2023 Honda Accord Ex on 2040-cars

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2023 Acura Integra A-Spec Interior Review: How it compares to Civic

For better and for worse, the 2023 Acura Integra borrows a lot from the Honda Civic. The air vents may seem like the most obvious bits, but they are in fact different: the Civic's mesh consists of hexagons whereas the Integras are diamonds. Wow, right? The little air direction nubs seem to be the same. Personally, I think the Civic's full-width application looks more special and even premium, especially given the Integra's rather blah gray dash trim, but shrug.  Otherwise, the switchgear is identical, including the steering wheel, climate controls, stalks and touchscreen(s). The two center console designs are also shared, one for CVT-equipped cars and the other for manual-equipped cars like this one, although there are a few differences I'll mention later. How much does this really matter? Ultimately, you can decide, but for now, let's do the full James Cameron and deep dive into the Integra A-Spec interior. Alright, since I've already talked about them, here are the Integra A-Spec and Civic Hatchback with six-speed manual side by side. We haven't taken a pic of the Si interior at the same angle (and Honda seems to have given up on its usual exceptional press photo packages), so just imagine more red and a shifter similar to (but not the same as!) the Integra's. And here's the vent comparison. Again, the Civic Si has red trim surrounding the hexagon mesh instead of silver. Here's that aforementioned blah gray dash trim. Those dots are textured, but in general, it lacks a certain premium appearance. The rest of the dash trim is sufficiently low sheen and padded.  Speaking of low sheen and padded, let's talk door trim. While at first glance the front and back door tops look the same, they are not. Look closer and you'll see the pattern is slightly different, which is indicative of the fact that the front doors have a soft-touch rubbery material and the back doors are rock-hard plastic. This is definitely more compact car than luxury car. This Upstairs, Downstairs theme continues ... Let's talk seats and upholstery. This is an A-Spec, which means it gains access to the optional Red interior. Yes, just literally "Red" whereas your other choices are "Ebony," "Orchid" and "Graystone." That's not the weird bit. While all seats are "Red," they do not have the same upholstery. The front seats have centers in micro-suede fabric with leatherette bolsters in red and black. Sorry, "Ebony."  The back seats are just leatherette. Weird, right?

Recharge Wrap-up: Elon Musk in Reddit AMA; Honda releases annual environmental report

Elon Musk will answer questions in a Reddit AMA tonight. The "Ask Me Anything" event will begin at 9:00 pm EST, and will last one hour. Musk will answer as many reader questions as he can in the allotted amount of time. Reddit's /r/TeslaMotors board is selecting official questions from users to pose to Musk as well. If you have any aching inquiries for the CEO of Tesla and Spacex, you probably don't want to miss this. Read more at Clean Technica, or at Reddit. Powertree Services plans to build solar-powered EV charging at San Francisco apartment buildings. The group will rent parking spaces at apartment buildings and put solar panels on the roof. Tenants with EVs can pay a monthly fee to charge their cars at their own apartments and Powertree Services parking spots around town. It takes the responsibility of building and maintaining the chargers off the building owners, but provides them with some revenue from renting the space to Powertree. Read more at Treehugger. The market for environmentally friendly cars will remain strong despite cheap oil prices, according to IHS Automotive Advisory Services. James Chao, director of the company's Asia-Pacific region, says his clients are still very focused on fuel economy. IHS has predicted green car production to triple by 2020 from 2014 figures. Hyundai and Kia, who are clients of Chao, have new EVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles on the way - a seemingly "unfocused" plan that Chao defends. "Especially at times when uncertainty is dominant, it could well be referred to as being prudent," he says. Read more at The Korea Herald. Honda has released its annual North American Environmental Report. In the report, Honda notes environmental progress it has made over the last year in a number of areas. It points out the introduction of the 2014 Accord Hybrid and the FCV Concept. It enumerates reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, use of its products and even from Honda's suppliers (however, there was a 0.7 percent rise in CO2 emissions during manufacturing due to, or rather "despite a significant increase in production"). Honda is using less water, and producing less waste - only 0.8 kilograms are sent to the landfill per car manufactured. Honda also worked with SolarCity to get solar panels on 1,650 rooftops in the US. Read more on Honda's website. Marco Andretti will race in the Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix.

Honda ready for 'late 2016' arrival of Clarity Fuel Cell in US

Two years ago at the LA Auto Show, Honda showed off the first concept for what we now know is the Clarity fuel cell vehicle. At the time, Honda said it would arrive at some point in 2015. Since then, Honda has said simply that the Clarity would arrive some time after the March 2016 on-sale date in Japan and even gave itself an out in case the debut slipped to the first half of 2017. Yesterday, at a preview event at the Honda Advanced Design Studio in downtown LA, Honda narrowed that down a bit more to, "late 2016." Honda representatives said this was all still in line with internal targets for the US launch of the car. They already know when the car will arrive here, but are not yet able to say, since things like crash tests and other homologation issues could still change the timeline. The company is happy to see the expansion in the number of hydrogen refueling stations in California and is working a number of dealers in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area to get them ready to sell the Clarity. Everything that has happened since the company officially set its internal fuel cell clock has been going to plan, Honda representatives told AutoblogGreen. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from Hyundai and Toyota are available now, while those from other automakers (like BMW and Nissan) may arrive in or after 2020. Honda still won't confirm, on the record, that an all-electric model will be the third vehicle to use the platform that the Clarity and the upcoming plug-in hybrid (due in 2018) use, as we suspect. But, during a casual discussion about Honda happenings, I heard one executive say that he's busy working on the follow-up "products" that will use the platform, so this remains something to keep in mind. We recently got the chance to drive the Clarity in Japan, which you can read about here.