2003 Honda Civic Ex Sedan 4-door 1.7l on 2040-cars

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Honda Civic Type R clocks 7:50.63 front-drive 'Ring record

Lapping the Nurburgring in under seven minutes may be the ultimate bragging right for supercars, but further back down the field, a battle is being waged between front-drive hot hatches to see which can scope a lap time under eight. Seat was first to claim the crown with the Leon Cupra at 7:58, which was subsequently beaten by the Renaultsport Megane 275 Trophy-R at 7:54. All the while Honda pledged to take the record with the new Civic Type R. And that's just what it's done. As you can see from the video above, Honda's new hot hatch clocked a time of 7:50.63, making it the fastest front-driver ever to lap the Nordschleife and blindingly fast by any account. Honda suggests that the lap was clocked while testing the stock street-legal rubber (and not on slicks) and claims that the roll cage clearly seen in the video was fitted "for safety reasons and not to add rigidity," with extraneous equipment like the front passenger seat and audio system were removed to compensate for the cage's weight. Of course with no official sanctioning body verifying these times and the equipment in which they're achieved, they're a subject of much debate, but there's no getting around the fact that the new Civic Type R is one very serious piece of machinery indeed. NEW HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THROWS DOWN NURBURGRING GAUNTLET - Honda announces Nurburgring lap time for Civic Type R development car - 7 minutes 50.63 seconds lap time is unmatched in the front-wheel drive hot hatch class - Lap time achieved in development car with technical specifications representative of the final production car At the world premiere of its all-new Civic Type R at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show (5 - 15 March; Stand 4250, Hall 4), Honda announced that a development car had achieved a 7 minutes 50.63 seconds lap time of the legendary 20.8 km/12.9 mile Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. This time is unmatched by any other front-wheel drive performance hatchback. The lap time was achieved during the final phase of pre-production testing in May 2014 by a Civic Type R development car. The development car was in a standard state of engine tune, with suspension, drivetrain, exhaust, brakes and the aerodynamic package identical to those of the production Civic Type R. The removal of equipment such as air conditioning, the front passenger seat and audio equipment offset the additional weight of a full roll cage (installed specifically for safety reasons and not to add rigidity).

McLaren-Honda goes 8-bit in Turbo Heroes

Formula One is all about speeding forward, but it's not without its spats of nostalgia – from retro liveries to a return to turbo power. Take, for example, this latest animated short from the McLaren-Honda team. It's called Turbo Heroes, and it sends us back to the days of our childhood in the 1980s and 90s in glorious 8-bit form. Part Street Fighter and part Aryton Senna's Super Monaco Grand Prix, Turbo Heroes is a game-style video short – the start to a series from the looks of things. It portrays an epic battle in which basic animated versions of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso (coached by a grumpy Ron Dennis, no less) chase the evil Exhaustus in a race to recover the fabled (and equally fictitious) Jade Dragon of Suzuka to its rightful home in Japan. It's brought to you by the same team responsible for the Tooned series that was targeted at today's kids, only this one takes a decidedly different aesthetic approach. If you grew up around the same time as many of us here at Autoblog did, and got a kick out of films like Kung Fury and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, you'll probably enjoy this one. So put on your snapback, grab a can of Jolt Cola, and crank the ghetto blaster you've got hooked up to that Nintendo Entertainment System for a high-speed race down memory lane. You don't even have to blow in the cartridge.

The accidentally green episode | Autoblog Podcast #486

This week, consumer editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Autoblog Green editor-in-chief Sebastian Blanco join Mike Austin and things go in a "green" direction – it just happened that way. We hit the week's news (including some green-related items), talk about the green things we've been driving, hear part of an interview with the filmmakers behind a new movie about the 2008 bailout, and then answer a listener question. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want questionable buying advice, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. Autoblog Podcast #486 Topics and stories we mention Almost half of VW TDI owners have already agreed to settle The Chevy Colorado has a military-spec, fuel cell-powered cousin 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid 2017 Hyundai Elantra Eco Jeremy's 1975 VW camper van A preview of Live Another Day, a film about the 2008 auto bailout Rundown Intro - 00:00 The news - 05:26 What we've been driving - 18:43 An excerpt from our interview with the Live Another Day filmmakers - 37:20 Listener questions - 40:00 Total Duration: 47:52 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes Green Podcasts Honda Hyundai vw diesel scandal