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Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

This is why Acura hasn't yet announced its EV strategy

Despite parent company Honda's green and friendly brand image, luxury marque Acura hasn't made a grand statement about electrifying their lineup. Even as brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to entirely electrify their lineups in the coming decade, Acura has held back. The reason, according to Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it's focusing on reestablishing itself as a performance brand. In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive News, Ikeda says Acura came out of the gate strong in 1986 and did well for the first 20 years, but when the bottom fell out of the market in 2008 the brand experienced "growing pains." That spawned a period of self-reflection and, as Ikeda puts it, "What are we about?" The decision was made to go back to Acura's roots as the performance division of Honda. "That's what Acura is. That's what I fell in love with," Ikeda says. Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, but his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a surprise to many, including himself. That's because Honda had a tradition of putting engineers at the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, responsible for the looks of such cars as the FSX concept, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL. 2021 Acura TLX Advance View 38 Photos When asked by AN whether Acura is worried that luxury competitors are putting stakes in the ground to claim EV brand identities, Ikeda says no. "For us as a brand, we needed to kind of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a performance brand... We want everybody to understand where we are, what we're about first. Even if we go electric we will continue to be a performance division of Honda and performance will be our focus." To earn its performance street cred, Acura poured resources into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for how electricity can work harmoniously with performance. They will continue to campaign IMSA race cars to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda also wants to bring more Type S models to the lineup. Ikeda says Acura is still in the process of rebuilding its foundation, but when he's done he expects people to associate Acura with performance. That sure seems ambitious to us, but products like the new TLX are a helpful stepping stone. It also explains why Acura is investing in different platforms to differentiate itself from Honda. To be clear, Ikeda isn't ruling out electrification.

Rare 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition sells for $135,000

Somebody just bought a 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition for $135,000 on Bring a Trailer. And to that we say, we’re jealous. The Zanardi Edition is one of the more sought-after NSX models out there. Acura only ever sold 51 of them (named after racer Alex Zanardi), and they were sold during a time that nearly every NSX sold here was an NSX-T with the T-top. The hardtop Zanardi Edition features a number of performance improvements over a typical 1999 NSX. Acura took a sizable chunk of weight out of the car. Versus a hardtop coupe, itÂ’s about 54 pounds lighter. Compared to the more popular NSX-T, itÂ’s 149 pounds lighter. This was done in a few ways, but the single biggest weight reduction was due to the power steering delete, making it more like the older NSXs that never had power steering. Lightweight BBS wheels, a lighter battery, single-pane rear glass and a lighter rear spoiler also helped to reduce weight. It received a “racetrack-tuned suspension” that was considerably stiffer than the regular NSX. The shocks, springs and bushings were all revised, and Acura lowered the ride height (0.6 inch in front, 0.3 inch in rear). A stiffer and larger rear stabilizer bar was fitted, too. The Zanardi Edition is rather distinctive looking because of its New Formula Red paint and dark BBS wheels. Acura added red stitching to the all black interior, and owners also got to use a sweet titanium shift knob. And of course, thereÂ’s a special edition plaque on the interior to officially declare it a Zanardi.  Acura did nothing to the engine or transmission. Therefore, it retains the 3.2-liter V6 (290 horsepower and 224 pound-feet of torque) and six-speed manual. We donÂ’t get to see many Zanardi Editions go up for sale, but when they do, they get the big bucks. At 57,000 miles, this one is still on the low side, hence the $135,000 final bid. A regular (albeit newer) 2004 NSX-T with 1,900 miles just sold for $133,000 earlier today. So yeah Â… NSX values donÂ’t seem to be going anywhere but up these days. Related video: