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Honda's electric 0 Series: 5 things we learned at CES 2024

LAS VEGAS — After Honda announced its new all-electric 0 Series at CES this week, suffice it to say we had questions. Fortunately for us, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe was there to share the news in person. Along with other selected media, we had the opportunity to ask anything we liked about the forthcoming platform and Honda's plans for its rollout here in the United States starting in 2026. Here are five key things we learned about this new platform and the cars it will underpin.  We may see one before the Saloon arrives in 2026 While Honda has promised it will launch a production model based on the 'Saloon' concept in North America in 2026, another 0 Series vehicle may actually arrive at the same time — or even sooner. What form that may take is anybody's guess, as Mibe remained shy about the details. For now, treat 2026 as the hard deadline and rule nothing out. It will expand to new segments At launch, 0 Series will be a "mid-large" platform, which we can take to mean midsize for practical purposes. This would support cars of equivalent size to Honda's existing Accord and Passport along with the Odyssey minivan (take a close look at that Space Hub concept below). Honda plans to offer 0 Series models with different footprints later. A small-car platform suitable for subcompact, midcompact and compact offerings (think Honda City, HR-V, Civic, CR-V, etc.) will follow later, as will an even larger platform, which we would expect to be utilized for a Pilot equivalent. Though the existing ICE-powered Pilot and its other sibling, the Ridgeline are midsizers riding on the same platform as the aforementioned Passport, these are as big as Honda's trucks and crossovers get. If the mid-large platform could accommodate such offerings, it stands to reason that a larger one wouldn't be necessary.  It has not damaged Honda's relationship with GM Mibe dismissed any perceived rift between Honda and General Motors resulting from the dissolution of their agreement to build a line of small cars on GM's Ultium EV platform. The companies parted ways over a desire to approach their long-term electrification strategies differently, not over any technological limitations or constraints provided by the Ultium platform itself, Mibe said, and the two companies are still working together to develop autonomous technology utilizing elements of GM's Cruise division.

LoveFab headed back to Pikes Peak with NSX-based heathen [w/video]

LoveFab had a rough run at Pikes Peak 2012. During qualifying on Day Two, owner and professional driver Cody Loveland launched his car off of the course at nearly 60 miles per hour. Never ones to be dismayed by a few bruised ribs and some busted body panels, LoveFab is headed back to the hill climb for 2013, and this year, it's bringing Garrett along as a title sponsor.
Loveland's chariot of choice is officially dubbed "Turbo by Garrett/LoveFab Pikes Peak Enviate" and is loosely based on an Acura NSX. All of the stock Japanese components have been swapped for LoveFab-built pieces with the exception of the subframes and suspension.
With a dry-sump LS1 V8, chromoly-tube chassis and a full carbon fiber body, the car is about as wild as they come. With around 800 pound-feet of torque on hand and a curb weight of under 2,000 pounds, the machine should give the mountain a run for its money. The team is expected to begin testing Enviate beginning May 1. You can check out a quick interview with Loveland in the video below along with the full press release.

2019 Acura RDX First Drive Review | Boringness banished

WHISTLER, B.C. — Things have come full circle for the Acura RDX. The compact crossover launched in 2007 with an all-new turbocharged four-cylinder engine and an all-wheel-drive system that was sophisticated enough for the brand to affix the Super Handling designation to it. It was a fun, sporty vehicle in a sea of boring competitors, and we liked it enough to write a eulogy of sorts when the second-generation RDX ditched the fun turbo engine in favor of a V6, and dumbed down its optional all-wheel system so much that they dropped the Super Handling name. Acura's mainstreaming of the RDX for its second generation turned out to be a smart play. Sales jumped 94 percent in 2012, the first year that the redesigned RDX went on sale, leapt another 50 percent the following year, and have stayed over the 50,000 mark for the past three years. It may sound surprising, then, that Acura is flipping the playbook back a few pages by swapping its V6 engine back to a turbo four and reinstalling Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. We think it's a smart move. The 2019 RDX is both sportier and more upscale than the model it replaces. It does more than just check boxes. It's interesting, boasts some cool technology, and offers a strong value proposition. The 2019 RDX's all-new 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine delivers 272 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. That's down a negligible seven ponies from the old 3.5-liter V6, but up 28 lb-ft, and it's tuned to provide the bulk of that torque in the heart of its powerband — peak torque plateaus between 1,600 and 4,500 rpm. An equally all-new 10-speed automatic transmission sends that power to either the front wheels, or, as was the case with the vehicles we tested, all four wheels. Jumping into a 2019 RDX for the first time, our main powertrain concern was that the 10-speed automatic would generate a ton of unnecessary, and distracting, shifts. This proved to be an unfounded fear. The gearbox does shift quite often under hard acceleration, but does so quickly and without any undue jerkiness. The sheer number of gearing options — the old six-speed auto had a 68 percent narrower spread of ratios — and the torque-rich engine combined to provide excellent straight-line acceleration in any real-world driving scenario we could conjure. The rest of the time we didn't really think about the transmission at all. We did, however, lament the push-button transmission interface.