2008 Honda Cr-v Ex-l Sport Utility 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Petition to bring Honda Civic Type R to US picking up steam

Never mind what the executives say - we've had a sneaking suspicion all along that the upcoming Honda Civic Type R won't be coming to North America. And with good reason: both the prototype we drove in Japan and the concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last week were based on the European-spec Civic hatchback - not to mention that some of the best hot hatches remain out of our reach.
Well it turns out we're not the only ones with that concern. There are legions of Honda hot hatch enthusiasts right here in the good old U S of A who want to see the new Civic Type R ripping up the Great American Road. And many of them are taking to the cyberclouds demanding that Honda bring it Stateside, post haste.
As of the time of writing, this online petition has gotten over 6,000 digital signatures, needing less than 1,500 more to get to the author's target of 7,500 votes. Of course, if and when the petition reaches its target, that still won't mean that Honda will bring it over, but it could mean that extra bit of encouragement the Japanese automaker's executives would need to tip the scales in our favor.

2016 Honda HR-V First Drive [w/video]

Compact crossovers are all the rage right now, and the 2016 Honda HR-V enters the marketplace at a crucial time. This class only had three or four entries just a year or two ago, and the number of players should double this year. That equates to an estimated 236,000 sales of B-segment CUVs in 2015, more than twice last year's sales, according to AutoPacific data. Honda joins a growing list of automakers looking to cash in on expanding sales. Fiat-Chrysler has its adorably Italian Fiat 500X and tiny-tough Jeep Renegade siblings. Chevy brought its small Trax to the US market from abroad. The Nissan Juke carries on with oddball styling and zippy dynamics. And the small-boxy class sales king Kia Soul could add all-wheel drive model to further increase its appeal. The HR-V doesn't break any new ground here. It starts with the Swiss Army Knife packaging of the Fit hatchback, then adds a more powerful engine, increased ground clearance, and all-wheel drive. It's nothing revolutionary, but that's not a bad thing. In typical Honda style, the beauty lies in the execution. What we have here is an attractive, compact crossover. It looks like a puffed-up Fit, or Honda Fat if you will. At 169.1 inches in length, the HR-V is more than a foot longer than the Fit (and almost nine inches shorter than the original CR-V). But with clean, taut lines that sculpt the body sides the HR-V is anything but bloated. We particularly like the integration of the rear door handles into the C-pillar. This thing is cute, especially with the rounded nose and chiseled rear end. And the chunky, five-spoke, 17-inch alloy wheels we like so much are standard even on the base model. There are a couple of weird bits to the styling. Like the way the hood cutline spills over to the front quarter panel and the oversized, fang-shaped taillamps. But overall the HR-V looks great. It has more modern appeal than the Trax, and while the 500X and Renegade are more interesting to our eyes, the HR-V has plenty of pizzazz for folks afraid of flamboyance. That reserved charm carries on in the interior. Like the exterior, the cabin is a safe kind of stylish. Materials include a mix of fabrics and plastics on the doors, plus obligatory soft-touch surfaces abound because, you know, we're all in the habit of squeezing dashboards these days. The row of three vents in front of the passenger seat looks nice, and there's added storage underneath the center console.

Honda demonstrates new Vehicle-to-Pedestrian safety tech [w/video]

We're fresh from a balmy rooftop deck in downtown Detroit, where Honda held a meeting this week to discuss and demonstrate a few upcoming advanced safety features. A clear focus of the mini event was the company's new Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) technology, with a suite of Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) tech a significant second course.
With spirits still high from announcing the 2014 Odyssey as the first minivan to win the Top Safety Pick+ status from IIHS - and after seeing the application of new high-strength-steel sections of the Acura MDX body structure - Honda shared the fruits of some safety tech that is still in the research phase.