Honda is giving the Accord a mid-cycle refresh for the 2011 model year, due out late this year. There are some light styling changes, including a new grille, rear bumper, and deck lid. There are also new wheels across the lineup. In other words, nothing particularly exciting in the looks department.

2011 Honda Accord Gallery

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If you believe a Reuters‘ source, the 2011 Honda Fit Hybrid will start at an astonishingly low price – $16,750. Considering that the conventional Fit starts at $14,900 , you can call me a skeptic.

Such a low base price would put the Hybrid Fit about $4000 less than Honda’s own Fit-based Insight. Some of the price difference could come simply from less equipment – a base Fit has less standard features than a base Insight.

However, I just don’t see four thousand dollars worth of equipment here… I’d like to believe this report. A very affordable Fit Hybrid would be a huge hit for Honda. Reality doesn’t seem to support such a low starting price, unfortunately.

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That’s usually the usual car manufacturer trickery – it’s before the destination charge. Including this non-negotiable fee, the 2011 CR-Z will actually start at $19,950. That’s still under the $20k target – though just barely.

On the entry level (No trim name, which is odd for Honda) equipped with the 6 speed manual, the CR-Z manages 31 MPG city / 37 MPG highway for a combined 34 MPG. Very good, to be sure, but not exactly setting the world on fire.

If you pony up the extra bucks for a CVT instead of the manual, your fuel economy will increase to 35 MPG city / 39 MPG highway / 37 MPG combined.

By now you’re all familiar with the CR-Z specs – or at least you should be. Just in case you’re not, there’s a 122 HP 1.5 liter four banger under the hood, which makes a max 128 lb-ft of torque. Those power ratings do include the electric motor, of course.

Missing the Target, Again
I look at the CR-Z, and i can’t help but think of the Insight. That’s somewhat obvious, since they share quite a few design cues. It goes deeper than that, though. With the Insight, Honda had a chance to one-up Toyota. The Insight is smaller and lighter than the Prius, and Honda could have made sure it was more efficient. Instead, it doesn’t even measure up to it’s big brother, the Civic Hybrid. Couple that with a barely-less-than-Prius MSRP, and there aren’t a whole lot of buyers.

Looking at the 2011 CR-Z, it’s deja-vu. Starting price is ever so slightly lower than Honda’s own Insight – not enough to overcome the CR-Z’s shortcomings. There’s the fuel economy issue – it’s good for a car, but not even remotely impressive for a compact, two seater hybrid. Oh yea, and it’s a two seater. As in there’s no back seat.

For many, lack of a back seat is an absolute deal breaker. For a few hundred extra bucks, you could step up to the four-door, 5 seat Insight. On top of the extra seats, the Insight is more efficient.

All I can say is this: The CR-Z had better be damned fun to drive. If not, what’s the point?

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Honda has pushed back the release of the 2012 Civic from late this year until sometime next year.  While some analysts are panicking and calling this the sign of Honda’s impending decline, I’m not worried.  Honda knows the the new Civic has to be fantastic – all the major automakers are putting out better and better offerings in the compact class.  If the top dogs at Honda didn’t think the Civic was quite ready, then going back to the drawing board is the best possible thing they can do.

The cats over at Auto Evolution snagged a spy shot of the 2012 Honda Civic – well, at least a test mule for the 2012 Civic.  We don’t really know anything about hardware, but you can be sure the Civic will be more fuel efficient than the already excellent outgoing model.  With stricter EPA standards looming, there really isn’t a choice in the matter.

Source.

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Honda is recalling about 167,000 Acura TSX cars from the 2004-2008 model years.  The problem is a faulty o-ring gasket and power steering hose – they could deteriorate before their time.  If this were to happen, power steering fluid would leak, which could ultimately cause smoking or even a fire.

Honda will be notifying customers next month.  If you just can’t wait, head to this site and put in your VIN to see if your car is affected.

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Out with the old NSX race car and in with the new HSV-010 for SuperGT 2010.

Now I know you’ve heard about the 5.0L v10 test mule s2000 that took it’s run around the nurburgring. Well of course due to the encomic downturn Honda had axed the succesor of the S2000 and the NSX, leaving Honda with no RWD sports cars. Now keep in mind, in the Super GT Honda has continued to run the NSX even though it’s out of production. Now your proably wondering how can a car manufactuer can is still race even though the production car hasn’t been made in last few years? Well according to SuperGT regulations, a car manufactor must have a in counterpart production road going version of the race, now if that manufactuer stops the production version of that car they can run that car for 5 years after the car ceased production.

Meanwhile this gives the automaker a chance to build one from stratch if they really wanted to. Now here’s the delemia, since recent changes in regulations for 2010 of GT500. Cars now must be front mounted engines, well Honda’s NSX is mid engine, and they cannot just throw the motor in the front. That will alter the car and will not quailify because the engine has been modified beyond the cars original specs and the regulations Super GT set in play. So Honda has to replace the mid engine NSX, but Honda has no front mounted engine car.

What to do? First Honda can blame themselves for that. But! Thanks to the new rules and regulations for 2010 Super GT, Honda will be able to replace the NSX with the axed NSX successor without making a roadgoing version for now. Yup, that camifoshed prototype that we last saw after the debute of S2000 test mule will be Honda’s answer to the Super GT. It’s name is HSV-0100 the new race car for the GT500 class. HSV stands for Honda Sports Velocity, catchy isn’t it?

The 5.0L v10 engine will not power the HSV-0100 GT500 race car, but instead it will use the very same naturally asperated 3.4L v8 found in Acura’s American Lemans AXR-01 LMP2 race car. This engine it’self has proven it got the stuff to move. No twin turbo chargers, just raw motor from a 3.4liter.

Oh and thank God it does not look like the car that was shown in the autoshow…. This is good news for Honda fans, this puts a smile on my face too to see some hope that Honda hasn’t gave up.
Now when the economy kicks back up to full swing I hope to see this road going counter part on the streets.

Oh and thank God this does not look like the car that was shown in the autoshow…. This is good news for Honda fans, this puts a smile on my face too to see some hope that Honda hasn’t gave up.

Sources and Pictures
www.zerotohundred.com

http://world.honda.com/news/2010/c100118HSV-010-GT/

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Is Japan trying to kill us or something? It seems Toyota is not alone with the rolling death-mobiles. Honda announced a recall of 378,000 cars in the US (437k globally.) The affected vehicles include Accords, Civics, Odysseys, and CR-V’s from the 2001 and 2002 model years. A few Acura vehicles are also affected.

The issues is with the airbags – and the fact that they may not deploy. So far, one person has died, and 11 more have been injured due to this defect. So, instead of being able to stand up tall and say “neener neener neener” to Toyota, Honda is going to have to deal with this nasty recall.

It’s a good time to be an American car company.

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This is no Toyota-level recall, but 646,000 Fits is not exactly minor.  About 141k of the affected Fits, from model years 2007 and 2008, are in the United States.  In some cases, water (probably from rain) can get into the driver’s window switch, possibly causing a fire.

No cases have been reported yet, and the recall is voluntary.  However, I prefer my window switches not on fire, so if you have a Fit, get it checked out.

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This is one of the lowest volume recalls I can remember seeing – though it’s not surprising, since we’re talking about a pretty low-volume vehicle.  Acura has issued a recall for a whopping 644 2010 MDX’s.  Only a select few of these vehicles are targeted, and the issue is a missing bolt.

The big deal is that the missing bolt may cause a part of the A-pillar to break off in the event of a severe crash, which isn’t exactly something you want happening.  Worried that your MDX may be affected?  Call the NTHSA to find out : 888-327-4236.

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There are plenty of hybrids on the road today, and there are plenty of sports coupes.  But not one has attempted to blend these two seemingly opposite types of vehicles.  Until now, that is.  The 2011 Honda CR-Z attempts to bring these two worlds together.  Honda calls the CR-Z a “sport hybrid coupe”: The intention is clear.  The question, of course, will they be successful?  Let’s take a look at the hardware.

2011 Honda CR-Z Specs

• 122 HP 1.5 liter SOHC 4 Cylinder engine ( Combined horsepower rating )
• Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) Hybrid system
• Six speed manual transmission
• Available Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)
• 16″ Alloy wheels
• Curb weight: 2725 lbs (CVT)
• EPA Estimated ratings: 36 mpg city / 38 mpg highway / 37 MPG combined (CVT)

As for looks, well, I’m not sure Honda hit the mark this time.  The front end is very sharp – with an S2000 influence.  The rear end has some awkward angles to be sure, and looks *extremely* like the Insight on which it is based.  In fact, when you look at the CR-Z as a whole, it has an extreme family resemblance.  Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t. I’m not terribly impressed.

Moving to the interior, which Honda uses knocks out of the park, I’m almost at a loss for words.  It looks like a tacky button monster threw up on the dash.  There are far too many buttons to the left of the steering wheel, and they’re oddly laid out.  The HVAC controls are simply bizarre.  Even the navigation unit is all wrong – it’s far off center, on the passenger’s side of the dash.  The steering wheel is crowded with buttons, and the gauges have far too much going on.  Even if I loved the interior, and how the CR-Z drove, I’m pretty sure this interior would keep me away.

Honda, I think you forgot something?

Enough about the dash and gauges, how about the seats?  Oh boy.  See, there is room inside the CR-Z for a 2+2 layout.  That is, 2 regular size humans, and 2 very tiny humans could fit inside.  Well, they could, if Honda had seen fit to include the rear seats.  Instead of the rear seats, Honda put things that are the same size as seats, and almost look like seats, but aren’t quite seats.  If you’re shaking your head and wondering what they were thinking, don’t feel bad – I am too.

Now I’m not suggesting that I would *want* to sit in the back seatlet of a CR-Z – of course I wouldn’t.  No one would.  But making pseudo-seats?  Just give me two daggone little seats Honda; let me choose if I want to subject someone to the torture.  Instead, the CR-Z is a pure two-seater, which gives insurance companies another reason to raise rates.  Only “sports cars” have two seats, don’t ya know.

Efficiency and performance

An expected EPA rating of 37 combined MPG is nothing to sneeze at – but it’s also not really all that special.  Don’t forget, the CR-Z is a hybrid.  And it has a small 1.5 liter engine, which is already extremely efficient.  And there’s also the very light ~2700 lb curb weigh to consider.  I’m not sure why the CR-Z can’t make over 40 MPG?

Missing the mark

I don’t think the CR-Z is going to be a hit.  With just 122 HP on tap, performance won’t be blistering.  At 37 MPG for a subcompact, you’re not going to set any efficiency records.  So I get a slow sports car combined with a non-efficient hybrid, presumably at a premium price.  I ask just one question – why in the world wouldn’t you just buy a Honda Fit?

2011 Honda CR-Z Gallery

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