2010 Honda Cr-v Ex-l W/nav, Back-up, Leather on 2040-cars

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Ward's Automotive Ten Best Engines of 2014 dominated by diesels, turbos

With the Car and Driver Ten Best decided, the North American Car and Truck of the Year finalists announced and Cadillac, Ram and Subaru chalking up wins with Motor Trend, it's fair to say that the automotive awards season is in full swing. The next set of trophies to be handed out will be from Ward's Automotive, which has announced the winners of its 2014 10 Best Engines.
The latest contest was marked by the widespread emergence of diesel power and the continued success of turbocharged engines. There was even an electric motor on this year's list. In fact, only three of the ten winners were naturally aspirated and only two winners returned from last year.
"We weren't looking to throw the bums out, as they might say about an election. We were just really impressed with the flood of new powertrains," said Ward's Automotive Editor-in-Chief Drew Winter. Those new powertrains include the 83-kilowatt electric motor from the Fiat 500e, the 1.0-liter, EcoBoost three-cylinder from the Ford Fiesta and the 2.0-liter turbodiesel from the Chevrolet Cruze.

OK Go ride Honda UNI-CUB ? in latest amazeballs music video

When Honda unveiled the slimmed-down ?eta version of its Uni-Cub last year, it might have thought the minimalist electric vehicle would find its most enthusiastic audience inside office buildings, where it would simultaneously lighten the load of worker drones and perhaps inject a bit of rolling robotic tech-type fun into an otherwise drab and dreary day. It was wrong. Clearly, this personal mobility machine was destined for greater things. Honda paid for the new video, which was shot a half-speed. When you watch it, you'll know why. For instance, it could be used for electric unicycle square dancing (Okay, technically the Uni-Cub ? employs one wheel and a caster-type ball, thereby disqualifying it from unicycle status, but whatever.) Or even better, it could be a platform upon which the power pop group OK Go and a few hundred Japanese school girls could perform awesome maneuvers, including the aforementioned electric unicycle square dancing, in their latest totally amazeballs video. Honda reportedly paid for the new video, which was shot at half-speed and when you watch it, you'll know why. Where before we thought this curious device, with its intuitive steering and self-balancing, would only really ever find a place as a demonstrator of Honda's engineering prowess, we now see it as a foregone conclusion that it will infest our daily lives and fill them with fantastic choreographed journeys of art. Thank you for opening our eyes, Ok Go. To have your own eyes opened, just scroll below for the visual accompaniment to I Won't Let You Down from the new album, Hungry Ghosts. As is the band's wont, it's all done in one take, and is sure to drop your jaw. Ok, go! This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2015 Honda Civic Type R prototype

With a name like Earth Dreams, you'd be forgiven for assuming that Honda's new family of turbocharged VTEC engines is more about environmental credentials than performance. And to a large degree they are - particularly in 1.0- and 1.5-liter forms. But the 2.0 is another beast altogether.
Thanks to a high-output turbocharger, direct injection, a high-performance cooling system and, of course, variable valve timing, Honda's new 2.0-liter four produces upwards of 280 horsepower while still complying with upcoming Euro 6 emissions standards. Although actual output has yet to be confirmed, that preliminary figure already compares favorably with the Ford Focus ST (252 hp) and Mazdaspeed3 (274 hp) and rests comfortably in between the Volkswagen GTI (270 hp) and Golf R (296 hp).
Although Honda has already shoehorned the smaller 1.5-liter turbo four and 1.0-liter turbo three-cylinder engines into an Acura ILX and another Civic hatchback, the home it gave the 2.0 betrays more than an engine swap. What you see here is essentially the next Civic Type R, following a long line of Honda hot hatches. With this latest model, the Japanese automaker is targeting the front-drive lap record at the Nürburgring that belongs to the Renaultsport Megane Trophy and before that, to the lightweight Megane R26.R. A tall order, to be sure, so we headed to Honda's R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, to take it out for a ride.