2012 Certified Acura Tl on 2040-cars

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2013 Acura ZDX

What Is, What Could Have Been, And What May Yet Be
History is largely unkind to losers. That's true in the world of politics and sports, and it follows on with a few caveats in the realm of automobiles.
In terms of cars, historic losers tend to be remembered in one of two broad ways. Every once in a while, unsuccessful or oddball models actually make reputational gains after some time away from the new-car marketplace. I consider the Saab 9-2X one of the recent poster children for this group; a car that moved like molasses on dealer lots in the mid-2000s but has morphed into a sort of hard-to-find, used gem in recent years. More often, though, that which was unloved when new remains unloved with tens or hundreds of thousands of miles on the odometer. Pontiac's seriously misunderstood Aztek has king status here (despite the wailings of oddball fan clubs across the nation), so much so that invoking "Aztek" as a pejorative stopped being pithy about a dozen years ago.

A look inside Honda’s “Safety For Everyone” research and development operation

RAYMOND, Ohio—As part of its long-running “Safety for Everyone” campaign, Honda has established the audacious goal of what it calls a “zero-collision society.” But rather than making big claims about developing a fully-autonomous vehicle, which Honda hasnÂ’t done, the company is trying to chip away at the more than 37,000 vehicle-related fatalities that occurred in the U.S. in 2017 with a multi-pronged approach. Here in central Ohio, engineers are working with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to boost active safety systems like its HondaSensing suite of safety technology with old fashioned passive systems like structural steel frames or new airbag designs that protect passengers in a crash. Honda provided members of the press with a rare tour inside its Honda R&D Americas headquarters this week. Honda officials say that increasingly, safety — and specifically, third-party ratings from the likes of the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — figure into the top three factors consumers weigh when purchasing a vehicle. Honda and Acura have 10, 2019 models that have earned IIHSÂ’s Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ ratings, and all 15, 2019 model-year Honda and Acura vehicles that have undergone NHTSA crash testing have earned a 5-star overall rating. And Honda prides itself on its growing list of safety firsts, including the first upward-deploying front passenger airbag, in 1990 in the Acura Legend; first omni-directional crash-test facility, in 2000; and the first autonomous braking system, in the 2006 Acura RL. It hopes its new three-chamber airbag goes industry-wide and joins that list. “ItÂ’s part of our companyÂ’s culture,” said Art St. Cyr, business head unit and vice president of auto operations for American Honda Motor Co. “We have a philosophy at Honda that we want to be a company that society wants to exist. That means we have to protect our customers. ThatÂ’s part of the whole mantra of doing this.” Opened in 1984, the 1.6 million square-foot Honda R&D Americas facility, located in the countryside about 45 miles northwest of Columbus, employs around 1,600 people and is HondaÂ’s largest research-and-development facility outside of Japan. Its Advanced Safety Research facility opened in 2003.

The 2024 Acura Integra Type S will have 320 horsepower

The 2024 Acura Integra Type S is launching this summer, but the teaser and information drip campaign is officially in full swing.  Acura just let on that the Integra Type S will produce 320 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque from its 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. For reference, that’s 5 horsepower more than what the Honda Civic Type R makes — its 310 pound-feet of torque figure is the same as the Type R. We make such a comparison, as all the information Acura has dribbled out so far about the Integra Type S has us thinking that itÂ’s going to be very similar to the Type R. The second bit of information Acura revealed today is an approximate reveal window. The final car and all the specs we want are expected to drop at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race takes place over the April 14-16 weekend, and while we donÂ’t know exactly what day the Type S will be revealed yet, our bet would be for Friday or earlier that week, so Acura can show off the car in person to race fans all weekend long. The teaser photos and teaser video (see directly above) give us a little design and sound preview for the Type S. Just like the camouflaged car, the undisguised version is rocking massive fender flares in both front and rear. These will allow Acura to fit the big 265-section-width tires it has in store for the Type S in addition to giving it a super-aggressive look. The photos also show off a carbon fiber rear lip spoiler, carbon mirror caps, a glimpse at the large rear diffuser and a prominent Type S badge on the front fender.  As for the sound preview, the Integra Type S breathes through a triple-outlet exhaust and sounds far more menacing than the Civic Type R does from the factory. There are even some loud pops and bangs on the overrun that you can hear. For those going frame-by-frame on the video, youÂ’ll also notice the car is painted in AcuraÂ’s Tiger Eye Pearl paint. WeÂ’ve seen this shade on both the TLX Type S and MDX Type S, so it looks like the trend is continuing for Type S models. Look out for more teasers as we approach the final reveal for the Integra Type S, but you wonÂ’t have to wait long because the reveal is well under a month away now. Related video: