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Car and Driver lists 10Best for 2013, same as it ever was

Forgive us for having the distinct feeling of déjà vu, but it certainly feels like we've been here before. By that we are referring Car and Driver and the announcement of its annual 10Best vehicles for 2013. To be sure, it's an impressive selection of cars that combine heart-pounding performance and frugal sensibilities, but it also represents something of a broken record on the part of C/D. We're not so sure that's a flaw, though, as the resulting list is tough to argue with.
Vehicles like the Ford Mustang, Porsche Boxster, and BMW 3 Series have maintained their high-horsepower spots on this list for several years now. Even on the more practical and nimble end, the Honda Accord, Honda Fit and Mazda Miata have not budged. These continued spots are even in light of redesigns for some vehicles such as the Accord, Boxster and 3 Series.
In fact, the only newcomer to the 10Best list this year are the Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ twins, which knocked out the Cadillac CTS-V. We think it would have been a huge misstep to have excluded the FR-S/BRZ, even in light of the supercharged Caddy's lamentable departure from 10Best.

100th Pikes Peak Hill Climb brings bad weather, heartbreak

Hill climb? Please. While Europeans spent the weekend driving up a nobleman's driveway at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, we in 'Murica got down and dirty with the 100th running up Pikes Peak. In a reversal of stereotypes, it is we who have understated. The "hill" climb ascends one of the tallest peaks in the Rockies, to a finish line that's 14,115 feet above sea level. To get there, it takes 156 turns over 12.42 miles, some of which just look like paved sky, because they have have no guardrails between the asphalt's edge and sheer dropoffs. In reality, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is even older than 100 years. The first event took place in 1916, but in 1917-19 and 1942-45, the so-called Race to the Clouds was put on hiatus due to a couple of world wars. This year's event was marked by damp weather that dashed the hopes of several teams' efforts to break new records. David Donner's Porsche 911 Turbo S Lightweight Package, for example, was widely expected to reclaim the production car record this year. Donner is a three-time PPIHC champ, and set the 2014 production car record in a 991-generation Turbo S.  A Bentley Continental GT piloted by Rhys Millen beat it in 2019, so Porsche was keen on taking it back. Donner broke the production qualifying time earlier in the week, but even the seasoned pro couldn't put his skills to tarmac due to moisture-laden surfaces and low-visibility from thick fog on race day. The result was 10:34.053, over 15 seconds slower than Millen's 10:18.488, still good enough to land the class's top spot and second overall. Acura arrived in Colorado to conduct its much-touted motorsports debut of the 2023 Integra. While the entry-level sports sedan, equipped with a stock engine but modified with a slew of HPD goodies, came in ninth in the production class, Acura didn't go home emptyhanded. A 2022 NSX Type S driven by Nick Robinson took the category's third spot. Taking second was Daijiro Yoshihara with a Tesla Model S. In recent years, electric cars have become a force to be reckoned with, especially since they are immune to high altitudes that negatively impact internal combustion cars. Poor conditions sent newcomer Levi Shirley's Ultra 4 buggy off course. Fortunately, it was near the lower sections, where there's still a significant amount of runoff past the pavement's end. Amazingly, Shirley landed wheels down in the video above, and simply continued driving through the pea soup haze.

Honda charged another $363 million over Takata airbags

The Takata airbag recall is growing increasingly expensive for Honda. In the latest hit to the automaker's bottom line, the company is revising the expected costs of its global safety campaigns by an additional 44.8 billion yen ($363 million) after the massive expansion in May. Months ago, Honda announced that it had set aside 50 billion yen ($425 million at the time) to meet the predicted expenses. According to Automotive News, due to the rather arcane laws of accounting, these new costs will actually be applied to the fiscal year that ended on March 31, rather than the current one. Honda's revised earnings will be announced in late June. The company previously reported an operating profit of 651.7 billion yen ($5.3 billion), which was down 13 percent from the previous year. There has been no change to planned dividends for investors. In the US, Honda and Acura have a total of about 6.28 million vehicles in need of a replacement airbag inflator, and the automaker says about two million of those are already repaired. In addition to the Takata campaign, the company has faced other financial setbacks during this calendar year. For example, in early January, it received a $70 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to report 1,729 cases of injuries or deaths over 11 years. As part of a strategy to improve quality globally, Honda cut back its global sales forecasts for the coming year, and it also decided not to make any volume predictions through 2017. To: Shareholders of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. From: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 1-1, Minami-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku, 107-8556 Tokyo Takanobu Ito President and Representative Director Notice of Events after the Reporting Period Regarding Product Warranty Expenses Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (the "Company") and its consolidated subsidiaries have been conducting market-based measures in relation to airbag inflators, such as product recalls and a Safety Improvement Campaign. Due to factors arising since May 2015 such as an expansion of the scope of these market-based measures based on an agreement between our supplier and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a change has arisen in the estimate relating to product warranty expenses. The amount of product warranty expenses now expected to be incurred is 44,800 million yen.