1998 Honda Civic Lx on 2040-cars

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Google poised to release Apple CarPlay rival this month

Apple and Google. They're the Michigan and Ohio State of the tech world. They're New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Real Madrid and Barcelona, or whatever sports-based rivalry you want to cook up. Bottom line, if one company expands into a segment, it's only a matter of time before the other follows suit. And now, that rivalry is about to carry over to your car's dashboard.
Unnamed sources are reporting to Automotive News that Google will unveil its very own challenger to Apple's new CarPlay in-car operating system later this month at the Mountain View, CA company's annual developer conference. The system, allegedly called Google Auto Link, will be the first product to come from the Open Automotive Alliance, a partnership between Google, General Motors, Hyundai, Audi, Honda and hardware manufacturer NVIDIA.
The official announcement is expected to be made on either June 25 or 26, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. Expect to hear a lot more about Google Auto Link then.

Honda Civic Type R blitzes five iconic European circuits

European automakers habitually produce some of the best hot hatches. So it took the revival of a Japanese legend to beat them on their home turf when the Honda Civic Type R stole the front-drive lap record at the Nurburgring away from the likes of Renault and Seat. Volkswagen struck back and reclaimed the prize for Europe with the new Golf GTI Clubsport S, but rather than return to the Green Hell for another attempt, Honda took revenge on five other Grand Prix circuits across the continent. The campaign started in April at Silverstone, where three-time British Touring Car champ Matt Neal set a lap time of 2:44.45 in the wet, then returned once it was dry to beat his own time at 2:31.85. With the front-drive record at the home of the British Grand Prix now in hand, Honda moved on to Belgium, where factory driver Rob Huff tackled Spa-Francorchamps and its infamous Eau Rouge complex to set another lap record at 2:56.91. Then it was off to Monza, home of the Italian Grand Prix, where the Civic Type R – still mechanically unmodified and on road tires – set another record at 2:15.16 at the hands of World Touring Car Championship driver Norbert Michelisz. Former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro was supposed to tackle the Estoril next, until he was taken out of commission in a WTCC crash. So on short notice, the series' safety-car driver Bruno Correia stepped in and lapped the former home of the Portuguese Grand Prix in 2:04.08. The last record fell at the Hungaroring where Michelisz returned to the cockpit and set another front-drive lap record at 2:10.85 last week. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Honda Civic Type R sets new benchmarks at five legendary European race circuits - Honda announces new benchmark times set by Civic Type R at five legendary European circuits - Lap times achieved in standard production car with no mechanical modifications - Benchmarks set at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Estoril and Hungaroring - Stars of Honda's WTCC and BTCC squad pilot Type R throughout five circuit campaign Honda's 'race car for the road' Civic Type R has crisscrossed Europe in an effort to set new benchmarks for front wheel drive production cars at five legendary circuits across Europe.

Acura ILX headed for Civic-like early upgrades

The not-yet-ready-for-primetime 2012 Honda Civic saw it quickly returned to sender for refurbishment, now the Acura ILX is headed in the same direction in its very first year. Automotive News reports that the small, Civic-based sedan from Honda's luxury brand isn't meeting sales expectations, with an annualized rate of 22,000 to 24,000 sales instead of the 30,000 the company is after. More telling is that the ILX "is being outsold by the Buick Verano, Volkswagen CC and Audi A4," and, except for two months since it launched, it has also been outdone by the Acura TSX it is meant to replace.
Part of the cause has been the 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine: its 150 horsepower to motivate a sedan that can weigh up to 2,970 pounds doesn't offer the kind of performance or value experience that buyers in the segment respond to. Another big issue is that the top-level 2.4-liter engine is only offered with a six-speed manual even though most buyers of the highest trim don't really want to shift their own gears. Lastly, the ILX might not put enough space between it and its frugal underpinnings - our first drive review pegged it as "the world's nicest Honda Civic."
An automatic transmission is on the way for the 2.4-liter, but it isn't clear when. And while Honda admits that the 2.0-liter is underpowered and Automotive News says it's on the way out, the company hasn't yet said how that situation will be corrected.