2011 Honda Odyssey 5dr Ex-l W/navi on 2040-cars

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2016 Honda HR-V: Long-Term Introduction

From the moment we first drove Honda's new HR-V, it was clear that this car would be a hit in the now-booming small crossover segment. Through October of this year, Honda moved 33,727 examples of its new HR-V, and last month alone, the CUV outsold its platform-mate Fit nearly three-and-a-half times over. Considering its importance not only for the segment, but for Honda as a brand, we knew a longer test of the cute little HR-V was in order. Enter our latest addition to the Autoblog long-term fleet, a mid-level HR-V EX with all-wheel drive. We chose EX because it's the volume model, representing the majority of the cars out on the road. Even so, it's incredibly well-equipped with 17-inch wheels, heated seats, a seven-inch infotainment system (that lacks navigation on this model), tinted windows, a sunroof, foglamps, a standard array of tech features, Honda's Lane Watch camera system, and more. Adding all-wheel drive was a no-brainer, considering Autoblog's headquarters in snowy metro Detroit, though this meant being forced to live with the continuously variable transmission. (Front-wheel-drive HR-Vs can be had with a pleasant six-speed manual.) Our car features the light cloth interior, and we'll be interested to see how it holds up over the course of a year. All in, the Alabaster Silver Metallic car you see here stickers for $24,115. All in, the Alabaster Silver Metallic car you see here stickers for $24,115, including $900 for destination. That means the HR-V is the least-expensive car we've ever had in the long-term fleet. Every HR-V comes with one powertrain: a 1.8-liter, naturally-aspirated inline-four, good for 141 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque. That's adequate considering the 3,094-pound curb weight, and allows the HR-V to return EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings of 27 miles per gallon city and 32 mpg highway. Our car arrived with only 130 miles on the odometer, so we're going to let the engine fully break in before we start tracking our observed fuel economy data. That said, the HR-V has been a hot commodity in the Autoblog fleet ever since its arrival. In its first week on the job alone, the Honda handled a road trip to northern Michigan and helped one of our staffers move. (The Magic Seats and 55.9 cubic-feet of cargo space are fantastic, by the way – more on that in a future update.) "Control layout is a lot simpler than other recent Hondas.

NHTSA urges owners of recalled Takata airbag vehicles to take immediate action

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation are taking the unusual step of issuing a followup press release urging owners of certain recalled vehicles "to act immediately" to fix their cars and trucks. The problem in question concerns the repair campaigns for rupturing Takata airbag inflators issued in June and covers a long list of models from Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Acura, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Infiniti, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile and Pontiac.
While NHSTA doesn't specifically say why the recall is vital in the new release, Toyota's own explanation in its newly announced renotification campaign earlier today sheds some new light on the topic. According to the Japanese automaker, in testing, Takata found a possible link between the rupturing airbag inflators and high humidity. NHTSA is advocating that all owners pursue repairs immediately if they haven't already done so already. This is especially crucial for those drivers especially in Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Hawaii because of the humid conditions there.
We don't need to tell you how dangerous an inadvertent airbag deployment could be - even in a stationary vehicle - but adding to the Takata issue is fears that the deployment could lead to shrapnel being sprayed into the cabin.

Ford F-150 bumps Camry from top of Cars.com American Made Index

With July 4th just around the corner, what better time could there be for Cars.com to announce that the Ford F-150 is the Most American car of 2013? This may be especially true since it was the Toyota Camry, a car produced by a company based in Japan, that had held the top spot from 2009 to 2012.
Cars.com compiles its Most American list by considering the amount of parts each vehicle uses that come from America, where it's final assembly takes place and how many units per year are sold. "While the assembly point and domestic parts content of the F-150 didn't change from 2012-2013, vehicle sales are responsible for bumping the F-150 to the top spot," according to Patrick Olsen, Editor-in-Chief of Cars.com.
As far as automakers go (as opposed to individual models), Toyota retains the top spot it held in 2012, with General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and Honda (in that order) rounding out the list. The motivation behind this list each year, according to Olsen, is "to help car shoppers understand that 'American-Made' extends beyond just the Detroit three" and because "a study we conducted in 2012 indicated that 25 percent of shoppers surveyed preferred to buy American."