2014 Honda Cr-v Lx on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Honda Civic Tourer reminds us why we love wagons

It was the early 1990s when the last Honda Civic Wagon graced our shores, looking more like a squat five-door hatchback with an extra dose of charm. Well, Honda debuted the newest Civic Wagon Tourer at the Frankfurt Motor Show today, but, as we reported last month, it's a European model that will go on sale there early next year. There's still no word of it coming to the US.
The Civic Tourer was designed by Honda's European studio, and its overall look comes across as more muscular, sporty and stylish than both the sedan and two-door coupe, with bulging fenders and revised windows. Adrian Killham, large project leader for the Civic Tourer, has commented on the styling, saying, "Recently launched cars have tended to follow a similar style. The Civic Tourer has a different balance and appeal." We appreciate the sentiment, and the Tourer's shape is a big reason why we like it.
But we also like the 22 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up, which grows to a gargantuan 59 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down. The big Civic will be powered by either a 1.8-liter four-cylinder petrol engine with i-VTEC or a 1.6-liter Earth Dreams i-DTEC diesel engine. Manual and automatic transmissions will be offered.

Alonso pins McLaren's woes squarely on Honda's shoulders

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Fernando Alonso spent more time on the tennis court than driving his ailing McLaren on Friday, with his tilt at the Indy 500 looking ever more inviting after another dark day on the Formula One racetrack. Alonso's home fans had barely settled in their seats for practice at the Spanish Grand Prix before his car's Honda engine blew in a mess of smoke and oil. Liquid then poured out of the car as it was tipped up by a recovery crane. Having failed to start in Russia two weeks ago due to an engine failure on the formation lap, Alonso departed the Barcelona circuit after a few choice words and later posted a picture on Instagram of himself playing tennis. "The engine was not good enough. We came out of the pitlane and there was a hole in the engine, and the oil was streaming out. It blew up after 400 meters," Alonso told reporters after returning for the second 90-minute practice session. He was last on the timesheets and reported that the engine was even slower. If the tennis photo looked like a dig at Honda, accompanied with the seemingly sarcastic comment "keeping the body active", he said that had not been his intention. "I have very little time in these weeks, with traveling, with planes," said the 35-year-old, who will go straight from Barcelona to Indianapolis on Sunday night to prepare for his debut in the 500 on May 28. "So when I discovered that I had two hours free, instead of being on the sofa and watching television, I went for some training. My dedication is still 100 percent to my fitness and my preparation. "It wasn't humor to go outside the circuit to play tennis, it was preparation. People got it wrong. I went out to have some fun and escape the circuit." McLaren, the second most successful team in Formula One history in terms of race wins, have yet to score a point in four rounds of this year's championship and are last in the standings. Honda's Formula One reputation, after two seasons of unreliability and poor performance, is meanwhile being dragged deeper into the mud. Alonso is out of contract at the end of the season and has said his future whereabouts would depend on who could offer him a winning car. "It's not my reputation, it's theirs (Honda's) – and it's their money, and their image," he said. "I try to drive as fast as I can but it's a much bigger problem for them." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by John Stonestreet) Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Honda and Acura render their future visions for Shanghai

With the Shanghai Motor Show coming up later this month, Honda has released a couple of teaser sketches for two concept vehicles that will be making global debuts. Aside from the renderings, there is no information about either the Honda or Acura concept vehicles, but we can tell that both are some sort of utility vehicle, be they of crossover or people-mover variety.
The text for both images indicates that both concepts show future products that will be launched in China, but there is no mention as to what other markets the automaker has planned for these vehicles. In addition to these two concepts, the NSX Concept and 2014 RLX from Acura will make their Chinese debuts, and Honda says it "will display models substantially identical to the mass-production version of the Concept C and Concept S." The Concept C is will be a "middle-class" sedan built for China, and the Concept S, an MPV that will primarily serve China as well.