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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.

Honda patents show technology that could give you X-ray vision

A pair of patent applications from Honda appear to show technology that will bring us one step closer to augmented-reality driving. The patents involve head-up displays (HUDs) and technology that can show people and vehicles that would otherwise be obscured. It'd be like being Superman behind the wheel. The first of the patents is for pedestrian detection. Many vehicles have a version of pedestrian detection that will alert a driver of a possible collision and automatically brake. This system from Honda would go a step further. Rather than just intervening when someone steps in front of the car, the proposed system would be able to detect multiple pedestrians and display their locations on an augmented reality HUD. It would also be able to locate pedestrians that are out of the driver's field of view, whether obscured by blind spots or something else. With this system, drivers would have information that would allow them to actively avoid a situation before the car has to intervene. The second patent adds vehicle-to-vehicle communications for keeping track of cars in traffic. In the patent, Honda explains how the system would work with a line of three cars. Provided the cars were connected with a V2V system, the lead car would communicate with the middle car to calculate the distance between them. Then, the middle car would relay that information to the last car, which would display an icon representing the lead vehicle with its position and status on the augmented reality HUD. This would allow the driver to effectively see through the middle car to know where the lead car is and what it's doing. The system would also be able to keep track of when the lead car starts braking, giving the driver advance notice and more time to react to a sudden slowdown or stop. This isn't the first time Honda has looked into advanced pedestrian technology or short-range communications. A few years ago, the company experimented with a system that would allow a car to communicate with pedestrians' cell phones to see their position, even when the sensors couldn't. The detection technology described in the first patent appears to rely only on sensors. Honda also experimented with V2V communication on motorcycles, so it's possible that project laid some groundwork for the augmented reality system in the second patent.

Honda motorcycles most stolen, just like Honda autos

It comes as no surprise that Honda's Civic and Accord are the most stolen cars in America, but as it turns out, thieves like the company's motorcycles the most too, according to a study by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Out of the 46,061 two-wheelers stolen in 2012, 9,082 of them were Hondas. While that's bad news for Honda motorcycle owners, at least motorcycle theft went down slightly from 2011, which had 46,667 reported thefts. Motorcycle theft recoveries, on the other hand, were just 39 percent.
Yamaha is up next in the theft rankings (7,517), then Suzuki (7,017). The numbers drop a bit for fourth and fifth place, Kawasaki (4,839) and Harley-Davidson (3,755). These five brands are far and away the most stolen motorcycles: sixth place, apparently held by scooter, dirtbike and ATV maker Taotao, dropped to 914 theft reports.
California had the most reported thefts (6,082), followed by Florida (4,110), Texas (3,400), North Carolina (2,574) and Indiana (2,334). By city, New York City had the most reported thefts (903), followed by Las Vegas (757), San Diego (633), Indianapolis (584) and Miami (535.