2002 Honda S2000 on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 2000 Honda Passport 4WD

The suits at American Honda Motor Company must have spent the bulk of the 1990s tearing out their hair in frustration as their rivals raked in big money from the sales of ever-more-profitable SUVs, even as American car shoppers lost interest in sedans and hatchbacks. Oh, sure, the Civic-based CR-V appeared here for the 1997 model year and sold well enough, but the lack of a larger SUV pained Honda more with each passing year. With the Acura MDX and Honda Pilot not ready for showrooms until the 2001 and 2002 model years, respectively, some stopgap had to be found. Isuzu stepped up and made a deal with Honda: the Rodeo would get Honda badges and become the Passport, while the Trooper would show up in Acura showrooms with SLX badges (for the 1994 and 1995 model years, respectively). Here's one of those Passports, found in a Denver-area self-service yard. Things got even weirder in the Isuzu/Honda world around the turn of the century, with the Honda Odyssey getting Isuzu badges and being sold as the Oasis. Fast-forward to 2009, and the only Isuzu-badged vehicles available new here were rebadged Chevrolets: the I-Series pickup (Chevy Colorado) and the Ascender (Chevy Trailblazer). The Passport name has some interesting American Honda history, stretching back to the first Honda vehicle sold here (and the biggest-selling motor vehicle in human history): the Super Cub. American Honda Motor Company couldn't use the Super Cub name on our shores, because Piper Aircraft had been selling a small plane called the Super Cub since 1949, so the motorcycle was called the Honda 50 over here. Eventually, this bike got a 70cc engine and became the Honda C70 Passport, sales of which continued through the middle 1980s. That means the Passports sitting in your local Honda dealership right now got their name from a one-cylinder motorcycle. General Motors has a Passport connection as well; when GM created the Geo brand to sell rebadged Isuzus, Suzukis, and Toyotas in the United States, it created a marque called Passport to sell the Daewoo LeMans as the Optima in Canada (all the other vehicles sold by Passport dealers were Isuzus). So, Honda's need to offer SUVs in its American dealerships led to an arrangement with GM-connected Isuzu to sell these trucks with a model name bearing links to both companies. So much history in the junkyard! Just as Geo-badged Toyota Corollas (mostly) got Delco radios, so did the Passport get Honda radios.

'Tornado' at Rose Bowl Fan Fest wreaks havoc on Honda display

California's been host to some oddball weather for the past few years - particularly oddball, even for California, that is. An example of which struck again during the Honda Fan Fest at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year's Eve. A robust dust devil – labeled a "tornado" by the anonymous videographer – planted itself among the stands and then rolled across the lawn, twirling several vendor stands and an inflatable tent around in the air, seemingly damaging some new Honda and Acura models that were on display where some attendees had sought refuge. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but four people were treated for injuries - probably including the committed Fan Fest worker who tried to grab a flying canopy and got spun around and thrown to the ground. Which is kinda the way Oregon treated Florida State. We had to watch it twice, because the first time, we couldn't take our eyes off the cow. Check out the chaos in the video above. News Source: adsport via YouTube Auto News Honda Safety Videos California

2014 Honda Civic Coupe

Honda lifted the covers off its refreshed Civic Coupe at SEMA earlier this month, showing off its updated styling and redesigned 18-inch wheels, but didn't unveil its interior or mechanical upgrades until today at the LA Auto Show. Eager to show off its latest arrival, Honda allowed me to check out and drive the new coupe a few weeks ago.
The interior, which was hidden beneath heavily tinted glass at SEMA, features new colors, upgraded seating materials and new technology. The interior themes are now more color coordinated and feature upgraded Tricot soft weave. Black is the standard interior color, with a choice of black or gray seats. A new display audio system is also found on the EX/EX-L trims. The seven-inch capacitive-touch screen, with a matte finish to reduce the annoyance of greasy fingerprint marks, allows users to not only tap once for a function, but to double-tap, slide, flick and pinch - as if they are using a familiar smartphone or tablet. The new infotainment interface not only accepts USB and Bluetooth data exchange, but has also been configured with HDMI for future upgrades. Some of you may have also noticed the exterior mirrors on the SEMA car, as they were fitted with cameras for Honda's blind spot minimizing Lanewatch system. It is now offered on the Civic Coupe for EX trims and above.
Mechanically, the new Civic Coupe rides on an upgraded suspension system that features revised spring rates (front up by four percent, rear up by three percent), a stiffer rear stabilizer (up by 25 percent) and larger 16-inch wheels (wearing 205/55R16 tires). The engineering objective was to improve handling and responsiveness while flattening cornering. According to Honda, the tweaks should give the Civic Coupe better linear steering feel than either the Hyundai Elantra or the Ford Focus.