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Acura spotlights NSX pace car at Pikes Peak

You can't just have any old street car setting the pace at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, can you? Of course not. For that task, you'd need a supercar with exceptionally high performance capabilities. Something like the new Acura NSX, for example. Fortunately that's just what the organizers of the annual Race to the Clouds selected to serve as official pace car this year. Honda's new hybrid supercar, set to be built in Ohio, donned a unique livery, a senior PR rep behind the wheel, and a smattering of GoPro cameras to speed up the 14,110-foot mountain. Naturally the twin-turbo V6 engine, nine-speed, dual-clutch transmission, and three-motor Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system formed an integral part of the package as well, even if its output hasn't been officially released more specifically than the "over 550 horsepower" we've been told to expect. The Japanese automaker also placed another couple dozen cameras along the 12.4-mile route and its 156 turns. Which is a good thing, considering that most of us weren't there in Colorado to see it make its run up the mountain, and nobody was there at each corner as it passed – except, of course, for the driver, Sage Marie. The rest of us will want to check out the minute-long clip Acura has released to see the NSX gun for the sky.

2022 Acura ILX dies this year, replaced by Integra

In August 2021, Acura brand officer John Ikeda told Motor Trend, "Integra is not a replacement for ILX but Integra is our entry gateway vehicle. We don't plan on having something below that." Seems what he meant is that the Integra shouldn't be viewed as a new-generation of the ILX, because the Integra is replacing the ILX in every other way. In a video podcast on YouTube, two podcast hosts at Serra Acura said, "The Integra is replacing the ILX. That has been the clear message from them without saying the ILX is going away." Motor1 asked the Japanese luxury brand about the statement, getting the reply, "The 2022 model year is the final model year for the ILX, in anticipation of the new Integra." The Acura spokesperson then followed up with, "The new Integra was developed from day 1 to deliver on the original lineage that began with Integra back in 1986 ... and will be the new entry point to the brand." This is in the vein of Ikeda's comment, where we're not meant to connect the Integra to the ILX, but see the two models as distinct branches in the family tree, like cousins by marriage instead of siblings. Acura wants this Integra to be seen as a delayed new generation for the lineup that ended in 2001 if you're a purist, or 2006 if you're willing to let the RSX into the house. The effect today is still the same, the distinction unimportant. The 2022 ILX is the final model year for the 10-year-old sedan, which has sold more than 2,000 units in the U.S. in a single month only once since October 2013. The new entry-level vehicle is the Integra, priced a touch above the ILX at around $30,000.   With Integra pre-orders expected to begin March 10, the real surprise is how much we have let to learn about the coming hatchback. We're looking forward to the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder up front, its output still unknown. That 2.4-liter, naturally aspirated four-cylinder in the ILX makes 201 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque, the Integra's 1.5-liter produces 200 hp and 192 lb-ft in the Honda Civic Si. We'd love for the Acura to get its due and make a noticeably more power than the Si. We know the Integra will offer a six-speed manual, but the automatic gearbox option remains a mystery. And other than checking out the interior of a static Integra on display at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, we're missing a whole bunch of details on features and amenities. We expect the blanks to get filled in soon. Related video: 2022 Acura NSX Type S revealed

2021 Acura TLX is the first model with Honda’s new proprietary airbag

When it arrives in showrooms this fall, the 2021 Acura TLX will be the first vehicle equipped with the new three-chamber front passenger airbag design Honda announced last year, reinforcing the automaker’s commitment to infused the sports sedan with state-of-the-art safety bonafides. As explained in the video above, the new airbag was designed and developed by engineers at HondaÂ’s R&D campus in Ohio and auto supplier Autoliv to mitigate the risk of severe brain trauma associated with angled frontal collisions. With its official launch in the 2021 TLX, the airbag will begin to be offered to other automakers through Autoliv. Work on the new airbag design stemmed in part from a 2013 U.S. Department of Transportation study that used MRI scans to look at brain injuries resulting from vehicle accidents and led to the creation of Brain Injury Criteria methodology for measuring brain injuries in vehicle crashes. Accordingly, Honda and Autoliv designed an airbag that does away with the traditional single-inflatable chamber in favor of something likened to a catcherÂ’s mitt, with a central “sail panel” net catching and slowing down the head and directing it inward between the two inflated side chambers. The idea is to better manage lateral forces in a collision that can cause an occupantÂ’s head to rotate severely and at high velocity. Honda is hailing the new airbag as a major advance in airbag design. It follows the companyÂ’s introduction, in 1990, of the first vertically deploying front passenger airbag for the 1991 Acura Legend, a design that became broadly adopted in the industry. Honda is packing lots of other safety features into the 2021 Acura TLX, including knee airbags for driver and front passenger, both contained beneath a panel on the underside of the instrument panel, and eight airbags total, the most ever for the model. It will also come standard with the AcuraWatch suite of advanced safety and driver-assist technologies and AcuraÂ’s Advanced Compatability Engineering body structure, which has been advanced to boost occupant safety by redirecting energy away from the passenger compartment in a frontal crash. Acura says it expects to get a five-star crash rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.