2006 Acura Mdx Touring Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Honda to lead Rose Parade with hybrid tech

What are you doing New Year's Day? We're probably going to watch Urban Meyer's retirement bash the Rose Bowl, but we love a nice parade, too. To kick the day off, Honda will be leading the 130th Rose Parade with its own float, an Insight hybrid and an Acura RDX crossover. Not only will Honda be celebrating the new year, it'll also celebrate its 60th anniversary in the U.S. As such, the main float will be shaped like a 25-foot-tall birthday cake. And 60 band members from the historically black colleges and universities' marching bands — which recently took part in a battle of the bands sponsored by Honda — will represent the candles on the cake. It'll also be decorated to re-create the look of the automaker's first storefront in Los Angeles. The float will be called "Celebration of Dreams," a fitting title for a company whose founder Soichiro Honda famously said, "The day I stop dreaming is the day I die." (The first thing you see when entering the amazing Honda Collection Hall at Twin Ring Motegi is a large, circular glass sculpture with the word "Dream" and Soichiro Honda's signature). For the parade, the Honda Insight will serve as the official pace car, while the Acura RDX will play the role of sound car. The float itself will be propelled by a modified Honda hybrid powertrain. The main float will be flanked by five "satellite" floats, each representing facets of the company. These will include a Honda Super Cub motorbike; a floral representation of a 1975 Civic CVCC; a float with crash test dummies and an arch with five stars to represent safety; a Honda Accord, which is built in the U.S.; and a float incorporating elements from the HondaJet to represent the future. The Rose Parade broadcast begins bright and early at 8 a.m. Pacific on Jan. 1. Check out the rendering at the top of the page to get a sense of what to expect. Related Video:

2017 Acura MDX Sport Hybrid goes on sale in April for $52,935

If you like the hybrid tech of the Acura NSX, but don't need a six-figure, 191-mph supercar as your daily driver, you might enjoy the extra room of the Acura MDX Sport Hybrid. It uses the same SH-AWD system with three electric motors as its racier stablemate – and puts a naturally aspirated 3.0-liter V6 up front – but seats up to seven people. It goes on sale in early April, and Acura has announced a starting MSRP of $52,935. The MDX Sport Hybrid starts at $7,910 higher than the base, front-wheel-drive MDX, but only $1,500 more than the comparably equipped, non-hybrid MDX SH-AWD. It offers 31 more ponies, for a total of 321 peak horsepower and of 289 pound-feet of torque. It's less expensive than the other Acura to use the Sport Hybrid system, the RLX sedan, which starts at $59,950. (That car incurs a price premium of $5,500 over its P-AWS-equipped FWD base model; there's no non-hybrid AWD RLX.) The MDX Sport Hybrid gets an EPA-rated 26 mpg city, 27 highway, and 27 combined. Compared to the conventional MDX SH-AWD's 18/26/21 mpg rating, its biggest fuel economy gains are to be found in city driving. The Sport Hybrid's figures are even slightly better than the 25/26/26 mpg Acura expected when the car debuted in New York last year. The MDX Sport Hybrid should be fairly entertaining to drive, too, at least for a utility vehicle. It's Acura's most powerful SUV to date, and it offers four driving modes: Comfort, Normal, Sport, and Sport+. A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission handles the gear changes, but the driver can take control via a pair of paddles on the back of the steering wheel. The SH-AWD system's torque vectoring feature promises to help make the MDX proficient in the twisty bits, too. Related Video:

Best places to get your car maintained and repaired

In this era of rampant inflation and high interest rates, the challenges of acquiring a car or SUV have been well documented. And so it has never been more important to protect that expensive investment by maintaining it. In recent months, Autoblog has shared Consumer Reports' evaluation of the least and most expensive car brands to keep running, as well as tips to prolong a car’s useful life. Especially since the pandemic, a number of factors have impacted these costs: more complex vehicles, new materials and manufacturing methods, a shortage of qualified technicians and replacement parts. Since 2022, repairs costs have jumped each year by about 10 percent. This month, Consumer Reports is offering a useful primer on keeping your ride in great shape, suggesting what might be the best options for searching out a repair shop, depending, as CR says, “on your car and your situation.” Author Ben Preston identifies three basic types of repair facilities: dealership service departments, independently owned repair shops, and chain repair shops. Building up trust with a specific shop and feeling comfortable going there is important. Preston quotes John Ibbotson, chief mechanic at Consumer ReportsÂ’ Auto Test Center: "You might be able to save a few bucks by going to whichever shop offers the cheapest prices, but if you want consistent, reliable service, itÂ’s best to find a repair shop you trust and stick with it,” Ibbotson says. The story goes on to evaluate each type of service facility. HereÂ’s a breakdown of CRÂ’s findings: Dealerships These work well for owners of newer cars, especially for covered warranty work. But the disadvantage is the high labor rates common to dealer service. Satisfaction ratings for dealer service departments range from very good (Acura, Lexus, Mazda, and Volvo) to not-so-good (Jeep and Kia). Dealers are best for: Fixing infotainment system glitches: "If the screen in the center of your dash has a habit of freezing up, or the touchscreen-activated climate controls arenÂ’t working, the dealership is the most likely place to find someone with the know-how to fix problems that maybe only a factory-authorized technician can access," Ibbotson says. Safety system recalibration: "Anything from a crack in your windshield to a minor fender dent can upset the calibration of the sensors that make features like automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control work," says Ibbotson.