile leading into the lower front fascia, and the fog light housings look to be more integrated. If this is the 2010 CR-V, it appears Honda is only making minor changes to its popular cute-ute. Hat tip to Edison
Honda CrossTour - Click above for an image gallery
VWVortex forum member GoVdubSPEEDGo (presumably"M. Balisky") was vacationing in Great Smoky Mountains National Park when he came across a duo of Honda wagon/crossover mules. The crew over at Temple of VTEC have dubbed it the upcoming CrossTour, and tapped one of their sources to confirm the new CUV won't share the forthcoming Acura ZDX's platform.
Coupled with the spy shots that surfaced last October, these newest images prove that Honda is well on its way to creating some kind of crossover that could slot in near the CR-V, although drivetrain details and a fall 2009 on-sale date are still speculative. As for the pseudo-wagon's styling, it's essentially your standard four-door Accord equipped with an elongated hatch and a sloping roofline. We'll leave it to you to pass judgment in the comments below.
There has been all manner of speculation leading to this point, but the Temple of VTEC says it has heard from a source who claims the Honda Crosstour will be arrive in the U.S. in late October.
Mules of the Toyota Venza competitor from Honda have been seen testing in the U.S. on an jerry-rigged European Accord Tourer setup, an in fact, it's not likely to vary a great deal from it visually.
Since a different rear differential has been spotted on some prototypes, all-wheel drive is reportedly on the menu. Temple of VTEC's source says it will be based on the Accord platform, tow 3,500 pounds, be 2.5 inches taller than the Accord and stretch a ginormous 7 inches further than the Venza, which would seem to make third row seating a fait accompli, but as far as we know, the Accord Tourer is strictly a two-row deal.
Based on the fact that dealers have reportedly received their accessory pre-order packs, Honda protocol indicates appearances on dealer lots six months later. And if they keep the finished product sharp and edgy like the Euro Tourer, there's a good chance we'll like it when it comes. Hat tip to Edison!
Caterpillar-infested Honda Civic - Click above for a high-res image gallery
For sale: One fourth-generation Honda Civic hatchback. Slightly faded red exterior paint with lots of squiggly black lines. Includes protective tent-like cover for no additional charge. Located in the Dutch city of Rotterdam in West Holland. Price: cheap. Pests Pets included.
It seems that some rare and unsightly caterpillars have taken up residence in and on this particular Honda Civic hatchback. According to RTV Rijnmond, these pests make an appearance every year in The Netherlands, stripping local trees of their foliage and generally making a nuisance of themselves, though this particular infestation seems particularly severe.
The best part (or worst, depending on your point of view) of this whole story is that the local authorities refuse to do anything about the problem, saying that they'll all just disappear in about four weeks when they turn into moths anyway. Somehow, we bet that's little consolation in the meantime.
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Episode #129 of the Autoblog Podcast is here! Chris, Sam, and Dan toss the ball around this week discussing the Lexus HS250h, the Toyota Prius's newfound chassis grace, the production version of the BMW 5-Series GT, Cadillac's sharp new SRX, and of course, a few questions. We even go back and update an answer to a question from last week. This installment clocks in just shy of an hour, so enjoy... and thanks for listening! As always, hit us up at Podcast at Autoblog dot com with any questions/comments/over-the-top praise! Thanks to reader/listener Dat for taking in the Podcast while at LeMons in Reno and sending us a pic! Follow the jump to subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, add the show to your RSS aggregator... or listen to it right now!
Lars Martensson's Honda S2000 concept - click above for a high-res gallery
Late yesterday, we showed you the handiwork of 3D rendering guru Lars Martensson (a.k.a. 'GRID'), who had applied his skills to a future vision of a new Subaru WRX STI. Today, we bring you the skilled Swede's take on what a next-generation Honda S2000 roadster might look like.
While this concept has no basis in reality (and rumors of an S200 successor have thus far amounted to nothing), as with the Subie, we find a lot of merit in what we see. Click on the gallery below to see if you don't agree.
2009 Honda Fit - Click above for a high-res image gallery
According to a report from Japan's Nikkei business daily, Honda plans to finally bring a gas-electric hybrid version of the Fit to market by the end of next year. The Fit Hybrid's arrival - a year and a half ahead of scheduled - is one part of a three-pronged approach to introduce more gas-electric models into the automaker's line-up. The initial step was the release of the 2010 Honda Insight, which will be followed by the debut of the production CR-Z later this year at the Tokyo Motor Show, and could be joined by an all-new Civic Hybrid. Rumors have swirled for months that Honda plans to bring another hybrid model to their home-town show stand, and with an on-sale date of fall 2010, the Fit Hybrid could be what all the fuss is about. However, we've been seeing reports about the gas-electric Fit's imminent arrival since 2006, so until it rolls onto the floor in Tokyo and U.S. distribution is confirmed, hold off on putting deposits at your local dealer.
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